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WHTZ

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WHTZ
File:Newz100logo.jpg
Broadcast areaNew York City area
Frequency100.3 MHz (HD Radio)
100.3-2 FM New Top 40 music (HD Radio)
BrandingZ100
Programming
FormatTop 40 (CHR)
Ownership
OwnerClear Channel Communications
WAXQ, WKTU, WLTW, WWPR-FM
History
First air date
July 13, 1961 (as WVNJ-FM)
August 2, 1983 (as WHTZ)
Former call signs
WMGM-FM (1940s-1955)
WVNJ-FM (1961-1983)
Call sign meaning
HiTZ
Technical information
Facility ID59953
ClassB
ERP6,000 watts
HAAT415 meters
Transmitter coordinates
40°44′54.00″N 73°59′10.00″W / 40.7483333°N 73.9861111°W / 40.7483333; -73.9861111
Links
WebcastListen Live
Websitez100.com

WHTZ, also known as Z100, is a radio station that serves the New York City metropolitan area, broadcasting on the FM band at a frequency of 100.3 MHz. Licensed to Newark, New Jersey, the station is currently owned by Clear Channel Communications. The station's transmitter is located on the Disney Channel Building.

The call letters are supposed to represent the word "hits"; indeed, an early advertising campaign for the station claimed that HTZ was "The New Way to Spell 'Hits' in New York." Z100's current slogan is "New York's Hit Music Station.", used in tandem on-air with "All The Hits". The long-running "#1" part of the slogan was removed in 2007. The former slogan was "Today's Best Music." Z100 is considered the 2nd largest CHR/Top 40 station in the world after BBC Radio 1, pulling in an audience of 5 million daily. Additionally, according to the radio industry website, RadioStats.Net, Z100's site is the most visited US CHR website in the world and, in fact, one of the most frequented radio websites overall. Z100 is also simulcast on SiriusXM's channel 12.

History

Pre-Z100

100.3 began as WMGM-FM in the late 1940's, which played easy listening music which was co-owned with 1050 WMGM (now known as WEPN). That station shut down in February of 1955 and its owners turned the license over to the FCC. 100.3 FM was sold to local owner Herb Saltzman and known as Sabre Broadcasting. The station focused to serve northern New Jersey rather than the New York City Metropolitan area. They already owned AM 620 then known as WVNJ so 100.3 FM would have WVNJ-FM as its call letters. On Thursday July 13, 1961 at about 3 p.m. WVNJ-FM signed on. WVNJ-FM began with 20,000 watts at 330 ft. above average terrain from the AM site in Livingston, N.J. moving a few years according to Chatham, N.J. with 25,000 watts. A few years later the transmitter moved to West Orange, New Jersey and would only transmit at 5,000 watts.

The station had an instrumentally based "Easy Listening" music format (also known as Beautiful Music or, more commonly, "elevator music") consisted of instrumental versions of familiar songs with several soft vocal hits added per hour. The station was known as "WVNJoy".

Licensed to Newark, NJ, its FM transmitter was in West Orange, while its studios and AM transmitter were located on State Route 10 in Livingston, New Jersey. At the time, the station had an effective power of about 20,000 watts and an actual power of 5,000 watts. This lack of coverage due to lesser power inhibited the station's opportunity to show with competitive strength in ratings estimates in the NY Market. Thus the station's target market concentration was northern New Jersey. Radio listeners in the New York City metropolitan area could listen to WPAT-AM, WPAT-FM, WRFM, and WTFM for easy listening.

In 1980, when WRVR (now WLTW) changed from jazz to country music, WVNJ began playing jazz music after 8 PM. Its slogan was "VNJoy By Day, VNJazz By Night". In May 1983, plans were made for 100.3 FM to be purchased by Hollywood, California-based Paramount Communications. Paramount signed on the station from a studio in Secaucus, New Jersey and moved the transmitter to the top of the [\Disney Channel Building. In addition, new management announced plans for a top 40 format. The sale became final on August 1, 1983, and WVNJ-FM ceased broadcasting on 100.3 that night.

Z100 as a Top 40/CHR format

The station, which now had the callsign WHTZ, went on the air at 6:08 AM on August 2, 1983 with program director/morning show host Scott Shannon. The first song ever played on the station was "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor followed by America by Neil Diamond. The station signed on from its new and still-incomplete studio in Secaucus, transmitting from the old FM tower site near Livingston, New Jersey, as their antenna was not moved to the top of the Disney Channel Building until later in August. The station did not begin calling itself "Z100" until a few days later. Moving the tower to midtown Manhattan greatly increased the coverage area of the station's signal.

Z100 was the second station that summer to attempt to bring the Top 40 format back to New York, with rock station WPLJ having begun the evolution to top 40 in June. WHTZ was programmed to remind listeners of one-time AM powerhouse WABC, which had gone from a tight Top 40 format to leaning Disco in early 1979 to leaning adult rock later in 1979 to leaning adult contemporary in 1980 to evolving to Adult Contemporary/Talk in 1981, before it finally flipped to an all-talk format on May 10, 1982.

