WPLJ 95.5 off air
WPLJ's last air date is May 31st. Has been on the air for 48 years. Some formats were great and some so so, but it will be missed.
whocares 
Don I used to listen to WPLJ (and Z-100) all the time. Was actually on the Scott and Todd morning show once with our high school band back around 1995 or so. It was a morning broadcast from a local diner. The main guest was Peter Noone from Herman’s Hermits but we played some songs used during football games in the background and got to meet and greet everyone.
Mark Mc. I listened to 95.5 ABC FM before it was even WPLJ and when ABC FM sold it, their terrific AOR format of the early 70s went away, haven't listened to them since, never cared for WPLJ , ever.
GreyHawk We haven't listened to FM radio in years, maybe a decade. We have satellite in all of our cars. Once in a while I will put on AM radio to hear a Mets game when they are on the road, because the satellite in the car only carries the home feed, and I'd rather listen to Howie Rose (except the other day they were in Milwaukee and it's a scream listening to Bob Eucker!)
Once in a while I ride in one of our kids' car, and I've found that the AM and FM bands and presets are still set on factory default. They listen to satellite, or Bluetooth the music on their phones, or Spotify with an aux cord.
My first car didn't even have FM, just AM with the Civil Defense Triangles on the dial, and manual push buttons that only got you close to the station! I eventually hooked up an FM converter.
But the next generation are not going to tune into AM much and FM, not at all. The FM stations will probably all shut down eventually and the FCC will auction off the 88-108MHz part of the spectrum.
Reggie Voter That is so sad! Another sign of getting older. Does anyone know what, if anything, is replacing it?
irun "Since 1983, PLJ has been either top 40 or hot AC, but that comes to an end this summer when its spot at 95.5 FM becomes home to another station in EMF's 500-strong K-LOVE contemporary Christian network. That suggests anything but a smooth transition: According to this past week’s Nielsen BDS airplay charts, only one song, Lauren Daigle’s crossover hit "You Say," was common to both stations' playlists......
As for contemporary Christian, K-LOVE’s takeover of WPLJ plus five other stations just purchased from Cumulus will certainly widen its already-large radio footprint, with K-LOVE outlets in 38 of the top 50 U.S. radio markets. As it is, K-LOVE is already heard in New York on Port Chester’s WKLV, and the format also reaches the market from Zarephath, N.J.’s WAWZ (Star 99.1). K-LOVE offers three satellite feeds based on audience and genre -- K-LOVE (Contemporary Christian hits), Air 1 (Contemporary Christian worship) and K-Love Classics (Christian Classic Hits from the 1980s-early 2000s) -- and it's unclear which one will end up on 95.5."
OnTheEdge So sorry to loose this station. Loved the music. Sing the songs they featured in our Praise Band at church.
Mark Mc: Met Peter Noone from Herman's Hermits while flying in 1969 to Hawaii to meet my husband while he was coming into there on his R&R from Viet Nam.
Big hit at that time was "You have a lovely Daughter".
Bernie "That is so sad! Another sign of getting older. Does anyone know what, if anything, is replacing it?"
Some sort of religious station based out of Ohio (I think) that basically pipes in their content via satellite and then just transmits it out on the local antenna. From what I briefly read in some other comments, their claim to fame is basically begging their listeners for donations across the nation, that they then use to buy up more FM stations to repeat the same tactic in additional markets.
"Big hit at that time was "You have a lovely Daughter"."
I remember he sang that as well as "I am Henry VIII, I Am" (with the band and diner patrons singing along).
Roywhite 
WPLJ was almost as much of a go to station as WNEW-FM in the 70's-80's, though I preferred WNEW by quite a bit. (Scott Muni,The Neer Brothers, Dave Herman, etc).
WPLJ pretty much lost me when they went to the top 40 format, or as I called it, "music for 16 year old girls". (not there is anything wrong with that).
I will always find some real over the air radio to listen to. Since our local FM 91.9 was sold off and is Philly-centric, they are a no go for me. I have discovered 89.7 FM out of Seargentsville, they have a pretty decent signal here, that fills some of the void. There are a couple of college stations between 89-91 on the FM band that are decent, but harder to pickup.
