WBLS (107.5
MHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...
) is an
urban adult contemporary
Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music ...
formatted FM radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
,
licensed
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. It is currently owned by Mediaco Holding and operated by
Emmis Communications
Emmis Communications is an American media conglomerate based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Emmis, based on the Hebrew word for Truth (Emet) was founded by Jeff Smulyan in 1980. Emmis has owned many radio stations, including KPWR and WQHT, which h ...
under a shared services agreement, along with sister stations
WLIB
WLIB (1190 AM) is an urban contemporary gospel radio station licensed to New York City. WLIB is owned by Emmis Communications, along with sister stations WBLS (107.5 FM) and WQHT (97.1 FM). The three stations share studios in the Hudson Square ...
(1190 AM) and
WQHT
WQHT (97.1 FM, ''Hot 97'') is a commercial radio station, licensed to New York, New York, which broadcasts an urban contemporary music format. The station is owned by Mediaco Holding and operated by Emmis Communications under a shared service ...
(97.1 FM). The three stations share studios in the
Hudson Square
Hudson Square is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by Clarkson Street to the north, Canal Street to the south, Varick Street to the east, and the Hudson River to the west. To the north of the neig ...
neighborhood of
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...
, and WBLS' transmitter is located at the
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...
. It was previously owned by YMF Media LLC, owned jointly by investor
Ronald Burkle
Ronald Wayne Burkle (born November 12, 1952) is an American businessman. He is the co-founder and managing partner of The Yucaipa Companies, LLC, a private investment firm that specializes in U.S. companies in the distribution, logistics, food, ...
and
Magic Johnson
Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player. He is often regarded as the greatest point guard of all-time and has been compared with Stephen Curry. Johnson played 13 seasons in the ...
, which had assumed control of WBLS and WLIB's former parent company,
Inner City Broadcasting Corporation
The Inner City Broadcasting Corporation ("ICBC") was an American media company based in New York City. It was one of the first broadcasting companies wholly owned by African-Americans.
History
Inner City was founded in 1970 by a group of prominen ...
, on October 19, 2012, at a purchase price of
$180 million.
History
Early years
The 107.5 frequency in New York City signed on in July 1951 as WEVD-FM,
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...
ing its sister station at
1330 AM. Within a few years, WEVD-FM moved to
97.9, and 107.5 went off the air.
Several years later the New Broadcasting Company, then-owners of WLIB, was awarded a
construction permit
Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...
for the dormant frequency and on September 15, 1965 WLIB-FM signed on. As the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
had recently instituted a rule prohibiting full-time AM/FM simulcasting in large markets, WLIB-FM was programmed with a
Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
format. The stations were split up in 1972, when Inner City Broadcasting purchased WLIB (AM); WLIB-FM was then renamed WBLS. Inner City reunited the pair with its purchase of WBLS in 1974.
From 1972 to 1978, WBLS was the flagship station of the
Mutual Black Network
The Mutual Black Network (MBN) was founded by the Mutual Broadcasting System in 1972 as the first national full-service radio network aimed at African Americans; it was initially branded as Mutual Reports before the branding change to MBN. With 98 ...
(now the
American Urban Radio Networks
American Urban Radio Networks (AURN) is the only African-American owned and operated Nielsen RADAR-rated radio network in the United States.
Privately held for the last three years with new ownership, AURN reaches an estimated 25 million listen ...
).
As part of the
Inner City Broadcasting Corporation
The Inner City Broadcasting Corporation ("ICBC") was an American media company based in New York City. It was one of the first broadcasting companies wholly owned by African-Americans.
History
Inner City was founded in 1970 by a group of prominen ...
stations, program director
Frankie Crocker
Frankie "Hollywood" Crocker (December 18, 1937 – October 21, 2000) was an American disc jockey who helped grow WBLS, the black music radio station in New York.
Early soul radio
According to popeducation.org, Crocker began his career in Buffal ...
held 5% of the radio market in the northeast from 1975 to 1978, only ceding the title of top R&B station to upstart
WKTU
WKTU (103.5 FM) is a rhythmic adult contemporary formatted radio station licensed to Lake Success, New York, a suburb of New York City. WKTU is owned by iHeartMedia and broadcasts from studios in the former AT&T Building in the Tribeca neighbo ...
when that station broke out playing disco and club music in 1979. By 1982 it had fallen to number 3 in the market.
In 1993,
Calvin O. Butts, pastor of
Abyssinian Baptist Church
The Abyssinian Baptist Church is a Baptist megachurch located at 132 West 138th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Lenox Avenue in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, affiliated with the National Baptist Con ...
in
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...