Within 74 days of signing on, WHTZ had climbed from last place to first in the New York Arbitron ratings book. Over the years, Z100 stayed with a top 40 format, with WPLJ behind them in the ratings. Scott Shannon left Z100 at the end of 1988 to begin "Pirate Radio" in Los Angeles, and Steve Kingston took over as operations manager and Frankie Blue would become assistant programming director. By 1991, however, the Top 40 format was in an identity crisis. A major sign of this crisis came when WPLJ moved to a hot adult contemporary format by 1992. Z100 responded to this by adding some older songs and introducing an evening talk show called "Love Phones". Ratings gradually dropped from 1991 to 1993. In 1993, Z100 dropped the older songs and began mixing in alternative rock music which wasn't normally being played on Top 40 stations. By the end of 1994, the majority of the station's music consisted of alternative rock with only a few non-modern-rock-based songs per hour. The station still played the current big hits by artists such as Madonna, TLC, Mariah Carey, and others. Although, notably, Z100 snubbed several big pop hits at the time such as "Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman" by Bryan Adams, You Are Not Alone by Michael Jackson, and "I Could Fall In Love" by Selena. At this point Z100 was sold to Shamrock Broadcasting. Frankie Blue would leave in 1995 and Sam Milkman would move up to his position.

Ratings, though nowhere near the top anymore, remained steady at the station during much of the mid-1990s, but by March 1996, there was a steep drop after WKTU signed on 103.5 FM with a dance music format, and WXRK adapted a full alternative rock format. Both stations took listeners from Z100. Steve Kingston and his assistant Sam Milkman left Z100 for K-Rock, while music director Andy Shane left for WKTU, joining another former Z100 music director, Frankie Blue. Airstaff had also gradually begun leaving the station beginning that February. Z100 had even stopped using the name "Morning Zoo" the year before. Morning host John Lander left in November 1995. That January, Steve Cochrane arrived to do mornings but by May he was gone. Z100 was undergoing a crisis at this point. The station was sold in a corporate deal to Chancellor Media.

In April 1996, the station brought in Tom Poleman as its new programming director. Initially, at that point, Z100 dropped all non-modern rock titles and began playing strictly pop alternative. By May 1996, Z100 began gradually replacing its on-air staff, and the harder alternative songs were phased out. Though initially it seemed that Z100 was becoming a modern AC station, beginning that summer, the station gradually began to move back to a mainstream Top 40 format, as it added pop music from such formats as R&B, rap, and adult contemporary. One of Poleman's biggest moves was to switch DJ Elvis Duran from afternoons to the "Z Morning Zoo" (which was known as "The Morning Show" for the previous several years), Z100's popular morning show. Despite having shared the post with other hosts (such as Elliot Segal, now at WWDC) through the years, Duran remains the "Head Zookeeper" to this day. By December 1996, Z100 was a full-time Top 40 station again. Chancellor merged with Evergreen in 1997, making WKTU a sister station of Z100. Still, both stations continued on the same courses, occasionally overlapping with music.

In a 1999 merger, Z100's parent company, Chancellor, acquired Capstar, forming AM/FM Inc. Shortly after the merger was finalized, AM/FM was bought by its current owners, Clear Channel Communications.

The station used to broadcast "mini-mixes" by DJ Spinbad, a well-known DJ who created a nightly mash-up mix of the day's top songs, playing them all together, mixing, for instance, the lyrics of one with the music of another. This often lasted 15–20 minutes, and was played at seven o'clock and ten o'clock Monday through Friday. Spinbad's mix was also a part of the weekly 5 O'Clock Whistle, a tradition started in 1986 to celebrate the end of the work week.

In early 2006, Z100 launched an HD Radio station that plays songs by bands who have not gone mainstream, or have very little exposure. Currently, it is the only New York City area HD2 station that features DJs.

In October 2007, after years of hovering near the top, Z100 once again became the highest-rated station in New York City, scoring a 5.1 rating in persons 12+ in the Summer book. This marks the first number-one finish for the station since the 1980s, according to Clear Channel New York programming guru Tom Poleman. It also scored a first-place among the 18-34 demographic in the book, as well as a second place in the 25-54 demo.

In 2008, world-famous remixer Jason Nevins joined Z100 for the "Remix at 6 with Jason Nevins", where 1 of Jason's remixes is played every night at 6pm. The programming follows the Z100 playlist and gives listeners a "you heard it here first" mix premiere of projects that come straight from Jason's studio.

Z100 Today

File:Z100 logo2.jpg
Z100's former and most recognized logo

Z100 broadcasts a mainstream Top 40 format. A majority of the music played on Z100 tends to be pop, R&B, alternative, and dance. In June 2011 Z100 was 4th in the Arbitron Rating for the New York Metropolitan Area.


