. for the song written by the four deuces see w p l j. not to be confused with wjlp . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . february 2008 learn how and when to remove this template message wplj city new york new york broadcast area new york city area branding new york s 95.5 plj slogan new york s best music frequency 95.5 fm mhz also on hd radio 95.5 2 fm adult contemporary wfas hd radio 95.5 3 fm wabc simulcast hd radio first air date may 4 1948 ; 68 years ago 1948 05 04 format commercial ; hot adult contemporary erp 6 700 watts haat 408 meters class b facility id 73887 callsign meaning white port & lemon juice former callsigns wjz fm 1948 1953 wabc fm 1953 1971 wwpr 1987 1988 affiliations cbs radio owner cumulus media radio license holdings llc sister stations wabc wfas wnbm wnsh webcast listen live 15 website 955plj . nyc wplj 95.5 fm is a radio station in new york city owned by the broadcasting division of cumulus media . wplj shares studio facilities with sister stations wabc 770 am wnsh 94.7 fm and wnbm 103.9 fm inside 2 penn plaza above pennsylvania station in midtown manhattan and its transmitter is atop the empire state building . the station airs a hot adult contemporary music format and is the home of the todd & jayde morning show . wplj broadcasts in the hd radio format . 1 contents 1 station history 1.1 early years 1.2 1970s aor years 1.3 1980s chr years 1.4 1990s hot ac era 1.5 2000s 1.6 2010s 2 hd radio 3 logos 4 references 5 external links station history edit early years edit the station went on the air on may 4 1948 under the call sign wjz fm 2 and in march 1953 the station s call letters were changed to wabc fm following the merger of the american broadcasting company with united paramount theatres . 3 4 5 as most fm stations did during the medium s formative years 95.5 fm simulcasted the programming of its am sister station . in the early 1960s however wabc fm began to program itself separately from wabc am . during the 1962 63 new york city newspaper strike the station carried a news format for 17 hours daily . 6 7 two and a half years before wins launched its own around the clock all news format in april 1965 it was the first attempt at an all news format in the new york market . this was followed by stints with broadway show tunes and general freeform programming including broadcasts of new york mets baseball games . 8 wabc s am personalities notably dan ingram chuck leonard and bob lewis hosted programs on the fm side which were the total opposites of the top 40 powered sound for which they were better known on am . wabc fm did continue to simulcast its am sister station during herb oscar anderson s morning drive program . at the start of 1968 abc split its radio network into four distinct components one of which was dedicated to fm radio . 9 the following year wabc fm and its sister stations kabc fm in los angeles ; wls fm in chicago ; kgo fm in san francisco ; wxyz fm in detroit ; kqv fm in pittsburgh ; and newly acquired kxyz fm in houston began carrying an automated youth oriented progressive rock format known as love . 10 1970s aor years edit in late 1970 allen shaw the then president of abc s fm station group announced two big changes for the stations which took place in early 1971 abc dropped love and installed completely live and local freeform rock formats . the network also applied for call letter changes for the seven stations . 11 12 the new york outlet was slated to be renamed wrif but a clerical error on the part of the federal communications commission resulted in those calls being awarded to the former wxyz fm the present day wrif in detroit whose own request for wdai was itself given mistakenly to wls fm in chicago leaving wabc fm to start from scratch for its own rebranding . on february 14 1971 the station s call letters were changed to wplj 13 chosen after allen shaw noticed the letter combination as the name of a song on the 1970 mothers of invention record burnt weeny sandwich . the song w p l j was originally performed by the four deuces in 1955 and stood for white port and lemon juice . on the air the station hired john zacherle alex bennett vin scelsa and michael cuscuna from wmmr and wxpn in philadelphia as personalities . in september 1971 allen shaw and abc programming executive bob henaberry designed and pioneered the very first aor album oriented rock format on wplj playing only the best cuts from the best selling rock albums with a minimum of disc jockey talk . the slogan of the station was rock n stereo . the station would play the music of artists such as led zeppelin the beatles aerosmith jimi hendrix cream the doobie brothers steely dan elton john deep purple billy joel rod stewart david bowie and the allman brothers . the station would also play pop songs from artists such as james taylor stevie wonder and carly simon . the station was different from top 40 stations such as co owned wabc in that they played more album tracks . the audience ratings shot up dramatically and wplj became new york s most listened to fm rock station for most of the 1970s . in 1973 allen shaw brought willard lochridge the general manager of sister station wrif in detroit to new york to manage wplj . lochridge then brought