Of course, our own WRNJ is always decent radio (though their music playlist is a bit uninspiring at times), esp since Jimmy Howes has come aboard. If you want to hear what a decent morning radio show should be, listen to him between 5:30a-6am, when apparently Norman Wirth is sleeping- it is Jimmy with the gloves off and it is the most entertaining 1/2 hour of radio with good music choices that I hear on over the air radio all day.
If they gave him another pot of coffee in the morning after 6a, or the General Manager slept until 10a, they would have a very good thing. (Esp if they could bring in Tom(Big Like Boat)Note to do some co-hosting, that would be good stuff.
The Rhyme Animal 
Carol Miller Was a DJ at WPLJ for many years. Carol was the first DJ to broadcast a Bruce Springsteen song on NY radio.She had also worked at WNEW-FM too.She wrote a book about her adventures in radio.She still works in the business.
murofWKRP in Cincinnati still lives on .. MeTV … the people who wrote those shows knew the screwy inside world of radio.
They also correctly forecast the doomy and gloomy future of automated radio …
Back in the 8Os I loved hearing the daily Jukebox From Hell song … they would dig deep into the dark recesses of the storeroom for the most corny, sappy, silly, weenie songs, to play them one more time before condemning them forever … Donny Osmond and the 1910 Fruitgum Company were in their "glory" :-D
Andy Loigu The Jukebox From HEL-L-L-L-L-L-L...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkxAf6RxC-g
They just don't make em like this anymore :-(
Where was WPLJ broadcast from? There was a station in River Edge, NJ that I sorted mail for when I was a kid, but for the life of me I can't remember the call numbers.
USAfirst WPLJ studios are at Penn Plaza (next to Madison Square Garden) in NYC.
The transmitter is on the Empire State Building.
Grew up listening to WPLJ. Even after I stopped liking most of the songs they played, I would love to listen to the phone scams every morning! Always a good laugh on the way to work. Haven't listened in years though since I can't seem to get that station in my car. (or almost any station for that matter)
SueR oh yeah Bug, wor fm was a great station til they ruined it, they would sometimes play a whole side of an album and we could make a tape of it on our (7 inch) reel to reel tape recorders back in the day, wnew did the same thing till the record companies complained that they were interfering with sales and put the kibosh on it, those were good days for fm radio. I can even recall when the night bird (Allison Steele) wasn't the night-bird yet, she had the 2pm afternoon gig on wnew, them's were the early days of fm and it was a lot of fun
WPLJ...the radio station with a TV ad. They definitely lost me when they went Top 40, at which point I went to NEW. Now, I'm fairly sure there isn't an actual rock radio station (NOT "classic rock") in NYC.
Oh well...I'm not the target demographic anyway.
JJB Richard Neer (now a WFAN sports talker) worked at NEW back in the day and wrote a book about the experience … dealt a lot with what killed rock-n-roll radio.
Well, we still have Johnny Fever (they show WKRP reruns on MeTV) and we have WXPN from Philly (I like the Geator's Saturday evening shows -- playing those classics and telling the stories behind them).
AJMS Z100 has taken over the summer kickoff at Jenkinson's:
https://www.jenkspavilion.com/happenings/2019-kickoff-show/
WNEW FM listener here.
Good ‘ole days.
Scott Muni “the professor” and the “King Biscuit Flour Hour”.
Allison Steele- “the Night Bird”.
Pete Fornetelle
And the pages turn, turn, turn...
Stymie The cell phone killed the landline...
Video killed the radio star... (ironically, even MTV hasn't played MUSIC in about 20 years)
Cable news and internet are killing the newspapers....
Satellite radio and instant custom streaming platforms like Spotify and Pandora are killing broadcast radio (except TALK radio).
I guess that's "progress".
JeffersonRepub And cars replaced horses and buggies, and guns replaced slingshots, modern medicine replaced witch doctors....I’m sure you prefer that progress...
Though I could be wrong, in which case how many miles a day do your horses get?
Pcisnt4me " modern medicine replaced witch doctors" are you really sure about this one?
strangerdanger " modern medicine replaced witch doctors" are you really sure about this one?
Agree, SD. While modern medicine is great, especially the acute, emergency, and surgical arms... the drug companies have done us as many harms as they have favors.
The drug companies are a business. Business is part of capitalism. Unless you want government to control drug companies and other businesses, I wouldn’t complain too much. Unless you want to become socialist.
One of the stations I grew up with. All gone now. Thank God for technology that makes my music available and accessible.
Jono Commenting is no longer available.