January 23 Radio History

In 1941...WOR-AM in Newark NJ moved to NYC.

WOR began broadcasting on February 22, 1922, using a 500-watt transmitter on 360 meters (833 kc.) from Bamberger's Department Store in Newark, New Jersey. The station's first broadcast was made with a home made microphone which was a megaphone attached to a telephone transmitter, while Al Jolson's "April Showers" was played. Louis Bamberger's sale of radio sets to consumers explained their affiliation with the station.

The WOR call sign was reissued from the U.S. maritime radio service. The station initially operated limited hours, sharing time with two other stations, WDT and WJY, which also operated on 833 kc.

WOR changed frequency to 740 kc. in June 1923 and shared time with WJY until July 1926, when WJY signed off for good and WOR received full use of the frequency. In December 1924, WOR acquired a studio in Manhattan. On June 17, 1927, as a result of General Order 40, WOR moved to 710 kc., the channel it currently occupies (unlike most stations, it was not affected by NARBA).

Later in 1926, WOR moved from its New York City studio on the 9th floor of Chickering Hall at 27 West 57th Street to 1440 Broadway, two blocks from Times Square.


In 1954...WNBC 660 AM NYC switched from classical to pop

WNBC signed on for the first time on March 2, 1922, as WEAF, owned by AT&T Western Electric. It was the first radio station in New York City.

The call are popularly thought to have stood for Western Electric AT&T Fone or Water, Earth, Air, and Fire (the 4 classical elements).  However, records suggest that the call letters were assigned from an alphabetical sequence. The first assigned call was actually WDAM; it was quickly dropped, but presumably came from the same alphabetical sequence.


In 1956...In Cleveland, rock 'n' roll fans under the age of 18 were banned from dancing in public unless accompanied by an adult after Ohio police started enforcing a law dating back to 1931.


In 1969...At American Sound in Memphis, between 4:00 and 7:00 a.m., Elvis Presley recorded eight takes of "Suspicious Minds," with future Grateful Dead vocalist Donna Jean Godchaux singing backup. Producer Felton Jarvis decided on a premature fade-out and fade back in near the end of the track to reflect the way Elvis performed the song in his live Las Vegas stage act. It became Presley's 17th and last #1 single in the U.S.


In 1969...At the Apple Studios in London, the Beatles, with Billy Preston playing a Fender Rhodes electric piano, recorded ten takes of "Get Back." None were used for the released single. On January 27 they recorded 14 more takes of the song, eventually selecting Take 11 which was then spliced together with the best take of the coda ending recorded on January 28. A footnote: The stereo single version of "Get Back" was the first Beatles recording to feature Ringo Starr's drum kit in true stereo.


In 1977...Carole King's Tapestry becomes the album with the longest continuous (302 weeks) stay on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart, a record that would eventually be eclipsed, no pun intended, by Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.


In 1978....founder and guitarist Terry Kath of the band Chicago died after accidentally shooting himself in the head with a pistol he didn’t think was loaded. He was a week short of his 32nd birthday.


In 1984...In NYC....Country WKHK 106.7 FM in became WLTW "Lite FM".

In 1980 Viacom bought the Sonderling chain, and the station adopted a country music format as "Kick" WKHK. The station was known as "Kick 106.7 FM." The format change, from jazz to country, took place in the middle of the night. The change brought many protests from New York jazz fans, and a petition to the FCC to deny the station's license renewal, which was denied. (The WRVR calls were moved to a radio station in Memphis, TN, that had once been owned by Viacom, but is now owned by Entercom.) However, ratings were low, as they were unable to compete with WHN, which also had a country music format at the time.

Then, on January 23, 1984, Viacom dropped country and changed the calls to WLTW. The station became an MOR station known as "Lite FM 106.7 WLTW". Initially they were an easy listening station without anything that would be classified as "elevator music". At this point, the station played music from such artists as Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, the Carpenters, Dionne Warwick, Kenny Rogers, Tony Bennett, Andy Williams, Barry Manilow, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, and the Stylistics. The station also played softer songs from such artists as Elton John, Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Everly Brothers, the Righteous Brothers and Billy Joel. The station wouldn't play any new music except for new songs by artists that were familiar to listeners of the station. With this format change, ratings did increase from its previously low levels.

(Almost immediately after the call letter switch, the WKHK calls were picked up by an FM station at 95.3 in Colonial Heights, Virginia that was also doing a country format. That station still has the WKHK calls and is now Heritage-owned Richmond, Virginia Country station "K95".)



By the late 1980s, WLTW started to play songs from such artists as Whitney Houston, Chicago, Foreigner, the Doobie Brothers and Bruce Springsteen. As other competing New York City stations changed their focus, the station stayed with their soft adult contemporary format, even though they were phasing out songs from artists such as Frank Sinatra, Barry Manilow, and the Carpenters. At this point, the station's ratings were at or near the top compared with other New York City radio stations.

For many years actress Teri Garr was seen in television commercials promoting the station. In later years animated commercials were used with Lite music playing around offices and homes


In 1986...The first Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony was held in New York City. Inaugural inductees included Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, James Brown, Sam Cooke, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers, Little Richard and Fats Domino.


In 1987... Bob "Bob-A-Loo" Lewis - WABC - WABC FM - WCBS FM died at age 49.


In 2005...late-night TV icon Johnny Carson died from complications from emphysema in Los Angeles. He was 79.