Catercorner to Chrysler, the 56-story Chanin Building served as WQXR-FM's transmitter site from 1941 till 1965.
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any signals ever on the Chrysler
- Thread starter hangman
- Start date
I grew up (grammar, high, college) several miles south of that WTFM building, near the dump at the south surrender of Lefferts Boulevard.
Forgive my memory, but WTFM's studio was very near the mid-Queens intersection of everything .... Union Turnpike, Lefferts Boulevard, the F train, Queens Boulevard, Shea Stadium, the Long Island Expressway service road, Horace Harding Boulevard, remnants of the 1964 World's Fair, Woodhaven Boulevard, the Q-10 and Q-60 buses, and St. John's University.
WTFM and their pinkish neon letters on the station frontage were in a studio complex right next to the common-wall Broadcasters Inn.
But in 1963, when all of us kids and DXers still hadn't reached being pubes yet, I cannot say if W*T*FM ever broadcast from that tower back when we were all young and clueless.
Forgive my memory, but WTFM's studio was very near the mid-Queens intersection of everything .... Union Turnpike, Lefferts Boulevard, the F train, Queens Boulevard, Shea Stadium, the Long Island Expressway service road, Horace Harding Boulevard, remnants of the 1964 World's Fair, Woodhaven Boulevard, the Q-10 and Q-60 buses, and St. John's University.
WTFM and their pinkish neon letters on the station frontage were in a studio complex right next to the common-wall Broadcasters Inn.
But in 1963, when all of us kids and DXers still hadn't reached being pubes yet, I cannot say if W*T*FM ever broadcast from that tower back when we were all young and clueless.
I moved to NY in late 1979 and in summer 1980 decided to drive across Long Island to Montauk. I distinctly remember passing a building with a WTFM sign on it accompanied by a tower, not that far east of the city, probably in Queens. It was right off the highway, which I think was the Long Island Expressway. I assumed correctly or incorrectly that was WTFM's transmitting location.
It was not on the Chrysler Building, but I read that 92.3's antenna, when the station was WMCA-FM, was atop a building on 42nd near Fifth Avenue. This was probably last 40's to around 1950.
It was not on the Chrysler Building, but I read that 92.3's antenna, when the station was WMCA-FM, was atop a building on 42nd near Fifth Avenue. This was probably last 40's to around 1950.
I wonder if that was where the former WMCA-FM/92.3 was in the late 40's/early 50's.
WMCA-FM began transmission from the top of the Chanin Building on 25 December 1948. Citing excessive operating costs (roughly $25,000 a year), Nathan Straus ceased broadcasting on 92.3 MHz on 30 December 1949. Mr. Straus reportedly said he couldn't "give the station away."
If that was the same tower I saw at the building adjacent to the LIE owned by Friendly Frost (and it sounds like what I recall from 42 years ago), that tower was for the STL (Studio Transmitter Link) which, when I saw it, was on the World Trade roof. It had recently moved there from the Chrysler Building where I was told it had been for over a decade.
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I had to dip back into the history cards to refresh my memory on the long, strange trip WTFM took from Long Island to the big city, and there were some pieces I'd forgotten or hadn't known.
When WGLI 1290 applied for the FM station in 1957, the application was initially filed for 105.9, which sets up a huge what-if: if the station had stuck with 105.9 in Babylon on Long Island, there obviously would not have been the 106.1 in Patchogue that became WBLI - and we'd probably now have a full class B on 105.9 in Manhattan and maybe Patchogue might have ended up with a class A on 106.3 instead.
But for whatever reason, the app was modified just two weeks after it was filed in early 1957, now specifying 103.5. WGLI-FM got its license to cover in 1958 from Babylon. It sold to Friendly Frost in 1960 and almost immediately filed for a move to the Horace Harding/LIE site. That was granted in 1961 (with some to-and-fro with the FCC over the city of license - the initial request was "New York," followed by "Flushing," and then finally "Lake Success" was what was granted.)
By then WTFM, 103.5 was on the air from the Horace Harding/LIE site in November 1961, at first with a DA to protect co-channel WPRB in Princeton, though it quickly negotiated a channel change for WPRB that moved it to 103.3 that allowed WTFM to go ND from the LIE site.
