Radio History: November 8

➦In 1939...WQXR-FM NYC signed-on as W2XQR.

WQXR-FM is the outgrowth of a "high-fidelity" AM station, WQXR 1560 AM, which was founded in 1936 by John V. L. Hogan and Elliott Sanger. Hogan began this station as a mechanical television station, W2XR, which went on the air on March 26, 1929.

One of the station's listeners was the inventor of frequency modulation, Edwin Howard Armstrong. When Armstrong put his experimental FM station, W2XMN, on the air, he arranged to rebroadcast some of WQXR's programming. This ended in 1939, when Hogan and Sanger put their own experimental FM station on the air, W2XQR on this date, just down the dial from Armstrong at 42.3 MHz.

When the Federal Communications Commission began licensing commercial FM stations, W2XQR moved to 45.9 MHz and became W59NY; the special FM call signs were later dropped and the station became WQXQ.

➦In 1953...Buddy Holly and Bob Montgomery (billed as “Buddy & Bob”) appeared on radio station KDAV in their hometown of Lubbock, Texas, in the first of a series of Sunday country music shows.

➦In 2012....WXRK NYC changed call letters to WNOW-FM. The calls today are WINS-FM. The station is owned by Audacy Communications and airs an All-News format via a simulcast with 1010WINS-AM. (An Alternative music format airs on HD-2)

The station, first known as WMCA-FM, went on the air on December 25, 1948. It was co-owned with WMCA 570 AM by former New York state senator Nathan Straus. FM radio was not a successful venture for Straus, and he sought to either sell it or close the station down altogether.

WNYL logo

In late 1950, Straus sold the station to the owners of WHOM 1480 AM, now WZRC, and WHOM-FM appeared on February 26, 1951, featuring a variety of formats, including ethnic, background music, classical, Spanish, and easy listening. By the early 1970s, WHOM-FM had a Spanish-language easy listening format.

Following the sale of the WHOM stations to SJR Communications, the FM station became WKTU, taking on an adult contemporary format that began on June 5, 1975. At that point, WKTU was positioned as a "soft rock" station and called "Mellow 92". Ratings were relatively low. The station held on to the format in spite of low ratings until 1978.

That June, when a station executive, David Rapaport (father of actor Michael Rapaport), visited New York's Studio 54 discothèque on half a dozen occasions, and was very impressed with the crowds there. He then got the idea that a disco-based station was needed, as several FM-based Top 40 stations were leaning disco in other markets.

As a result, Rapaport purchased 200 disco records and brought them into the station. Keeping the same air-staff, adding Paco from their Spanish-language AM station WHOM, and with no notice, the station abruptly flipped to a disco-based rhythmic top 40 format with the tagline "Disco 92" at 6 p.m. on July 24, 1978.

In fall 1978, the station rose from "Worst to First", unseating Top40 77WABC-AM in the 18−30 age demographic.

Bonnie Raitt is 74

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:

• Singer Bonnie Bramlett is 79. 
• Singer Bonnie Raitt is 74. 
• Former “Entertainment Tonight” host Mary Hart is 73. 
• Former Playboy CEO Christie Hefner is 71. 
• Actor Alfre Woodard is 71. 
• Singer-songwriter Rickie Lee Jones is 69. 
• Guitarist Pearl Thompson (formerly Porl Thompson) of The Cure is 66. 
• Singer-actor Leif Garrett is 62. 
• TV chef Gordon Ramsay is 57. 
• Actor Courtney Thorne-Smith is 56. 
• Actor Parker Posey is 55. 
• Singer Diana King is 53. 
• Bassist Scott Devendorf of The National is 51. 
• Actor Gretchen Mol is 51. 
• Actor Matthew Rhys (“The Americans,” “Brothers and Sisters”) is 49. 
• Actor Tara Reid (“Sharknado,” ″American Pie”) is 48. 
• Singer Bucky Covington (“American Idol”) is 46. 
• Actor Dania Ramirez (“Devious Maids,” ″Entourage”) is 44. 
• TV personality Jack Osbourne (“The Osbournes”) is 38. 
• Actor Jessica Lowndes (“90210″) is 35. 
• Singer SZA is 34. 
• Singer-actor Riker Lynch (“Glee”) is 32. 
• Singer Lauren Alaina (“American Idol”) is 29. 
• Actor Van Crosby (“Splitting Up Together”) is 21.

✞REMEMBRANCES

• In 1965..Dorothy Kilgallen, American newspaper columnist (b. 1913)
• In 1974..Ivory Joe Hunter "The Baron of the Boogie", American R&B singer, piano player, and songwriter ("Since I Met You Baby"), dies of lung cancer at 60
• In 1978..Norman Rockwell, American artist and illustrator (Saturday Evening Post covers), dies at 84
• In 2011..Bil Keane, American cartoonist (The Family Circus), dies at 89
• In 2020..Alex Trebek, Canadian-American Emmy Award-winning TV game show host (Jeopardy, 1984-2020; High Rollers, 1974-80), dies of pancreatic cancer at 80