please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . august 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message whtz city newark new jersey broadcast area new york city area branding z100 slogan new york s 1 hit music station frequency 100.3 mhz also on hd radio siriusxm ch . 12 first air date june 1 1961 ; 55 years ago 1961 06 01 format top 40 chr hd2 nick radio erp 6 000 watts haat 415 meters class b facility id 59953 transmitter coordinates 40 44 54.00 n 73 59 10.00 w 40.7483333 n 73.9861111 w 40.7483333 ; 73.9861111 callsign meaning hitz former callsigns whnf 1942 48 ; 1947 48 on 100.3 wmgm fm 1948 55 wvnj fm 1961 83 affiliations premiere networks nick radio on hd2 owner iheartmedia amfm radio licenses l.l.c. sister stations waxq wktu wltw wor wwpr fm webcast listen live via iheartradio hd2 listen live via iheartradio website z100.com hd2 nickradio.com whtz 100.3 fm branded z100 is a commercial top 40 chr radio station licensed to newark new jersey and serving the new york city metropolitan area . owned by iheartmedia whtz serves as the flagship station for elvis duran and the morning show and the new york affiliate for on air with ryan seacrest . the whtz studios are located in the at & t building in the tribeca neighborhood of new york city while the station transmitter resides atop the empire state building . besides a standard analog transmission whtz broadcasts over two hd radio channels 1 and is available online via iheartradio . the station also simulcasts over channel 12 on siriusxm satellite radio . 2 the call letters are supposed to represent the word hits with a z ; indeed an early advertising campaign for the earlier days of station claimed that htz was finally there s a new way to spell hitz contents 1 history 1.1 whnf and wmgm fm 1.2 wvnj fm 1.3 whtz z100 1.3.1 early years 1.3.2 1990s changes 1.3.3 1996 turnaround 1.3.4 2000s 2 z100 today 2.1 mornings 2.2 annual events 2.3 notable former staff 3 references 4 external links history edit whnf and wmgm fm edit 100.3 began as whnf for whn fm in the early 1940s broadcasting on 46.3 mc which played easy listening music which was co owned with 1050 whn frequency now occupied by wepn now wfan on 660 am . after whn changed their call letters to wmgm in 1948 whnf by this time now broadcasting on 100.3 followed suit by changing their call letters to wmgm fm . that station shut down in february 1955 and its owners turned the license over to the fcc . wvnj fm edit 100.3 fm was sold to local owner herb saltzman and known as sabre broadcasting . the station focused to serve northern new jersey rather than the new york city metropolitan area . they already owned am 620 then known as wvnj so 100.3 fm would have wvnj fm as its call letters . on july 13 1961 at about 3 p.m. wvnj fm signed on . wvnj fm began with 20 000 watts at 330 ft. above average terrain from the am site in livingston moving a few years according to chatham with 25 000 watts . a few years later the transmitter moved to west orange new jersey and only transmitted at 5 000 watts . the station had an instrumentally based easy listening music format also known as beautiful music or more commonly elevator music consisted of instrumental versions of familiar songs with several soft vocal hits added per hour . the station was known as wvnjoy . licensed to newark nj its fm transmitter was in west orange while its studios and am transmitter were located on state route 10 in livingston new jersey . at the time the station had an effective power of about 20 000 watts and an actual power of 5 000 watts . this lack of coverage due to lesser power inhibited the station s opportunity to show with competitive strength in ratings estimates in the ny market . thus the station s target market concentration was northern new jersey . radio listeners in the new york city metropolitan area could listen to the wpat am fm simulcast wrfm or wtfm for easy listening . in 1980 when wrvr now wltw changed from jazz to country music wvnj began playing jazz music after 8 pm . its slogan was vnjoy by day vnjazz by night . in may 1983 plans were made for 100.3 fm to be purchased by cleveland based malrite communications . malrite signed on the station from a studio in secaucus new jersey and moved the transmitter to the top of the empire state building . in addition new management announced plans for a top 40 format . the sale became final on august 1 1983 and wvnj fm ceased broadcasting on 100.3 that night . whtz z100 edit early years edit the station which now had the callsign whtz went back on the air at 6 08 am on august 2 1983 with new program director and morning jock scott shannon . the first two songs ever played on the station were eye of the tiger by survivor and america by neil diamond . initially the station called themselves by their new call letters but by late august they began calling themselves z100 . the station signed on from its new and still incomplete studio in secaucus transmitting from the old fm tower site in west orange new jersey as their antenna was not moved to the top of the empire state building until august 4 at 6 am . z100 was the second station that summer to attempt to bring the top 40 format back to new york with rock station wplj having begun the evolution to top 40 in june . whtz was programmed to remind listeners of one time am