WLIR
[1] The website broadcasts a mix of alternative rock from the past and present day, along with former WLIR/WDRE personalities, such as Larry The Duck, Drew Kenyon, Andre, and Rob Rush.
The station also began its long-running series of live concert broadcasts from the nearby Ultrasonic Recording Studios and later from local clubs such as My Father's Place and The Ritz.
The air staff in the early '70s included program director Ken Kohl,[5] George Taylor Morris, Jim Cameron, Joel Moss, Malcolm Davis (later a longtime Boston radio host as "Austin from Boston" on WODS),[6] Charlie Ahl (WPLJ, WHN and WCBS-FM NYC as Chris Charles), Dave ("The Wrench") Friedman, Ray White, Earle Bailey, production director Ben Manilla, and public-affairs producer Heather Schoen.
North was doing a special comment on the murder of gun control advocate Dr. Michael J. Halberstam, when an intern ran in with the news about Lennon.
North then read the AP wire bulletin and spoke several times with a police contact, who was finally able to confirm Lennon had died at 11:24.
[9] Although adult contemporary seemed commercially appealing, new music was chosen because it was more in step with the "dare to be different" campaign being used to promote the new format and it was more "fun".
It was a perfect solution to what was needed in New York, since none of the other stations were going to "touch that stuff"[9] On August 2, the format switch occurred, and the station featured new wave (McNamara "hated" that term because he felt it was a trendy phrase that might be out of style in a year),[9] synth-pop, post-punk, early alternative rock acts and novelty songs.
The station's FCC license had been changed to a special temporary authority in 1972 as the result of slow-moving legal battle that had gone dormant later in the 1970s.
Gary Cee took over as program director and brought in British DJ The English Muffin (Orli Auslander) for the afternoon drive and Drew Kenyon joined Maria Chambers on the Morning Show.
On January 9, 2004, Univision bought the 92.7 frequency and other assets for $60 million[20] and began simulcasting the Spanish radio format of WCAA Newark, New Jersey on 92.7 under the call letters WZAA.
[22] As 107.1 FM is located about 50 miles east of the original WLIR in Garden City, many of the station's fans in New York City, southwestern Connecticut, southern Westchester County, New York, northeastern New Jersey and even the western parts of Long Island itself could not easily receive the station.
Many of these areas were closer geographically to other stations occupying 107.1 FM (WXPK in central Westchester County and WWZY in Long Branch, New Jersey), which hindered reception.
During that time, WLIR had a safe, almost hot adult contemporary sound, similar to that of WPLJ, and carried broadcasts of New York Islanders hockey games.
On January 3, 2008, partly because of the reach of the new antenna, WLIR-FM began simulcasting programming from sister station WDRE (Party 105), fueling speculation that a change in format to ESPN was imminent.
[30] On February 9, 2011, Jarad Broadcasting of Hampton Bays entered into an asset purchase agreement with Holding Out Hope Church (WLIX Radio) to sell the station for $650,000.
[citation needed] 107.1 WLIR-FM, which hadn't broadcast alternative music since 2008, was sold to Red Apple Media Inc., and began simulcasting most of WABC's programming.
In November 2020, WLIR.FM changed its name to WDAREFM.com (Dare FM), and continues to broadcast the same alternative music and WLIR personalities that it has done for the last 15 years.
[citation needed] After five years of production, the documentary entitled Dare to Be Different - WLIR: The Voice of a Generation by Ellen Goldfarb debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2017.
It details WLIR's history, program director Denis McNamara and team's August 1982 format change, the influence the station had and its battles with the FCC.
