WPLJ

WPLJ (95.5 FM) is a radio station in New York City owned by the broadcasting division of Cumulus Media. WPLJ shares studio facilities with sister stations WABC (770 AM), WNSH (94.7 FM), and WNBM (103.9 FM) inside 2 Penn Plaza (above Pennsylvania Station) in midtown Manhattan, and its transmitter is atop the Empire State Building. The station airs a Hot Adult Contemporary music format, and is the home of the Todd & Jayde morning show.

WPLJ broadcasts in the HD Radio format.

Station history

Early years

The station went on the air on May 4, 1948 under the call sign WJZ-FM, and in March 1953, the station's call letters were changed to WABC-FM following the merger of the American Broadcasting Company with United Paramount Theatres. As most FM stations did during the medium's formative years, 95.5 FM simulcasted the programming of its AM sister station.

In the early 1960s, however, WABC-FM began to program itself separately from WABC (AM). During the 1962–63 New York City newspaper strike, the station carried a news format for 17 hours daily. Two-and-a-half years before WINS launched its own around-the-clock, all-news format in April 1965, it was the first attempt at an all-news format in the New York market. This was followed by stints with Broadway show tunes and general freeform programming, including broadcasts of New York Mets baseball games. WABC's AM personalities, notably Dan Ingram, Chuck Leonard, and Bob Lewis, hosted programs on the FM side which were the total opposites of the Top 40-powered sound for which they were better known on AM. WABC-FM did continue to simulcast its AM sister station during Herb Oscar Anderson's morning drive program.

Four Deuces

The Four Deuces were an American rhythm and blues vocal quartet, formed in the mid-1950s in Salinas, California. The band was started by lead singer Luther McDaniel, and recorded several songs before they broke up in 1959. While active, the Four Deuces had moderate but short-lived popularity, mainly along the West Coast, mostly due to the frequent radio airplay of their hit song, "W-P-L-J."

History

The band was formed when Luther McDaniel and a group of army friends from Fort Ord got together and began to sing gospel songs. They soon moved to rhythm and blues, and began to look for a record deal.

Moving to San Francisco, the band came into contact with Ray Dobard and his company, Music City Records. Once in the studio, they recorded "W-P-L-J", and a B-side called "Here Lies My Love." This record was released in February 1956 (see 1956 in music), and received wide radio airplay across the US. Besides in their home territory of San Francisco, the Four Deuces were especially popular in Philadelphia.