WBLS

WBLS

City	New York, New York
Broadcast area	New York City
Branding	"107.5 WBLS"
Slogan	"Your #1 Source for R&B!"
Frequency	107.5 (MHz) (also on HD Radio) 107.5-2 FM simulcast of WLIB (HD Radio)
First air date	July 13, 1951
Format	Urban Adult Contemporary
ERP	4,200 watts
HAAT	415 meters
Class	B
Facility ID	28203
Callsign meaning	W Black Listening Station
Former callsigns	WEVD-FM (1951-1955) WLIB-FM (1965-1972)
Owner	Emmis Communications (WBLS-WLIB License LLC)
Sister stations	WLIB WQHT
Webcast	Streaming webcast
Website	wbls.com

WBLS (107.5 MHz.) is an urban adult contemporary FM radio station in New York City.

The station has had a number of call letters, owners and formats throughout its history.

It is currently owned by Emmis Communications, along with sister station WLIB (1190 AM). The two stations share studios in the West Village section of Manhattan, and WBLS' transmitting antenna is located on the Empire State Building. It was previously owned by YMF Media LLC, owned jointly by investor Ronald Burkle and Magic Johnson, which had assumed control of WBLS and WLIB's former parent company, Inner City Broadcasting Corporation, on October 19, 2012 at a purchase price of $180 million.^[1]

History

The 107.5 frequency in New York City signed on in July 1951 as WEVD-FM, simulcasting its sister station at 1330 AM. Within a few years, WEVD-FM moved to 97.9, and 107.5 went off the air.

Several years later the New Broadcasting Company, then-owners of WLIB, was awarded a construction permit for the dormant frequency and on September 15, 1965 reactivated 107.5 as WLIB-FM. As the Federal Communications Commission recently instituted a rule prohibiting full-time AM/FM simulcasting in large markets, WLIB-FM was programmed with a jazz music format. The stations were split up in 1972, when Inner City Broadcasting purchased WLIB (AM); WLIB-FM was then renamed WBLS.^[2] Inner City reunited the pair with its purchase of WBLS in 1974.^[3]^[4]

From 1972 to 1978, WBLS was the flagship station of the Mutual Black Network (Now the American Urban Radio Networks).

In 1993, Calvin O. Butts III, pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, led a threat to boycott the station if they played any form of gangsta rap. Butts' protests culminated in his bulldozing a pile of hip-hop recordings during a rally. In response to the protests, WBLS excised most hip hop music from its air and carefully screened what it did play for content and language.^[5]

In 1995, after WRKS was purchased by Emmis Communications and dropped all hip-hop music in favor of a similar adult R&B format, WBLS countered with a controversial advertising campaign labeling WRKS as a "plantation station."^[6] WBLS shortly reverted to urban contemporary, only to exit again in 2004 when WBLS switched to urban adult contemporary.

WBLS acquired WRKS's intellectual property in a merger of the two outlets announced on April 26, with a joint statement on both stations' respective websites.^[7] In addition to acquiring WRKS's intellectual property, WBLS and WLIB also moved into Emmis's New York production facility in the West Village section of Manhattan, into studio space vacated by WRKS during the week of May 21, 2012.

During the 2012-13 NBA season, WBLS broadcast selected New York Knicks games in an agreement with WEPN-FM. These games conflicted with WEPN-FM's coverage of the NFL's New York Jets when both teams were scheduled to play on Sunday afternoons.

On February 11, 2014, Emmis Communications announced it would purchase WBLS and WLIB from YMF Media LLC for $131 million, pending final approval from the Federal Communications Commission.^[8] The purchase was consummated on June 10, 2014.

References

↑ "Court OKs YMF Media LMA Of Inner City Stations". allaccess.com. 2012-05-21. Retrieved 2012-05-21.
↑ "For the Record." Broadcasting, May 8, 1972, pg. 72. (PDF)
↑ "Changing Hands." Broadcasting, July 29, 1974, pg. 21 (PDF)
↑ "In Brief." Broadcasting, October 21, 1974, pg. 9 (PDF)
↑ Myers, Steven Lee (1993-12-05). "WBLS-FM to Stop Playing Violent Songs". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-02. A popular radio station in New York City, WBLS-FM, plans to stop playing songs with lyrics advocating violence or expressing hatred of women in a new policy aimed particularly at the hard-core forms of rap music that have stirred criticism from some black leaders in recent years. The station's owner, Inner City Broadcasting Corporation, which also operates a talk-radio station, WLIB-AM, will begin screening the lyrics of all the songs it plays, a spokesman, Joseph J. Carella, said yesterday. ...
↑ Pristin, Terry (1997-01-18). "When Aretha Spells R-E-V-E-N-U-E: Two Radio Stations Battle Bitterly for the Soul of the City". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-01-24.
↑ Sisario, Ben (2012-04-26). "New York Radio Rivals Kiss-FM and WBLS to Merge". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-05-18.
↑ "Emmis buys WBLS and WLIB-A". allaccess.com. 2014-02-11. Retrieved 2014-02-11.

