The stations share studios in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, and WBLS' transmitter is located at the Empire State Building.

As the Federal Communications Commission had recently instituted a rule prohibiting full-time AM/FM simulcasting in large markets, WLIB-FM was programmed with a Jazz format.

[6] In 1993, Calvin O. Butts, pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, led a threat to boycott the station if they played any form of gangsta rap.

[9][10][11] WBLS acquired WRKS's intellectual property in a merger of the two outlets announced on April 26, with a joint statement on both stations' respective websites.

On February 11, 2014, Emmis Communications announced it would purchase WBLS and WLIB from YMF Media LLC for $131 million, pending FCC approval.

Wendy Williams, Egypt Sherrod, and Rap City's Big Lez doubled on the online platform as IJ's or WBLS' the first internet jockeys.