WNEW-FM

WNEW-FM (102.7 FM, ''NEW 102.7'') is a hot adult contemporary formatted radio station, licensed to New York, New York and owned by Audacy, Inc. The station's studios are located at the Audacy facility in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Manhattan. Its transmitter is located at the Empire State Building.

WNEW-FM is best remembered for one of its previous incarnations, a progressive rock radio format that began in 1967 and lasted into the 1990s. That station became very influential in the development of rock music during the 1970s and 1980s.

Between 1958 and 1986, the station shared the WNEW call sign with former sister AM station WNEW (1130 kHz) and television station WNEW-TV (channel 5), with all being owned by Metromedia. After WNEW-TV was sold to the News Corporation in 1986 and the AM station was sold to Bloomberg L.P. in 1992, 102.7 FM retained the WNEW-FM call sign until it was changed in 2007; the call letters returned to 102.7 on March 15, 2016.

WNEW-FM broadcasts in the HD Radio format.

History

Abortive efforts

The 102.7 FM frequency was first assigned in the mid-1940s as WNJR-FM from Newark, New Jersey. Intended to be a simulcasting sister to WNJR (1430 AM), the FM station never made it to the air despite being granted several extensions of its construction permit. WNJR gave up and turned in the FM license to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1953.

In 1955 the FCC awarded a new permit for 102.7 FM to a group called Fidelity Radio Corporation, based in West Paterson, New Jersey. The station was later granted the call sign WHFI, and a year later the community of license was moved back to Newark from West Paterson. Once again, the owners failed to put the station on the air.

WNEW-FM

In November 1957, the WHFI construction permit was purchased by the DuMont Broadcasting Corporation, which already owned television station WABD (channel 5) and earlier in the year purchased WNEW radio. In January 1958, WHFI was renamed WNEW-FM, and DuMont completed its build-out, moving the license to New York City. The station finally came on the air on August 25, 1958, mostly simulcasting WNEW (AM) with a popular music format. DuMont Broadcasting, meanwhile, would change its corporate name twice within the next three years before settling on Metromedia in 1961.

All-female DJ staff

WNEW-FM's early programming also included an automated middle-of-the-road format, followed quickly by a period (July 4, 1966, to September 1967) playing pop music with an unusual twist in its day...an all-female air staff. The lineup of disc jockeys during this stunt included actress and TV personality Peggy Cass, Alison Steele (who stayed on to become the "Night Bird" on the progressive rock format), Rita Sands (later with WCBS Newsradio 880), Margaret Draper, Ann Clements, Arlene Kieta, Pam McKissick, and Nell Bassett. The music was similar to that of WNEW (AM)'s MOR format. But only Bassett, Cass, Draper, Sands and Steele had broadcast experience, and not as disc jockeys. Meanwhile, the male DJs on WNEW (AM) were still very popular, so it was hard for WNEW-FM to find an audience. The all-female disc jockey lineup endured for a little more than a year, switching in September 1967 to a mixed-gender staff, before a major change the following month.

"Where Rock Lives"

Origins and disc jockeys

On October 30, 1967, WNEW-FM adopted a progressive rock radio format. It was not the first in New York to do so – WOR-FM preceded it – but it was the one that prospered and became famous for the format and that in turn influenced the rock listenership as well as the rock industry. The original disc jockeys were Bill "Rosko" Mercer, who started on October 30, 1967; Jonathan Schwartz, who made his debut on November 16, 1967; and "the Professor" Scott Muni, who first appeared on November 18, 1967. Alison Steele would stay on from the female staff and eventually take over the overnight shift on January 1, 1968.

The station's disc jockeys would broadcast in ways that bore out their personalities:
* morning host Dave Herman was not afraid to mix Erik Satie or Donna Summer into the playlist;
* noontime host Pete Fornatale promoted the Beach Boys when it was not fashionable and later started his eclectic weekend ''Mixed Bag'' program;
* afternoon host Muni would use his gravelly voice to introduce largely unknown British artists on his "Things from England" segments;
* nighttime host Schwartz was a raconteur who would sneak in the Sinatra pop standards that he not-so-secretly liked better than rock;
* overnight host Steele would play new-age music and space rock groups in between readings of her equally spacey poetry;
* weekend host Vin Scelsa started his idiosyncratic ''Idiots' Delight'' program, which soon gained a devoted following.

Other well-known disc jockeys who worked at the station included Dennis Elsas, Carol Miller, Pete Larkin, brothers Dan Neer and Richard Neer, Dan Carlisle, Jim Monaghan, Pam Merly, Thom Morrera, Meg Griffin and John Zacherle.

Height of influence

WNEW-FM was among the first stations to give Bruce Springsteen significant airplay, and conducted live broadcasts of key Springsteen concerts in 1975 and 1978; Springsteen would sometimes call up the DJs during records. Later, Dave Herman featured a "Bruce Juice" segment each morning. John Lennon once stopped by to guest-DJ along with Dennis Elsas and appeared on-air several other times during his friend Scott Muni's afternoon slot. Members of the Grateful Dead and other groups would hang out in the studio; Emerson, Lake & Palmer's visit to Muni's show is often credited for popularizing the group in America. In addition to music, youth-oriented comedy recordings such as from Monty Python would also be aired.

The station sponsored a benefit concert at Madison Square Garden each holiday season that drew reasonably big-name acts.

The station thrived during the late 1970s when it helped boost the transition of the punk rock/ new wave movement into the mainstream. During this era, the station hosted many live broadcasts from the legendary Greenwich Village night club, The Bottom Line. Among the bands featured live from the club were The Police, Joe Jackson, Squeeze, The Records, Rachel Sweet, David Johansen, Rockpile, Mink DeVille and the Tom Robinson Band. Many of these bands were being spotlighted during their debut New York City performance.

At the same time, the station began to feel the threat of disco. They hired Gianettino and Meredith Advertising to come up with a way to communicate with the New York area. The pitch by creative director George Meredith to station manager Mel Karmazin: "You can't tell them what you want to say, which is 'Disco Sucks,' but you can tell them that 'Rock Lives.'" That became their battle cry, and it could fairly be said that WNEW-FM earned the slogan "Where Rock Lives". The station's television commercials during these years featured the song " Layla" by Derek and the Dominos and was considered one of the station's anthems.

Beginning in the mid 1970s and extending into the 1980s, WNEW fielded a successful softball team, the WNEW All-Stars, playing in and around the New York metropolitan area and competing in the New York Sports and Entertainment League. Among the All-Stars were DJs Thom Morrera, Jim Monaghan, Richard Neer, Dan Neer and Pat Dawson, along with '' Crawdaddy'' editor Peter Knobler