, more commonly known as '''"Hot 97"''', is a high-profile
Rhythmic Contemporary Radio Station in
New York City under the corporate ownership of
Emmis Communications . The station broadcasts on 97.1 MHz
FM and first signed on the air in the summer of 1986 as "Hot 103" (103.5 FM). Through out the years the radio station has seen controversy involving celebrities such as
50 Cent and
Mary J. Blige , among others. Up until recently, WQHT was considered to be an
Urban station, but has gradually moved back to the Rhythmic side, while maintaining its Hip-Hop edge.
:''See also:
Media Of New York City
The history of the 97.1 frequency goes back to 1940, when station came on the air. After several frequency and
Call Letters changes, '''WNBC-FM''' was established at 97.1 by 1948. It usually
Simulcast WNBC 's
AM programming. In 1954 it changed its call letters to '''WRCA-FM''', but reverted to '''WNBC-FM''' in 1960.
WNBC-FM played
Classical Music in the
1950s ; it later switched to pop music. It ran automated network programming for some time, such as the
NBC Monitor weekend show. By the
1970s it was playing a pop/rock
Format . Beginning on
June 4 ,
1973 , it experimented with a fully-automated programming scheme with local inserts known as "The Rock Pile", but technical glitches were frequent and listenership dropped. For a brief period starting in late 1974, the station attempted a fully-automated
Beautiful Music format for a younger
Demographic , called "The Love of New York".
NBC Radio then came up with the notion of the NBC (NIS), an unusual attempt to place an
All-news format on the FM band. Thus on
June 18 ,
1975 , the station became '''WNWS''' and branded itself "
NewsCenter 97". This failed miserably and on
January 1 ,
1977 , 97.1 dropped "all news" and adopted an "
Adult Contemporary " (AC) format with a rock lean (to compete against
WKTU ), under the moniker "Y-97". The call letters WNWS were still in use at the time but shortly afterward the station became known as '''
WYNY '''.
Ratings were fair at best and by the end of 1978, after toying briefly with an all-
Beatles format, WYNY evolved to an
MOR format featuring
Frank Sinatra ,
The Carpenters ,
Elvis Presley ,
Barry Manilow ,
Tony Bennett ,
Neil Diamond ,
Elton John ,
Carly Simon , and
Billy Joel among others. They were an easy listening station without all the elevator music heard on
WRFM or
WPAT-AM -
FM . Ratings went up gradually.
By 1980, WYNY moved away from Frank Sinatra and
The Lettermen though they continued running "Saturday with Sinatra" hosted by Sid Mark. Musically they added
Motown songs,
The Beatles ,
The Beach Boys ,
Fleetwood Mac ,
The Eagles ,
The Doobie Brothers ,
Donna Summer , and soft hits by
Hard Rock ers.
By 1981, the station format was that of pop hits from 1964 to what was then current music, with an occasional pre-
64 Rock & Roll song. Ratings went up from 1981 through 1983. By 1982, WYNY trimmed the
'60s music slightly. Some of the air personalities included Dan Daniel, Bill St. James, Bruce Bradley, Randy Davis, Carol Mason, Mike McCann, Floyd Wright, Steve O'Brien, Bill Rock, and Ed Baer. On Sunday evenings, the station aired a pioneering advice show, ''Sexually Speaking'', which made its host,
Dr. Ruth Westheimer , a national celebrity. Sid Mark continued hosting a Frank Sinatra show.
In 1983, rival stations
Z-100 and
WPLJ adopted a "
Contemporary Hit Radio " (CHR) format, attacting younger listeners. WYNY continued with its AC format. Then in January 1984,
Lite FM 106.7 WLTW signed on, taking away older listeners. WYNY ratings plummeted, and in 1986 the station was revamped with the music staying "
Hot AC " but marketed as a "Z-100 for Yuppies". The station had new jingles and imaging, and became known as "The NEW 97.1 WYNY". The format, however, was that of the same pop hits from 1964 to the then-present. The station continued to rate low. NBC had problems with sister station
WNBC as well. Then in April 1987, a
Country Music station,
WHN , announced plans to go sports full-time on July 1, to become all-sports WFAN. In response, WYNY announced it would change to country music on July 1.
This format change was announced to the press in advance but not over the air except on ''Saturday With Sinatra''. At 12:01 a.m. July 1, WYNY ended its AC format with "
Hello, Goodbye " by The Beatles and went country, playing "Think About Love" by
Dolly Parton . The airstaff all remained, though some gradually left later in the year.
Dan Daniel (who had left WYNY in the mid-
1980s and returned), Randy Davis, Carol Mason, Lisa Taylor, Floyd Wright, and others survived the format change and remained with WYNY's country unit long after it would leave 97.1 FM and move to 103.5, where it remained until its 1996 demise. The WYNY call letters resurfaced on the suburban 107.1 frequency in late 1998 at a country station that had started up later in 1996; the format lasted until 2002. As of 2006, the WYNY call letters reside on a station in
Gainesville, Florida .