Current ZJs:

Ryan Seacrest (Weekdays 10am - 2pm), JJ (Weekdays 2pm - 6pm), Mo' Bounce (Weekdays 6pm - 10pm), Trey (Weekdays 10pm - 2am), Shelley Wade (Weekdays 2am - 5am)
Phill Kross, Sharon Stevens, Mike Klein, DJ Riddler, Nick Parker, Erica Hayden (all Weekends)


Imaging:

Dave Foxx (Male Station Voice/Promo), Kelly "Kelly3" Doherty (Female Station Voice), Dave Kampel (Male Voiceover) and Mo' Bounce (Morning Show Voiceover)
Jingles based on Reelworld's "Production Vault" and Dave Kampel's "MicroJams"

Elvis Duran and the Z100 Morning Show

Main article: Elvis Duran and the Morning Show

While it was not created at WHTZ, the popular morning zoo format became a widely-employed morning show concept based on its success at Z100 - even to the point of being implemented at Malrite's sister station in Cleveland, rock-formatted WMMS. Essentially, the Morning Zoo formula was grafted onto their already successful morning show, and lasted until 1994.

The Z Morning Zoo gained rapid popularity when first launched for its use of the character "Mr. Leonard", voiced by radio personality John Carrillo. The current Morning show includes Elvis Duran, Danielle Monaro, Carolina Bermudez, Greg T., Skeery Jones, David Brody, TJ the DJ, Garrett, Scotty B., Loren, and Carla Marie. The show also features Froggy, the Y100 Miami Executive Producer.

The Z100 Morning Show features "Danielle's "Sleaze Report," Carolina's "Rage Page," "Phone Taps" (prank calls to an unsuspecting friend or relative of a listener), stunts performed by Greg T, Song Parodies, various contests, news and traffic reports.

The show was simulcast on Max 106.3 WHCY in New Jersey from early 2003 until Dec 23, 2008 and as of 10/10 is again carrying the show. The show began syndication on May 22, 2006, starting with WHYI Y100 in Miami, Florida, followed by WIOQ Q102 in Philadelphia on July 23, 2008, and Cleveland's Kiss FM on Aug 25th 2008.

Until May 2008 the show was known as "Elvis Duran and The (Y/Z) Morning Zoo". By July 2008, the "Zoo" references were later replaced with "Show". In March 2009, Clear Channel subsidiary Premiere Radio Networks added Elvis Duran and the Morning Show to its blue-ribbon lineup of nationally syndicated radio programs and is now heard coast to coast on about 40 stations.

On Monday, March 22, 2010, John Bell announced that he would be leaving the Morning Show.

Annual events

The station annually holds popular concerts featuring top-name acts: "Z100's Jingle Ball" at Madison Square Garden in Midtown Manhattan during the winter holiday season, and Z100's Zootopia in late Spring.

From 1983-1991 and from 1997–2004, Z100 aired the "24 Hours Of Christmas" from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day. Sometimes it began at noon, and other years it would be as late as 2pm. It was one of the first major-market Top 40 stations to play wall-to-wall Christmas music at the time. The music consisted of Christmas songs by the station's core artists mixed with well-known Christmas music by oldies artists and some traditional easy listening type artists. The station played about 125 songs in total, which were repeated over this 24 hour period. When Scott Shannon arrived at WPLJ, he began the same tradition there in 1991. Z100 discontinued the tradition in 1992 and during the "alternative years". By 1997, more core artists began creating Christmas music. As a result, Z100 reinstated the 24 hours of Christmas that year. It continued until 2004, when it was discontinued due to the desire to counter-program other co-owned stations as well as competitors.

On Christmas Eve at noon, the station airs a (pre-recorded) countdown show of the top 100 songs for the year, based on the total number of song spins, listener requests, and weekly playlist success (peak position, weeks on). The show is then repeated an average of once a day over the following week, with a final broadcast airing in January. Until 2004, the countdown began at Noon on Christmas Day after the "24 Hours Of Christmas". Until 2005, the countdown was hosted by Elvis Duran and Paul "Cubby" Bryant. In June 2006, Cubby left Z100 to co-host the nationally-syndicated "Wake Up With Whoopi" Goldberg program, heard in NY on Z100's sister station WKTU. As of 2006, Z100's Top 100 countdown is hosted by Elvis Duran and new afternoon DJ JJ.

Songs that are released in the final quarter of the year can be problematic; if a song is very popular during the last three months of the year and is in high rotation, it will often peak higher than a song that had been in medium rotation for a number of months. However, if a popular song is only in low to medium rotation during the later part of the year, it will often chart very low or not at all on the year end countdown, only to appear very high on the countdown of the following year.

History of #1s

These songs hit #1 on Z100's Top 100 Songs from 1983 to 2010.

  • Kelly Clarkson was the first artist to hold the top two positions on the annual list, with "Behind These Hazel Eyes" and "Since U Been Gone" in 2005. This achievement was equaled in 2007 when Timbaland held these spots with "The Way I Are" and "Give It To Me" at number one and two respectively.
  • Shakira was the first Latina singer to top the countdown.
  • No artist as listed has ever topped the chart twice, though, technically George Michael has topped it twice (once with Wham! in 1985, and as a solo artist in 1988).
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