powerhouse wabc which had gone from a tight top 40 format to leaning disco in early 1979 to leaning adult rock later in 1979 to leaning adult contemporary in 1980 and then evolving to adult contemporary talk in 1981 before it finally flipped to an all talk format on may 10 1982 . within 74 days of signing on whtz had climbed from last place to first in the new york arbitron ratings book . over the years z100 stayed with a top 40 format with wplj behind them in the ratings . scott shannon left z100 on january 27 1989 to start pirate radio in los angeles with steve kingston assuming operations manager duties frankie blue becoming assistant programming director and brian wilson taking over mornings he would be replaced in march 1990 with gary bryan who came over from wplj ; in november 1993 john lander became morning show host . 1990s changes edit by 1991 however the top 40 format nationwide was in an identity crisis due to the rise of alternative rock hip hop and country . a major sign of this crisis came when wplj moved to a hot adult contemporary format by 1992 . z100 responded to this by adding some older songs and introducing an evening talk show called love phones . 3 ratings gradually dropped during this time . in march 1993 malrite z100 s owners announced it would merge with shamrock broadcasting with the sale closing that august 2 . 4 also that year z100 dropped the older songs and began mixing in alternative rock music which wasn t normally being played on top 40 stations . by the end of 1994 the majority of the station s music consisted of alternative rock with only a few non modern rock based songs per hour . the station still played the current popular hits by mainstream artists such as madonna tlc janet jackson michael jackson mariah carey shania twain toni braxton sheryl crow and others ; notably though z100 snubbed several big pop hits at the time such as have you ever really loved a woman by bryan adams you are not alone by michael jackson and i could fall in love by selena . during this time the station also underwent numerous airstaff and management changes . frankie blue left in 1995 and sam milkman moved up to his position . also in 1995 z100 stopped using the morning zoo title which was simply renamed the morning show . morning host john lander left in november 1995 due to his contract not being renewed with more airstaff gradually leaving the station shortly thereafter . ratings though nowhere near the top anymore remained steady at the station during much of the mid 1990s but by march 1996 there was a steep drop after wktu signed on at 103.5 fm with a dance music format and wxrk adapted a full time alternative rock format . both stations took listeners from z100 . steve kingston and his assistant sam milkman left z100 for wxrk in early 1996 while music director andy shane left for wktu joining another former z100 music director frankie blue . in january 1996 steve cochran arrived to do mornings but by mid april he was gone . 5 z100 was undergoing a crisis at this point . the station was sold in a corporate deal to chancellor media . 1996 turnaround edit in april 1996 the station brought in tom poleman as its new programming director . initially at that point z100 dropped all non modern rock titles and began playing strictly pop alternative . by may 1996 z100 began gradually replacing its on air staff and the harder alternative songs were phased out . though initially it seemed that z100 was becoming a modern ac station beginning that summer the station gradually began to move back to a mainstream top 40 format as it added pop music from such formats as r & b rap and adult contemporary . one of poleman s biggest moves was to switch dj elvis duran from afternoons to the z morning zoo which was known as the morning show for the last year z100 s popular morning show on april 22 . despite having shared the post with other hosts such as elliot segal now at wwdc through the years duran remains the head zookeeper to this day . by december 1996 z100 was a full time top 40 station again . chancellor merged with evergreen in 1997 making wktu a sister station of z100 . still both stations continued on the same courses occasionally overlapping with music . in a 1999 merger z100 s parent company chancellor acquired capstar forming am fm inc. shortly after the merger was finalized am fm was bought by clear channel communications . 2000s edit the station used to broadcast mini mixes by dj spinbad a well known dj who created a nightly mash up mix of the day s top songs playing them all together mixing for instance the lyrics of one with the music of another . this often lasted 15 20 minutes and was played at seven o clock and ten o clock monday through friday . spinbad s mix was also a part of the weekly 5 o clock whistle a tradition started in 1986 to celebrate the end of the work week . in early 2006 z100 launched an hd radio station that plays songs by bands who have not gone mainstream or have very little exposure . currently it is the only new york city area hd2 station that features djs . in october 2007 after years of hovering near the top z100 once again became the highest rated station in new york city scoring a 5.1 rating in persons 12 in the summer book . that marked the first number one finish for the station since the 1980s according to clear channel new york