[2] WRVR played classical music and some jazz, along with religious programming and public affairs, broadcasting from an antenna atop the church's bell tower.

In mid-1974 Riverside Church looked to cut its losses and sell WRVR, but with a preferred condition that the station's jazz format be preserved.

At the same time, classical music-formatted WNCN (104.3 FM, now sister station WAXQ) was in the process of a controversial format change to Album oriented rock, with new call letters WQIV.

After their efforts failed, the WNCN Listeners Guild partnered with GAF Corporation and briefly entered negotiations with Riverside Church to purchase WRVR and switch its programming to classical.

While it played Jazz music, it was allowed to report to Radio & Records Album Oriented Rock chart in the mid to late 1970s.

On January 23, 1984, Viacom dropped country music and turned 106.7 into an MOR station–with new call letters WLTW and on-air branding of "Lite FM".

At this point, the station played music from such artists as Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, the Carpenters, Dionne Warwick, Kenny Rogers, Tony Bennett, Andy Williams, Barry Manilow, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, and the Stylistics.

By the late 1980s, WLTW started to play songs from such artists as Whitney Houston, Chicago, Foreigner, the Doobie Brothers and Bruce Springsteen.

As part of Clear Channel's nationwide cost-cutting efforts, WLTW fired station veterans Bill Buchner (mornings) and J.J. Kennedy (evenings) on November 6, 2006.

[17] Prior to WLTW picking her show up, Delilah was only heard in outer portions of the New York market from stations in neighboring areas, such as WEZN-FM.

This probably took place in reaction to the "Lite" brand being associated with an older demographic turning away the younger listeners, as well as increased competition from the new Fresh 102.7.

[20] This was true even though WLTW played "Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi and "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley,[21][22] just like with most AC stations today.

Further cost-cutting efforts by Clear Channel caused the departure of longtime station favorites Al "Bernie" Berstein and Valerie Smaldone in early 2008.

However, station owner Clear Channel sold off its ownership stake in Sirius XM Radio during the second quarter of fiscal year 2013.

[23] In 2018, WLTW and eight other iHeart-owned AC stations began carrying the syndicated weekend program Ellen K Weekend Show hosted by KOST 103.5 Los Angeles radio personality and former On Air with Ryan Seacrest co-host Ellen K.[24] A link to 106.7 FM's days as Riverside Church-owned WRVR remains on WLTW in the present day.

A recorded sermon from Riverside Church airs on the station at 5:00 am on Sunday mornings, as part of WLTW's non-music public affairs programming.

After retaining its leadership in market share, and as part of a national trend, the station continued to make the switch earlier in the following years.