In 1987 Emmis agreed to buy NBC radio stations giving them 97.1, 103.5, 660, and 1050. Emmis opted to sell AM 1050 to SBS and then it would be sold to a
Jewish group and become WEVD. They would keep 660 AM and shut down ratings troubled WNBC and move the WFAN intellectual unit to 66 AM.
On FM Emmis sold 103.5 FM to Westwood One and the Intellectual Country 97 WYNY unit would move there. Emmis kept 97.1 and moved Hot 103.5's Intellectual WQHT unit there.
''See
WKTU for a full history of the 103.5 frequency.''
After the original
92.3 WKTU signed off the air in
1985 , New Yorkers demanded a
Dance Music station.
Indianapolis -based
Emmis Broadcasting purchased WAPP-FM and transformed it to Hot 103 in 1986. It played a variety of
R&B ,
Pop Music ,
Hip-Hop ,
Freestyle ,
House and
Rock recordings. Hot 103 was the first radio station to play Latin Hip-Hop (
Freestyle ) regularly. The station played hits by
Freestyle singer
Shannon known for her hits "
Let The Music Play " and "Give Me Tonight". It also broke ground for new artists such as
Judy Torres ,
TKA ,
Lisa Lisa And Cult Jam ,
Exposé , Safire,
Debbie Deb ,
The Cover Girls , and
George Lamond , among others. These artists were played in the same rotation as
Michael Jackson ,
Madonna ,
Cyndi Lauper ,
Janet Jackson ,
Whitney Houston ,
George Michael ,
The Bangles ,
Belinda Carlisle ,
Jody Watley , etc.
One special thing about Hot 103 is the fact that they played
12-inch Single s usually heard in clubs around
New York .
Urban Contemporary stations
WBLS and
WRKS were playing long versions of the records played as well.
The station was in the Top 5 in the ratings from 1986 to
1988 . Hot 103's major competitors,
WHTZ ,
WPLJ as well as
WBLS and
WRKS , responded by adding more
Dance Music to their playlists. In the fall of
1988 , Emmis purchased 97.1 WYNY from
NBC . That same day the stations did a frequency swap with Hot 103 moving to 97.1 and WYNY to 103.5. Hence, Hot 103 became known as Hot 97 and continued with the dance/freestyle format and featured full-length versions of the records played.
Hot 97's ratings fell slightly in 1989. The station started to lean towards
Top 40 artists such as
Milli Vanilli ,
Bobby Brown ,
Paula Abdul ,
Taylor Dayne ,
MC Hammer ,
De La Soul ,
New Kids On The Block , and more. In the summer of 1993, Hot 97 decided to target a share of
WRKS-FM 's (
98.7 Kiss FM )
Hip-hop audience by playing
Rap songs. It also added
Ed Lover and
Doctor Dre (not to be confused with producer, rapper and C.E.O. of
Aftermath Enertainment ,
Dr. Dre )of as its morning hosts. The ratings rose to number-three in one rating period.
From Summer 1993 to Spring 1994, the station gradually abandoned its
Dance Music format and became New York's new
Urban Contemporary (
Rap ) station, putting it in battle with
WRKS-FM ("Kiss FM"), which responded by adding more mix shows and moved
Wendy Williams to the morning drive time. Though Kiss FM remained number-one in the ratings,
Summit Communications Group still included it when selling seven of its radio stations in order to concentrate on technology and
Internet services.
Emmis discussed purchasing the station from Summit, but needed federal approval to own two FM stations in the same market. In December 1994 the purchase was approved and Kiss FM's format was changed to
Urban Adult Contemporary (Urban AC).
In 1995, Hot 97 again became New York's top station in the
Arbitron ratings. Hot 97 was the only radio station in New York for
Hip-hop until mid-1997 when
WBLS reintroduced it on its playlists. In March 2002, Clear Channel Communications launched
WWPR-FM (Power 105.1 FM) to challenge Hot 97, and went to number-five in the ratings. In the fall of 2005 Power 105.1 edged slightly ahead of Hot 97 for the first time ever during the same period of time as the Tsunami song parody. Most recently the station resurged back to the top of the ratings.
In May 2007,
R&R and
BDS moved WQHT back to the
Rhythmic Airplay Panel after a long tenure as a Urban reporter.
In early 2006, Hot 97 launched a HD2 station called . Hot 97 Throwbacks, located at 97.1-2, uses the format of Classic
Hip-Hop . The format is comparable to
XM Satellite Radio 's ''
The Rhyme '' and
Sirius Satellite Radio 's ''
BackSpin '', but censored.
Under the corporate ownership by
Emmis Communications Hot 97 has seen many controversies. Citing a litany of recorded complaints and controversies, including violence and disagreements over station security, the landlord of Hot 97's
Greenwich Village studios in May 2006 moved to evict the station. The case is pending in the courts.
