https://patch.com/new-jersey/verona/s/g ... r-50-years

Back in the day, I was a WNEW-FM listener and never listened to WPLJ that much. Still, I know that many people did.

95.5 WPLJ Going Off The Air After 50 Years
The radio station, which has played a mix of top 40 songs for nearly 50 years, will go off-air at the end of the month.
By Katie Kausch , Patch Staff | May 9, 2019 1:37 pm ET

NEW JERSEY —After 50 years, it's almost time to say goodbye to 95.95 WPLJ. The beloved radio station has announced that it will go off the air at the end of this month.

"The rumors you've been hearing are true. As hard as it is to believe, WPLJ will be going away on May 31. The formats and personalities you've come to love over the years will no longer broadcast on 95.5," the station said in a video posted online.

WPLJ began broadcasting out of New York in May of 1971. Its final day on the air will be May 31. WPLJ has played best-selling music since its inception, beginning with mostly rock 'n' roll music before transitioning to a more pop-heavy rotation.

What comes next will be a big change for longtime listeners. The station has reportedly been sold to Education Media Foundation, a station owner with a focus on Christian contemporary music. That programming will begin on June 1.

Longtime fans shared tributes to the station, lamenting the loss.

"The end of an era! Just heard @955PLJ will be signing off on 5/31. Been #1 preset on my radio for as long as I can remember. Thanks to all the personalities that entertained us for the last 48 years especially @toddandjayde crew, @ScottShannonDJ, @RaceTaylor & countless others," one fan wrote.

"Started listening to PLJ in 1979 as a kid. Heard many changes over the years. When I met my wife in 1993 she kept talking about "Did you hear Scott & Todd say. . . ." It was the best morning show format. I listened to Rocky Allen on the way home from work," shared another.

95.5 WPLJ signed on the air in 1971. May 31, 2019 will be our final broadcast. More details to follow shortly. Thank you for the years of support and for listening! pic.twitter.com/tiFbvj5hC9
— 95.5 PLJ (@955PLJ) May 8, 2019

I became a WPLJ listener in the late-70s and stuck with them until they switched to Top 40, which I seem to remember happening in the summer of '83. One day I turned on my favorite rock station and heard Donna Summer's "She Works Hard For The Money." I knew something had changed. If my memory is correct, that summer there was a new rock station called WAPP-FM which was commercial-free all summer long. Once the ads came on I checked out WNEW and they became my go-to station until I stopped listening to radio years later.

I too was an N E W guy, but I knew many people who loved PLJ.
Radio was really good back then.

I remember this commercial running on New York television constantly in the early '80s:

I remember that one too Linda. That was on all of the time.

Yup. It was on all the time. I remember when PLJ went top 40, some of the rock DJs defected to NEW.

Carol Miller is on Q104.3. at 10:00 P.M. Jim Kerr is their early morning guy. Pat St. John used to live somewhere near me. I used to see him at Costco when we'd both get there early and wait for the store to open. I believe that he relocated out of the area a few years ago.

Loved PLJ. Carol Miller was the top jock and invented Get The Led Out, her daily evening specials to one of the greatest bands ever. All the DJs were icons including Pat St John (love his soothing voice).

95.5 will always be special.

WRIF 101 FM in Detroit used the same commercial and had essentially the same logo. All these years later, I had no idea they didn't produce it themselves.

I was more of a WNEW guy. Since, my parents (yes they were big rock fans) had it on in the house. Ah, Vin Scelsa on Sunday mornings.....

I listened to all those stations back then, though ultimately WNEW-FM was the best. (WOR-FM 98.7 had a similar format through the late 60's; when they changed format, some of their DJs, like Scott Muni, moved to WNEW. WOR-FM became WXLO aka 99X in the early 70's.)

As for WPLJ, in the late 60's I listened to WABC-FM (which was WJZ from 1948-53) - I remember when they changed to WPLJ in 1971 (I was 13). What I didn't know at the time was the story of how they got their call letters:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WPLJ

"On February 14, 1971, the station's call letters were changed to WPLJ, chosen after Allen Shaw noticed the letter combination as the name of a song on the 1970 Mothers of Invention record, Burnt Weeny Sandwich. The song, "W-P-L-J", was originally performed by the Four Deuces in 1955 and stood for "White Port and Lemon Juice". "

Has anyone ever heard the story that WNEW-FM started as WFEM in 1967 because it had all female DJs including Allison Steele? Those call letters were very short-lived.

I was an NEW listener but when my friends and I were "out on the town" (mostly going to the White Castle in Verona, NJ) PLJ was the station of choice when you wanted to hear Zeppelin, "Frankenstein," Alice Cooper or Deep Purple. Sad to hear.

I had a nice collection of WPLJ concert & bumper stickers like the ones shown here:

Nice. I have the one that they were giving away for The Who's 1982 Shea Stadium shows.

I had one of those as well. Had to commemorate their "farewell" tour, of course.

The photos above aren't mine, but I did have a few of those as well as several others not pictured. I might still have them in a drawer somewhere in my house.

He moved to San Diego, and is now a DJ on Sirius/XM's 60's channel.

I also preferred WNEW-FM and loved Vin Scelsa's Sunday morning show.

One thing PLJ did well was promotion and in the Summer of 1977 and months later, they would produce buttons and give them out at concerts in NYC. I still have my KISS button and my wife has her 1977 Led Zeppelin button.

https://airchexx.com/2018/03/16/tony-pi ... er-2-1977/

If you go down to the Big Red Apple airchecks you will see the PLAY button underneath the image (not the green button higher up on the right) for a 10 minute clip of what the Tony Pigg show sounded like back in 1977. Always liked Tony's voice. I really miss all these DJ's in their prime when Radio still made a difference. Some can be heard on XM but it isn't the same.

I remember when Vin's Idiot's Delight Show was on WNEW. It would start at 8:00 P.M., Sunday nights and was scheduled to end at midnight. That was rarely the case though. It often ended at 1:00 A.M.' or 2:00 P.M., maybe even later sometimes. That was the great thing about that show and about radio back then. It could be totally unpredictable. There were times that I'd fall asleep with his show on and then wake up many hours later to find him still on.