It didn't stay put there, though: the application to move to Chrysler was filed in 1965 and the move took place in 1966. Again, it required a DA to protect WPRB and WNNJ-FM on 103.7 in northwest NJ.
The next step was the move to WTC, which was applied for in 1976 and granted in 1977. I believe David's timeline is correct and that the actual move took place in 1979. It was later in the 1980s when 103.5 worked out a three-way deal with WNNJ-FM and WPRB to accept mutual interference among the stations, which finally allowed 103.5 (by then WAPP or maybe even WQHT) to go non-directional from 1WTC as a full equal to any of the best of the NYC FM signals. That agreement later allowed WKTU to be licensed at Empire as a full 6 kW class B post-9/11.
Not many other FMs can say they started outside NYC and were able to become full, uncompromised NYC signals; the only other one that comes to mind is WHTZ, though it (just like WKTU) suffers from short-spaced interference in central NJ.
When WGLI 1290 applied for the FM station in 1957, the application was initially filed for 105.9, which sets up a huge what-if: if the station had stuck with 105.9 in Babylon on Long Island, there obviously would not have been the 106.1 in Patchogue that became WBLI - and we'd probably now have a full class B on 105.9 in Manhattan and maybe Patchogue might have ended up with a class A on 106.3 instead.
But for whatever reason, the app was modified just two weeks after it was filed in early 1957, now specifying 103.5. WGLI-FM got its license to cover in 1958 from Babylon. It sold to Friendly Frost in 1960 and almost immediately filed for a move to the Horace Harding/LIE site. That was granted in 1961 (with some to-and-fro with the FCC over the city of license - the initial request was "New York," followed by "Flushing," and then finally "Lake Success" was what was granted.)
By then WTFM, 103.5 was on the air from the Horace Harding/LIE site in November 1961, at first with a DA to protect co-channel WPRB in Princeton, though it quickly negotiated a channel change for WPRB that moved it to 103.3 that allowed WTFM to go ND from the LIE site.
It didn't stay put there, though: the application to move to Chrysler was filed in 1965 and the move took place in 1966. Again, it required a DA to protect WPRB and WNNJ-FM on 103.7 in northwest NJ.
The next step was the move to WTC, which was applied for in 1976 and granted in 1977. I believe David's timeline is correct and that the actual move took place in 1979. It was later in the 1980s when 103.5 worked out a three-way deal with WNNJ-FM and WPRB to accept mutual interference among the stations, which finally allowed 103.5 (by then WAPP or maybe even WQHT) to go non-directional from 1WTC as a full equal to any of the best of the NYC FM signals. That agreement later allowed WKTU to be licensed at Empire as a full 6 kW class B post-9/11.
Not many other FMs can say they started outside NYC and were able to become full, uncompromised NYC signals; the only other one that comes to mind is WHTZ, though it (just like WKTU) suffers from short-spaced interference in central NJ.
Anecdote time:
As part of due diligence I inspected the antenna on the roof of the "other" World Trade building... the one that did not have all the TVs and other stuff. This was because WTFM was directional, and had to be separately located.
The top of the tower was so large! It had a wall around the edges, but from the central roof access point, the walls looked very small... sort of like a curbstone. That was, of course, the effect of the football field size of the roof. But the day was windy, and I don't like heights unless I have a tower to hang on to. So my inspection was pretty much, "cool, there it is. Let's go inside!"
The station on 105.9 has always been licensed to Newark. It was for years a multilingual station, first as WHBI and then as WNWK, with the second call sign reflecting its city of license. In 1998, it became a Spanish-language station that would swap frequencies with WQXR-FM in 2009. For more information on the history of 105.9 prior to 2009, just click on the link below.
WXNY-FM - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Yes, I'm well aware of the history of the 105.9 licensed to Newark.The station on 105.9 has always been licensed to Newark. It was for years a multilingual station, first as WHBI and then as WNWK, with the second call sign reflecting its city of license. In 1998, it became a Spanish-language station that would swap frequencies with WQXR-FM in 2009. For more information on the history of 105.9 prior to 2009, just click on the link below.
WXNY-FM - Wikipedia
The what-if here is that WGLI's application for 105.9 in Babylon predated the Newark 105.9 by almost five years, and would have precluded the use of 105.9 at Newark if it had signed on from Long Island on the same frequency. (As well as precluding the use of 106.1 at Patchogue.)
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