Farewell to WPLJ

As a kid in NYC in the 1980s, when I was discovering music, I only listened to one station: WPLJ. It was, for me, the best music station in town, playing pop and rock -- all the hits! -- plus it was the home of "American Top 40" which I loved listening to every Saturday morning. 

Songs like Madonna's "Cherish" or the Back to the Future hit "Power of Love" are, for me, the quintessential '80s songs that I associate with WPLJ. Then, in the summer of 1994, I actually interned at PLJ, spending weekends handing out stickers and shwag at promotion events, answering phones in the promotions department, and even logging the occasional "Rocky Allen Showgram." It was a fun experience.

Honestly, by the mid-1990s, by the time I interned at PLJ, my tastes had evolved to classic rock and I was more of a K-Rock listener, but I maintained a soft spot for the station of my youth and that let me intern.

By the time I went to college -- and certainly after I returned -- I basically stopped listening to music radio, especially when the IPod came into existence. I had no idea what was going on with WPLJ nor did I care. But the station felt like an institution -- it had been, and would always be, around forever. 

However, apparently, WPLJ was just sold to a Christian rock company and is, apparently, going to lose its call numbers. Now I'm sad. Really sad. Yet another part of my youth is gone. And yet another great NYC stations is vanishing, along with the likes of WNEW and WNBC and K-ROCK and others. And it's going to become Christian rock? Yewwww ...

So farewell WPLJ. And, to quote a song that was played constantly on that station, "I-ye-eye will always love youuuuuu ..." And, most of all, remember you.

P.S. I think one of PLJ's problems is that, let's be honest, it had a lousy name and lousy call letters. WPLJ means nothing. It's not like K-ROCK to Z-100 -- those had "zing", they had "edge." WPLJ has ... WPLJ. Boring. 

Easily the best call letters I ever heard about was for a rock station in California -- KOME (west of the Mississippi river, all the station call letters start with "K"). KOME, as you might guess, were awesome call letters and the station had a lot of fun with them. The station called itself the "KOME spot for great music", "You've got KOME oozing out of your radio", "Wake up with KOME in your ear", and "Don't touch that dial! It's got KOME on it." Brilliant.