larry berger program director of wrif to wplj . larry berger took over as program director of wplj in 1974 and the station adopted the slogan new york s best rock . some of the personalities on the station during this period included jim kerr pat st. john jimmy fink carol miller tony pigg john zacherle alex bennett bob marrone and dave charity . berger himself hosted a sunday night call in show during which he would discuss the station with listeners but would decline to discuss the specifics of the music playlist something many listeners were concerned with . during these call in segments callers suggested that the station sped up or pitched up the music so that they could fit in more commercials while still being able to claim that they played a large number of songs per hour . berger repeatedly denied that this practice was in use at wplj . in the september 20 1999 episode of crap from the past host ron boogiemonster gerber suggested that music was sped up on wplj to make the same music sound less dynamic on other stations . another sunday night show begun in 1975 was then father bill ayres long running on this rock which mixed spirituality and social consciousness together with the music of harry chapin bob seger and others . ayres was a roman catholic priest with the archdiocese of new york city . the show also aired on its sister station wabc on sunday mornings within the last years of its top 40 music format . bill ayres eventually left the priesthood in the 1980s but continues to host a call in sunday night show today on the station . the wplj logo from the late 1970s . by the late 70s wplj tended to emphasize harder rock artists such as led zeppelin there was a nightly get the led out segment kansas boston and queen who happened to get less airplay than on competing station wnew fm . at this point the station reduced its play of softer pop songs and their ratings remained good . larry hired marc coppola in 1981 a rock oriented jock coming from suburban rival wbab on long island to do the 10pm 2am shift monday through saturday . during its album oriented phase the station was noted for its promotional montages snippets of classic rock songs spliced together emphasizing a particular subject such as gasoline during the gas shortages of the 1970s . from the time of berger s arrival wplj beat main rock rival wnew fm in virtually every arbitron ratings period . in 1982 wplj received a direct competitor in wapp which adopted a near identical aor format to wplj wapp launched its rock format commercial free and remained so for the summer of 1982 . wapp beat wplj in the ratings in the fall of 1982 and wplj reacted by adding more new wave such as a flock of seagulls dexy s midnight runners the go go s elvis costello men at work and soft cell mixed in with the usual aor fare . wplj s ratings ended up being better than those of wapp after wapp started playing commercials in the fall of 1982 . in early 1983 the station added billie jean by michael jackson playing it several times a day note that many aor stations including wnew fm added that song and it did chart on the rock tracks chart . in march wplj added jackson s other hit beat it which received very positive reaction . while jackson was not a typical aor artist that cut was played by many aor stations due to eddie van halen s role in the song . the station also dropped most 1960s songs by may and was cutting back on aor artists while playing more modern rockers . during this time wplj s logo was very similar to its sister station klos the former kabc fm in los angeles . 1980s chr years edit this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . february 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message in the spring of 1983 the station began a transition from aor to chr . with word that a top 40 format was coming to 100.3 fm wplj moved further in a chr direction . though the station began playing artists like lionel richie and michael jackson larry berger stated that he did not make the decision to move to a chr format until the last week of june and wplj adopted a rock leaning chr format on june 30 1983 . at this point the station played predominantly aor and new wave rock cuts but would mix in two or three rhythmic pop cuts like flashdance by irene cara time by culture club she works hard for the money by donna summer and a few others . the station maintained its new york s best rock slogan even though the station moved away from playing predominantly rock songs . larry berger discussed the changes on his call in show in july 1983 to the disapproving reaction from the rock audience . competitors wnbc had been a defacto top 40 am station while wyny had been the de facto fm hits station throughout the early 1980s playing many current songs as part of its hot adult contemporary format . wplj s airstaff which stayed on during the early transition months would gradually change as wnew fm picked up some of the station s best known rock djs such as carol miller and pat st. john . morning man jim kerr and sidekick shelli sonstein would remain with the station through the end of the decade . jimmy fink tony pigg and marc coppola eventually moved to infinity broadcasting s wxrk when it debuted a couple of years