External links

Official website

Query the FCC's FM station database for WBLS

Radio-Locator information on WBLS

Query Nielsen Audio's FM station database for WBLS

Radio stations in the New York City market

By AM frequency	570 660¹ 710¹ 770¹ 820 880¹ 1010 1050 1130¹ 1190 1280 1330 1380 1480 1560⁴ 1600 1620 New Jersey 620 930 970 1430 1500 1530 1660 Westchester County, N.Y. 1460

Apex/VHF FM	42.8

By FM frequency	87.7 88.9 89.1² 89.9 90.3 (New York) 90.3 (Brooklyn) 90.7 91.5 92.3 93.9 95.5 96.3 97.1 97.9 98.7 99.5 101.1 101.9 102.7 103.5 104.3 105.1 106.7 107.5 New Jersey 88.3 89.1² 89.5 90.3 91.1 93.1³ 94.7 99.1 100.3³ 105.5 105.9³ 106.3 Westchester County, N.Y. 88.1 88.9 90.3 93.5 96.7 103.9 106.3 107.1 Long Island, N.Y. 92.7 103.5³

Via FM subcarrier	67 kHz Chinese Radio New York Gatewave radio reading service Radio Maria Stati Uniti (Italian) 92 kHz Chung Wah Chinese Broadcasting Company ICN Radio Radio Maria Estados Unidos (Spanish) RBC Radio

Digital radio	710 880 1010 1280 1560 88.3-1 88.3-2 89.5-1 89.5-2 89.9-1 89.9-1 89.9-2 89.9-3 90.7-1 90.7-2 90.7-3 92.3-1 92.3-2 93.1-1 93.1-2 93.5-1 93.5-2 93.5-3 93.5-4 93.9-1 93.9-2 93.9-3 94.7-1 94.7-4 95.5-1 95.5-2 95.5-3 97.1-1 97.1-2 97.9-1 98.7-1 100.3-1 100.3-2 101.1-1 101.1-2 101.1-3 102.7-1 102.7-2 102.7-3 103.5-1 103.5-2 103.5-3 103.9-1 104.3-1 104.3-2 105.1-1 105.1-2 105.9-1 105.9-2 106.7-1 106.7-2 107.5-1 107.5-2

NOAA Weather Radio frequency	162.550

By callsign	KWO35 WA2XMN WABC¹ WADO WARY WAWZ WAXQ WBAI WBBR¹ WBGO WBLS WBMP WCBS¹ WCBS-FM WEPN WEPN-FM WFAN¹ WFAN-FM WFDU² WFME¹ WFME-FM WFMU WFUV WGHT WHCR-FM WHTZ WICR WINS WJDM WKCR-FM WKDM WKLV-FM WKMK WKRB WKTU WLIB WLTW WMCA WMSC WNBM WNEW-FM WNSH WNSW WNYC WNYC-FM WNYE WNYM WNYU-FM² WNYZ-LP WOR¹ WPAT WPAT-FM WPLJ WQBU-FM WQHT (HD2) WQXR-FM WQXW WSIA WSKQ-FM WSNR WSOU WVIP WVOX WWES WWPR-FM (HD2) WWRL WWRU WWRV WWZY WXNY-FM WXPK WZRC

Defunct	WHN⁴ WNBC WNBC-FM⁴ WNEW WYNY⁴

See also Poughkeepsie Philadelphia Hudson Valley New Haven Bridgeport Danbury Stamford-Norwalk Middlesex-Somerset-Union Sussex Morristown Monmouth-Ocean Long Island Trenton ¹ = Clear-channel stations with extended nighttime coverage. ² = Stations share time on the frequency. ³ = Station is licensed to a community in their respective sub market (e.g. New Jersey), but transmits from atop the Empire State Building or Freedom Tower. ⁴ = Technically still active, but on a different frequency with new call letters and different intellectual property.

Urban Contemporary Radio Stations in the state of New York

Stations	WBLK - Depew WBLS - New York WDKX - Rochester WHEN - Syracuse WNBM - Bronxville WWPR - New York

See also adult contemporary classic hits college country news/talk NPR oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in New York

Emmis Communications

Radio stations	KBPA KFTK-FM KGSR KLBJ KLBJ-FM KLZT KNOU KPNT KPWR KROX-FM KSHE Rádio Expres Radio FM Plus Radio Fresh! STAR WBLS WEPN-FM ¹ WFNB WFNF WFNI WIBC WLHK WLIB WQHT WTHI-FM WWVR WYXB

Magazines	Atlanta Cincinnati Orange Coast Indianapolis Monthly Los Angeles Texas Monthly

¹ Operated by ESPN Radio under a local marketing agreement.

Coordinates: 40°44′53″N 73°59′10″W / 40.748°N 73.986°W / 40.748; -73.986

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