On August 25, 2001, a charter plane with
R&B superstar
Aaliyah nose-dived during take off, killing all nine people aboard. The following morning, host DJ Star (
Troi Torain ), played sound effects of a woman screaming in a crashing airplane to mock the death of Aaliyah. Hot 97's broadcast drew criticism and the Hot 97 morning team, including
DJ Miss Jones , were suspended without pay for two weeks.
On January 17, 2005, Hot 97 DJ
Miss Jones provoked a controversy by airing a song entitled "
USA For Indonesia " a month after approximately 187,000 people died in the Asian tsunami caused by the
2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake . The song, a parody sung to the
1985 tune "
We Are The World ", was criticized for overtly racist mocking of the Asian and East African victims; the song lyrics contain the racially derogatory words "chinks" and "Chinamen," and calls the drowning victims "bitches." Some of the lyrics included the words "Go find your mommy. I just saw her float by, a tree went through her head. And now your children will be sold. Child slavery".
Miss Info , a fellow DJ of
Korean descent, was outraged and spoke against the song on the station. She excluded herself from producing the song and said it was wrong for it to be played. Miss Info immediately found herself subjected to a four-minute, on-air lambasting from the other DJs. Miss Jones accused Miss Info of always distancing herself from the antics of the others, and of acting superior because she is
Asian . Another jock on the show named Todd Lynn muttered "I'm gonna start shooting Asians."
Following angry protests from the
Asian-American community,
Blog gers, and
Networking sites, and other
New York ers, Miss Jones,
DJ Envy (whose wife, ironically, is half Black and half Asian), and Tasha Hightower were suspended while Todd Lynn and
Rick Del Gado (the writer of the song) were fired. The station issued an apology on its website. Both
Sprint and
McDonald's pulled their advertising from the station. The suspended employees' pay was diverted to charities helping victims of the tsunami. Miss Jones has since been reinstated.
In February 2001, a shootout erupted between rapper
Lil' Kim 's entourage and an entourage of a rival rapper in front of the offices of Hot 97 on
Hudson Street , which led to one of Lil' Kim's bodyguards injured. In February 2005, gunfire erupted in front of the same place between
50 Cent 's entourage and
The Game 's entourage. A member of The Game's entourage
Reed aka Pnut was wounded with a bullet wound in his leg.
The New Yorker: Where Hip-Hop Lives: Hot 97's turf wars Both incidents also led to the nickname "Shot 97" by Wendy Williams.
Other controversies have included Hot 97 on broadcasts in which women slapped each other on the air for money and prizes, three shootings, and two false bomb threats. In 2004, as a result of continued indecency complaints, Hot 97's corporate owner Emmis Communications, signed a
Consent Decree with the FCC and paid the US government $300,000.
On May 2, 2006, the company that owns the building that houses Hot 97 filed a lawsuit demanding the station's eviction. The lawsuit came after the shooting of rapper Gravy a week earlier, and amid concerns by the New York City District Council of Carpenters about the safety of those in the building's neighborhood.
DJ Star, whose real name is
Troi Torain , previously worked at Hot 97 before switching to rival hip hop station
Power 105 and had a running on-air feud with Hot 97's DJ Envy, whose real name is Raashaun Casey.
In a May 3, 2006 broadcast, Torain mentioned DJ Envy's wife and two children and threatened to find and sexually abuse Casey's 4-year old daughter. Torain said he would pay $500 to any listener who told him where the girl attended school. Torain, who is black, also used racial and sexual epithets about DJ Envy's wife, Gia Casey, who is part Asian.
After protests by the New York City Council, detectives from the New York City Police Department's Hate Crimes Unit charged Torain with endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, and required him to surrender his target pistol license and 9-millimeter handgun. The charges were later dropped.
Another controversy heated up on
June 4 ,
2006 at the stations' annual Summer Jam, where performer
Mary J. Blige made shout outs to the airstaffers of Hot 97, but neglected to mention
Miss Jones . On her morning show on
June 6 ,
2006 , Jones lashed out against the singer by calling Blige a "Sluty ass bitch."
On February 1, 2007
50 Cent appeared as a guest on Hot 97 of
Angie Martinez . While talking about his upcoming album and other artists Angie informed 50 that were people on the line calling in to talk to 50. One of these people was
Styles P .(More information on this discussion coming.) After the Styles P conversation ended mostly peacefully Angie informed 50 that more people were calling in. The next person who came onto the air was
Cam'Ron . The conversation started out peacefully but soon escalated into argument as 50 claimed that
Koch Records was a 'graveyard'. After some incipient tension, the conversation precipitously changed into a rhubarb about how many record sales from their respective artists
Lloyd Banks and
Jim Jones . Cam'Ron ridiculed Banks for selling only 300,000 records on a major label when Jones sold as much while having a lesser fan base and being on an independent label. Martinez later had to cut Cam'Ron off from the conversation due to his frequent use of profanity.
Hot 97 is currently celebrating its anniversary. There is no indication that officials at the station will throw a 20th birthday party for the station although sister station
98.7 Kiss FM is celebrating 25 years on the air.
