NYC Radio: Farewell WPLJ 95.5 FM

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Iconic WPLJ 95.5 FM — which launched in 1971 as a pioneering AOR (album oriented rock) station, then embraced the MTV-inspired new wave movement of the early ‘80s and eventually morphed into a hot adult contemporary outlet — will go dark Friday at 7 p.m. ET.

The frequency, acquired from Cumulus Media by leading religious programmers Educational Media Foundation earlier this year, will immediately transition into a contemporary Christian music station, an affiliate of the national K-LOVE network.

WPLJ was one of several stations EMF picked up for more than $100 million from Cumulus, along with such familiar call letters as news/talk station WYAY in Atlanta; Hot AC outlet WRQX (Mix 107.3) in Washington DC; Triple-A station KFFG in San Jose, Calif.; Hot AC station WZAT (102.1 The Sound) in Savannah, Ga.; and Classic Rocker WXTL (The Rebel 105.9) in Syracuse, N.Y.

Jimmy Fink, Jim Kerr, Shelli Sonnstein and Carol Miller

This week, the station celebrated its almost-half century-long run by hosting former DJs and staffers on the air, while offering commemorative T-shirts boasting the outlet’s logos over the years.

Among the on-air personalities who called in were Scott Shannon (along with co-hosts Patty Steele, Joe Nolan, weatherman Bill Evans and Brad Blanks) and Jim Kerr, now the morning man at iHeartMedia’s New York classic rocker WAXQ (Q104.3). Others who visited the studio included former WPLJ President/GM Mitch Dolan, ex-PD Tom Cuddy (now at crosstown WOR-AM) and past APD/.MDE Louie Diaz (now Cumulus VP Contemporary Programming and PD at WWWQ Atlanta).


➤ As WPLJ Signs Off Forever, New York Radio Legend Jim Kerr Looks Back, Click Here.

The station has been marking its imminent demise by playing classic drops, station IDs and promos.

According to Variety, the last time WPLJ went off the air, it was for 15 minutes after John Lennon’s murder in December 1980, at the request of Yoko Ono herself.

Current morning show host Todd Pettengill will record the station’s final goodbye, which he says, “should be a thank you for your loyalty and for listening all these years… See you later.”

WPLJ’s call letters came from the name of the first track on the 1971 Mothers of Invention album, “Burnt Weeny Sandwich,” based on a song by one of Frank Zappa’s favorite northern California R&B doo-wop groups, The Four Deuces, which stood for “white port and lemon juice.”

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