WLIB

WLIB (1190 kHz.) is an urban contemporary gospel AM radio station located in New York City. WLIB is owned by Emmis Communications, along with sister stations WBLS (107.5 FM) and WQHT (97.1 FM). The three stations share studios in West Village section of Manhattan, and WLIB's transmitter is located in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.

History

When WLIB first went on the air the station's target audience was upper middle-class and wealthy New Yorkers, as evidenced by its format of classical music and popular standards which competed with WQXR. The station was purchased by New York Post publisher Dorothy Schiff in 1944 and regularly ran news updates from the Post's newsroom at various times during the day.

In 1949 WLIB was purchased by the New Broadcasting Company. The firm was headed by former WNYC executive Morris S. Novik and his brother, garment executive Harry Novik. Upon taking control of the station the Novik brothers turned WLIB into a station which served ethnic audiences, with large amounts of programming targeting the city's Jewish and African American communities. The station eventually became the leading voice of New York's black residents, and established a presence in the community's epicenter with studios inside the Hotel Theresa in Harlem. During the mid-to-late 1950s its airstaff included pioneering black radio disc jockey Hal Jackson, actor William Marshall (of Blacula fame) and Victor Bozeman, who would later become a Los Angeles-based staff announcer for NBC television.