, led a threat to boycott the station if they played any form of gangsta rap. Butts' protests culminated in his bulldozing a pile of hip-hop recordings during a rally. In response to the protests, WBLS excised most hip hop music from its air and carefully screened what it did play for content and language.
In 1995, after WRKS was purchased by
Emmis Communications
Emmis Communications is an American media conglomerate based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Emmis, based on the Hebrew word for Truth (Emet) was founded by Jeff Smulyan in 1980. Emmis has owned many radio stations, including KPWR and WQHT, which h ...
and dropped all hip-hop music in favor of a similar adult R&B format, WBLS countered with a controversial advertising campaign labeling WRKS as a "
plantation
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
station." WBLS shortly reverted to urban contemporary, only to exit again in
2004 when WBLS switched to urban adult contemporary.
2010-present
![Rev](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Rev._Conrad_Tillard_in_June_2022.jpg)
From 2010 to 2015, former
Nation of Islam
The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious and political organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930.
A black nationalist organization, the NOI focuses its attention on the African diaspora, especially on African ...
minister and "Hip Hop Minister"
Conrad Tillard
Conrad Bennette Tillard (born September 15, 1964) is an American Baptist minister, radio host, activist, politician, and author.
Tillard was in his early years a prominent minister of the black nationalist organization the Nation of Islam (NOI) ...
served as a radio talk show host on WBLS, which broadcast his hour-long ''Sunday Night Live'' community-issues program for five years.
WBLS acquired WRKS's
intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
in a merger of the two outlets announced on April 26, with a joint statement on both stations' respective websites. In addition to acquiring WRKS's intellectual property, WBLS and WLIB also moved into Emmis's New York production facility in the West Village section of Manhattan, into studio space vacated by WRKS during the week of May 21, 2012.
During the
2012-13 NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
season, WBLS broadcast selected
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...
games in an agreement with WEPN-FM. These games conflicted with WEPN-FM's coverage of the
NFL's
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...
when both teams were scheduled to play on Sunday afternoons.
On February 11, 2014,
Emmis Communications
Emmis Communications is an American media conglomerate based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Emmis, based on the Hebrew word for Truth (Emet) was founded by Jeff Smulyan in 1980. Emmis has owned many radio stations, including KPWR and WQHT, which h ...
announced it would purchase WBLS and WLIB from YMF Media LLC for $131 million, pending FCC approval. The purchase was consummated on June 10, 2014. On July 1, 2019, Emmis announced that it would sell WBLS and WQHT to the public company Mediaco Holding—an affiliate of
Standard General—for $91.5 million and a $5 million
promissory note
A promissory note, sometimes referred to as a note payable, is a legal instrument (more particularly, a financing instrument and a debt instrument), in which one party (the ''maker'' or ''issuer'') promises in writing to pay a determinate sum of ...
. Emmis will be a shareholder in Mediaco Holding and continue to operate the stations. The sale was consummated on November 25, 2019.
Online
In 2000 WBLS launched its interactive sister site WBLSi with radio internet convergence company FMITV in
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...
, WBLSi.com featured live original music streams to cater to a variety of tastes – The Jamz, Slow Jamz, Hip-Hop and WBLS Classics with on-demand access to concerts and music videos.
Wendy Williams
Wendy Williams Hunter ( Wendy Joan Williams; born July 18, 1964) is an American broadcaster and writer. From 2008 to 2021, she hosted the nationally syndicated television talk show ''The Wendy Williams Show.''
Prior to television, Williams ...
,
Egypt Sherrod
Egypt Sherrod is an American radio and television personality, as well as real estate broker. She is best known as host of HGTV's '' Flipping Virgins'' and its long running show, '' Property Virgins''. She is also the CEO of the Atlanta-based ...
, and ''
Rap City
''Rap City'' is a music video television program block that originally aired on the Black Entertainment Television (BET) network from August 11, 1989, to November 8, 2008. The program was an exclusive showcase for hip hop music videos, and featu ...
s
Big Lez doubled on the online platform as IJ's or WBLS' the first internet jockeys. The first internet program director of WBLSi was
Hakeem Khaaliq
Hakeem Khaaliq (also Hakeem Abdul-Khaaliq) is an American cinematographer, television producer, film director, photographer, multi-media activist, graphic design artist, and visual anthropologist. Before his career in film and television he work ...
.
References
External links
*
*
{{Emmis
Urban adult contemporary radio stations in the United States
BLS
Radio stations established in 1965
Emmis Communications radio stations
Hudson Square