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WWPR-FM (105.1 FM broadcasting) is an urban contemporary music radio station licensed to New York, New York. The station is owned by iHeartMedia and broadcasts from studios located at 125 West 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan, while its transmitter is located at the Empire State Building. WWPR-FM is the flagship station of the nationally syndicated morning show, The Breakfast Club.
Bonneville International, the broadcast arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, purchased WRFM in 1967. The following year, WRFM, billing itself as "Stereo 105", adopted a beautiful music format that was developed by program director Marlin Taylor. WRFM played mostly instrumental music with about one vocal every 15 minutes. It featured the works of such artists as Mantovani, Henry Mancini, Ferrante & Teicher, Percy Faith, Hollyridge Strings, Leroy Anderson, Frank Mills and Richard Clayderman. Mixed in were vocals by such artists as Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, Peggy Lee, the Lettermen, Nat King Cole and Barbra Streisand.
Ratings for the station were satisfactory, and for a couple of times, WRFM was the top-rated FM station in New York. WRFM competed for beautiful music listeners with the simulcast of WPAT and WPAT-FM, with two other easy listening stations, WKTU and WVNJ-FM usually trailing. As the 1980s began, WRFM started mixing in some soft contemporary artist vocals including the Carpenters, Barry Manilow, Kenny Rogers and Dionne Warwick, and it was also used on an electronic program guide in Manhattan throughout the '80s. In 1984, the station increased vocals to six per hour and cut back on adult standards titles, while also adding softer songs by top 40 artists, such as Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Chicago, Elton John, the Beatles and Whitney Houston.
On August 5, 1997, with ratings on the decline, the call sign changed back to WNSR. The original plan was for the station to drop the "Buzz" format in favor of an oldies-based AC format, playing songs from 1964 to current hits. The station was to have launched on August 18, 1997, with television commercials set to air. However, Bonneville instead decided to sell the station to Chancellor Media, which also owned WHTZ, WLTW, WKTU, and WAXQ.
As a result, the format change for 105.1 was canceled and the station remained "The Buzz" for a while longer, with the reverted WNSR call letters. Gradually, from September through November 1997, the station returned to hot AC, and then mainstream AC. For the next few months, the station would simply be known on-air as "FM 105.1", and only used the WNSR call sign for the legal station identification.
Initially, Big 105 was musically very close to WLTW, but evolved to a hot AC format by that May, similar to what WPLJ was playing at the time. WBIX also added Danny Bonaduce as its morning show host. It also added Casey Kasem's American Top 20 syndicated countdown program on Sundays, coinciding with Kasem's move to Chancellor Media from Westwood One earlier in the year. Ratings continued to decline, and by October 1998, WBIX leaned toward modern AC, similar to the former "Buzz" format, but not as deep.
Chancellor merged with Capstar Broadcasting to form AMFM Inc. in 1999. Then, in 2000, Clear Channel Communications merged with AMFM Inc., giving WTJM and the other four stations a new owner. Under Clear Channel (now iHeartMedia), WTJM evolved into an urban oldies direction, and then to an urban adult contemporary format, while keeping the "Jammin' 105" moniker. Frankie Blue was brought in to program the shift to urban AC. He immediately brought in Jeff Foxx (formerly of WEPN-FM and WBLS) and teamed him with comedian George Wallace to form the "Jammin' New York Wake-up Club". While the morning show was a hit, it did not warrant keeping the format due to the station's low ratings in other dayparts.
By 2004, WWPR-FM technically became the market's only urban contemporary station due to the transition of 107.5 WBLS from urban contemporary to urban adult contemporary. WQHT reports as rhythmic contemporary to Mediabase & Nielsen BDS, although WQHT was an urban reporter on Nielsen BDS from 2006 to 2007. WWPR-FM and WQHT's are similar, and the two stations aim at roughly the same audience.
WQHT had been the only New York station featuring current hip hop and R&B since its owner, Emmis Communications, purchased WRKS in 1994 and moved that station towards an adult R&B format. In an effort to build an audience, WWPR-FM brought in former Hot 97 personalities and Yo! MTV Raps hosts Ed Lover and Doctor Dré to anchor the station's morning show. The station then entered into the top five of the Arbitron ratings, a position it maintained for several years.
The station terminated Doctor Dre's contract in December 2003 and gave Ed Lover a new co-host in rapper-turned-radio personality Monie Love. The morning team lasted for about a year. By the end of 2004, WWPR decided to heat up the rivalry with WQHT by bringing in ex-Hot 97 morning show hosts Star & Buc Wild as their new morning drive team, as well-known disc jockeys were deemed critical to the station's success.
The "Star and Buc Wild Morning Show" was replaced in 2006 by Live with Big Tigger and Egypt. That team was later replaced by a returning Ed Lover, who was later joined by Malikha Mallette. This last show incarnation ended on November 19, 2010, when Ed Lover was released from the station and Mallette was reassigned to the midday shift, replacing De Ja.
In a May 3, 2006, broadcast, Torain mentioned DJ Envy's wife and child. Torain said he would pay $500 to any listener who told him where the girl attended school. Torain, who is bi-racial, also used racial and sexual epithets about DJ Envy's wife, Gia Casey, who is part Asian.
New York City Council members called for an investigation by law enforcement and the Federal Communications Commission. After the protests, Clear Channel Communications, the corporate owner of Power 105, suspended Torain. After reviewing transcripts of the broadcast, New York City law enforcement officials called Torain to police headquarters in Lower Manhattan to surrender his target pistol license and 9-millimeter handgun. Detectives from the Hate Crimes Unit charged him with endangering the welfare of a child.
Leaving the precinct house, Torain leaned back and grinned for television cameras, saying "You're looking at the new Lenny Bruce." Torain's lawyer's defended his broadcasts on first amendment grounds. "D.J. Is Arrested Over His Threat to Rival's Child." The New York Times May 13, 2006.
Star and Buc Wild were replaced with Live with Big Tigger and Egypt on May 4, 2006.
Both personalities have experience in radio and television. DJ Envy is the host of MTV2 shows Sucker Free and The Week in Jams. Charlamagne Tha God is the co-host of MTV2's Guy Code and was a former co-host of The Wendy Williams Experience.
In April 2013, Premiere Networks launched a weekend version of the show Weekends with the Breakfast Club, which features a Top 20 countdown. Four months later, The Breakfast Club weekday version went into national syndication. The show is heard in KOHT; WKKV-FM, WWWZ; Birmingham; WQUE-FM; KBHT; WZHT; WJBT; WMIB; WOWI; WZCB; KQBT, WJLB; WFXE; Atlanta, Lexington, Kentucky; WDHT; WCST-FM; KVEG; WCZQ; WGOV-FM; KKMY, WKJS; WTFX-FM; ; and WTKS-FM. A video version of the show is also carried weekdays on BET Networks
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