WPLJ is a Class B FM station, with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 6,700 watts, transmitting from atop the Empire State Building in Midtown Manhattan.

[3] In March 1953, the station's call letters were changed to WABC-FM following the merger of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) with United Paramount Theatres.

[9] WABC's AM personalities, such as Dan Ingram, Chuck Leonard, and Bob Lewis, hosted programs on the FM side which were the total opposites of the contemporary hit radio–powered sound for which they were better known on AM.

[10] The following year, WABC-FM and its sister stations—KABC-FM in Los Angeles; WLS-FM in Chicago; KGO-FM in San Francisco; WXYZ-FM in Detroit; KQV-FM in Pittsburgh; and newly acquired KXYZ-FM in Houston—began carrying an automated, youth-oriented, progressive rock format known as Love.

[15] On the air, the station hired John Zacherle, Alex Bennett, Vin Scelsa, Jimmy Fink, and Michael Cuscuna (from WMMR and WXPN in Philadelphia) as personalities.

The following year, Lochridge brought his Detroit program director, Larry Berger to WPLJ, and adopted a new slogan: "New York's Best Rock".

During these call-in segments, some callers suggested that the station sped up (or "pitched up") the music so that they could fit in more commercials while still being able to claim that they played a large number of songs per hour.

[16] Known on-air as Father Bill Ayres, the show mixed spirituality and social consciousness together with the music of Harry Chapin, Bob Seger, and others.

The show also aired on its sister station WABC on Sunday mornings within the last years of its contemporary hit radio music format.

[17][18] In 1981, Berger hired Marc Coppola, a rock-oriented disc jockey from suburban rival WBAB on Long Island, to do the 10 p.m.–2 a.m. shift Monday through Saturday.

During its AOR phase, the station was noted for its promotional montages consisting of snippets of classic rock songs spliced together by St. John, emphasizing a subject or theme, such as gasoline (during the gas shortages of the 1970s).

WPLJ's airstaff, which stayed on during the early transition months, gradually changed, as WNEW-FM picked up some of the station's best-known disc jockeys such as Carol Miller and Pat St. John.

Jimmy Fink, Tony Pigg, and Marc Coppola eventually moved to Infinity Broadcasting's WXRK when it debuted a couple of years later.

(Rival WHTZ joked that the "PR" in the calls stood for "Puerto Rican" and that the station planned to flip to a Spanish-language format.)

[25][26] WPLJ began to regain some momentum; however, in early 1991, Cuddy and Dolan hired Scott Shannon, who had just left his rock hits project, KQLZ ("Pirate Radio") in Los Angeles.

In an attempt to differentiate itself from its competitors, WPLJ adopted the slogan "No Rap, No Hard Stuff, No Sleepy Elevator Music, Just the Best Songs on the Radio".

(In a bit of irony, WPLJ may have helped pioneer many of the concepts made popular by the diverse-playlist, music-intensive adult hits format of 2005.)

Initially, WPLJ leaned towards 1970s hits, as well as mixing in liberal doses of disco, and did regular theme weekends featuring one-hit wonders and number-one songs, among others.

Eventually, it also dedicated Monday-Saturday nights to playing nothing but 1970s music, hosted by former WKTU disc jockey Al Bandiero, a practice that continued for the next few years.

In 1995, WPLJ signed an agreement with Usen Group of Tokyo, a 500-channel audio cable system, to carry the station live in real-time throughout Japan.

Also, from August 7 to 13 of that year, WPLJ was simulcast on Heart 106.2 in London as part of testing transmissions before it signed on September 5 with a hot AC format.

In addition, many on-air personalities exited, including Kristie McIntyre, Danny & Onions, WPLJ veteran Fast Jimi Roberts and, a short time later, Kato Machay.

[citation needed] On July 25, 2011, Scott and Todd, with the new addition of Cooper Lawrence, were part of a six-week summer test of 20th Television's nightly entertainment news magazine Dish Nation.

Monk (Joe Pardavila), Annie (Anne Marie Leamy), and Johnny on the Street (John Mingione, formerly 'John Online' of WBLI on Long Island) were the other cast members of Todd & Jayde in the Morning.

This transaction would allow Cumulus to generate "substantial cash for debt repayment and investment in other business opportunities," according to its President and CEO Mary Berner.

[48] After the sale received final approval by the FCC, EMF announced that WPLJ and the other Cumulus stations acquired would all begin broadcasting its primary programming service, K-Love, on June 1 at midnight local time;[49][50] this was later moved up to May 31 at 7:00 pm, five hours earlier than originally planned.

The penultimate broadcast day on May 30 was filled with guest appearances from WPLJ alumni, including an on-air reunion of Todd Pettengill and his former morning co-host, Scott Shannon.

Taylor then played the closing lyrics of "The End" by the Beatles, before offering WPLJ a final toast, completing the closedown at 7:02 pm.

The WPLJ-HD2 subchannel originally broadcast all-70s hits,[56] and then programming from Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel that was distributed by ABC Radio.

[58] After EMF acquired the station on May 31, 2019, WPLJ-HD2 adopted a simulcast of the Christian-formatted "Bridge Radio" fed by WRDR in Freehold Township, New Jersey (this would later be moved to WPLJ-HD4, with the K-Love Classics service being installed on the HD2).