In 1968, owner Storer Broadcasting shut the station down while attempting to get Federal Communications Commission (FCC) permission for an increase in power.

Having been unsuccessful in getting the Sunbury station to agree to an FCC waiver, Storer sold WPNA, along with WCJW in Cleveland, Ohio, to SJR Communications for a combined $1.4 million.

The effective radiated power (ERP) was boosted to 39,000 watts and the tower was increased to 550 feet in height above average terrain (HAAT).

The format consisted of live announcers playing big band and easy listening music from half-hour-long reel-to-reel tapes that were produced in-house.

At 6 a.m. on August 6, 1973, the easy listening and big band music abruptly stopped, and WYSP began playing album-oriented rock (AOR).

The music included popular cuts from top-selling rock albums by artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Chicago, and Crosby Stills and Nash.

After a series of concerts in the park, high school hops and public involvement, the station beat rock competitor WMMR by more than 2 to 1 in the ratings.

Due to a compatibility problem with regular mono radios, and a lack of interest from the listening public, the quad encoder was quietly dismantled in 1976.

Assembling a line-up of Jerry Abear, Sean McKay and Bill Fantini (6-10a), Denny Somach (10a-2p), Randy Kotz (2-6p), Gary Bridges (6-10p), Cyndy Drue (10p-2a) and Trip Reeb (2-6a), the station broke artists like Tom Petty in Philadelphia.

Account Executive Jim Sacony gave general manager Frank X. Feller a reel-to-reel tape with a sample of what the classic rock format would sound like.

Feller liked what he heard and directed Program Director and Midday DJ Dick Hungate to team up with station consultant Lee Abrams to come up with a plan.

The actual on-air description, "Classic Rock," was thought of in a strategy session, in which other adjectives such as "timeless" and "vintage" also were discussed by Hungate and Abrams.

Hungate created a playlist of older rock tracks based upon his previous Philly experience as music director of WMMR in 1978–79.

For the on-air playlist, Hungate used metal file boxes and color-coded 3" X 5" index cards to manually rotate titles depending on each song's popularity.

This left empty space at the KYW-AM-TV studios on Independence Mall, which served as the headquarters for CBS' broadcasting operations in Philadelphia.

For many years, WYSP simulcast Philadelphia Eagles NFL games, while co-owned WIP was the primary flagship station.

WYSP also began to carry the syndicated Loveline and John and Jeff shows, effectively ending weekday music programming.

On September 12, 2007, Paul Barsky stated that he had re-signed with the station, and his show continued as normal with guest Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles.

The first three songs on the return of WYSP's rock format were Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N' Roses, Back in Black by AC/DC, and Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana.

[12] On November 25, WYSP's website announced that Kidd Chris would be returning the following day, with his show airing from 6-10 a.m., Opie and Anthony's old time slot.

Former "Partridge Family" TV star Danny Bonaduce was named the new morning drive host for WYSP, with his program beginning on November 10, 2008.

WYSP's sister station, WIP, had been airing a popular all-sports format since 1988; by 2009, it had to compete with an FM sports rival, WPEN-FM.

On August 18, 2011, CBS Radio announced that WIP would begin simulcasting its sports format on 94.1 FM, starting on September 6, thus ending music on 94.1.

On its final day, Howard Stern called into the station to discuss his time on WYSP with host Spike Eskin.

Most Philadelphia Phillies broadcasts, heard on WIP-FM in 2012, were also carried on the AM dial by co-owned WPHT, while WIP (AM) aired other sports programming.

[25] WNYC-FM WNYC 93.9 FM (licensed to serve New York City) operates on a first adjacent channel (93.9 MHz) to WIP-FM and the distance between the stations' transmitters is 82 miles (132 km) as determined by FCC rules.

[24] The minimum distance between two Class B stations operating on first adjacent channels according to current FCC rules is 105 miles (169 km).