WQHT, more commonly known as "Hot 97", is a high-profile Rhythmic 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). Throughout the years the radio station has seen controversy involving celebrities such as 50 Cent and Mary J. Blige, among others. Up until mid 2007, WQHT was considered to be an Urban station, but has moved back to the Rhythmic side, while maintaining its Hip-Hop edge.

History

''See also: Media of New York City

WNBC-FM and variants

The history of the 97.1 frequency goes back to 1940, when station W2XWG 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 network programming for some time, such as the NBC Monitor weekend series. 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 News and Information Service (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," an allusion to WNBC-TV's "NewsCenter 4" local newscasts. 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.

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 rockers.

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. The station was also a pioneer of Contemporary Christian Music in the city, airing the weekly show Masterpeace, hosted by Steven Joseph. Sid Mark continued hosting a Frank Sinatra show.

In 1983, rival stations Z-100 and WPLJ adopted a "Contemporary Hit Radio" (CHR) format, attracting 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.

WQHT Hot 103

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 singles 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.

WQHT Hot 97 from 1988

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 Entertainment , Dr. Dre) of Yo! MTV Raps 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 an Urban reporter. More recently, Hot 97 has begun to play more late 90's and early 2000s throwbacks. While the majority of the songs played on the station are current Hip-Hop and R & B Hits, classic hits by legendary artists such as the Notorious B.I.G and Tupac have begun to receive more airplay.

HD Radio Operations

In early 2006, Hot 97 launched an HD2 station called Hot 97 Throwbacks. 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 and a few R&B songs.

On September 9, 2008, Emmis announced a programming partnership with WorldBand Media and will be using WQHT's HD-3 signal to produce programming for the South Asian communities in 3 major cities including New York City. The said content will be available in Mid-October.

Controversies

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.

Mocking death of Aaliyah

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 Star, played sound effects of a woman screaming in a crashing airplane to mock the death of Aaliyah. One member of the Morning show cast, Miss Jones, thought that it was done in poor taste and walked out of the studio, refusing to work further with DJ Star. Hot 97's broadcast drew criticism and the Hot 97 morning team, including DJ Miss Jones, were suspended without pay for two weeks.

Tsunami Song and racial epithets

On January 17, 2005, Hot 97 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 on-air colleague 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, bloggers, and networking sites, and other New Yorkers, 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.

Fights and shootings

In February 2001, a shootout erupted between rapper Li'l 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 Li'l 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. The Game was quickly met by 50 Cent's crew after being notified he was at the front entrance of the building. A friend of 50 Cent pulled a gun and shot at The Game and his entourage. A bullet hit a member of The Game's entourage in the leg. 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 (This was called Slapfest and was the brainchild of DJ Miss Info), 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.

In an episode of the NBC show 30 Rock, Tracy Jordan remarks that shooting people at the Source Awards is a tradition, like shooting people outside Hot 97.

DJ Envy and DJ Star feud

Radio personality Star, whose real name is Troi Torain, previously worked at Hot 97 before switching to rival hip hop station Power 105,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.

Miss Jones Vs. Mary J. Blige

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 "bitch."

50 Cent's February 1, 2007 Visit

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. 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 an argument 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's 20th Anniversary (1986–2006)

In 2006, Hot 97 celebrated its 20th year of being on the air. 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. In 2006 Hot 97 also brought a young DJ name DJ Louie styles a young 16 year old to dj on the air for the first time.

• Hot 97's 20th Anniversary Commemoration

References in popular culture

• In the Seinfeld episode called "The Pool Guy", Kramer mentions Hot 97 as one of the sponsors to his Moviefone information line.
• In the movie World Trade Center, one of the officers says that his wife heard on Hot 97 that a second plane had hit the towers, to which another officer replies: "Who gets their news from Hot 97?"
• The Beat 102.7 radio station in Rockstar's video game Grand Theft Auto IV is a replication of Hot 97, playing contemporary hip-hop and prominently featuring Hot 97 personality DJ Green Lantern.

See also

• Media of New York City

References

• WNBC-FM Abandons Rock For Popular Music Format – The New York Times, December 18, 1974.
• Asian Media Watchdog - One of the high profile groups that organized Tsunami Song protest
• Freestyle Music Information
• Station info on New York Radio Guide
• Former Presidents and the Hot 97 Controversy
• World Music Central - British MPs deplore Hot 97's racist tsunami song
• World Music Central - Demonstrations planned outside Hot 97 New York
• Media Week Headlines
• UK Chinese - Chinese Community ask George Bush and Tony Blair to take action against Hot 97
• UK Chinese - British MPs and the Hot 97 Tsunami Song
• Club LK.US - UK Sri Lankans denounce Hot 97's racist tsunami song
• Sunday Island Sri Lanka - Two tsunami songs mentioned in the British parliament with kudos to Nimal Mendis by Nan
• House of Congress Press Release from House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi: Pelosi Condemns Broadcast of ‘Tsunami Song’

External links

• Hot 97 website
• Federal Communications Commission
• Hot 97 New Yorker article

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