THE BIRTH OF 98.7 KISS FM

WRKS 98.7 Kiss FM

In June of 1981, the station was known on-air as "FM 99 WXLO making its move to 98.7". By the end of the month, the station's call letters changed to WRKS and the station was called "98.7 Kiss FM", as the station's transition to this new urban contemporary format was completed by that August. Early on, Kiss-FM played a great deal of R&B and Dance music, and was in the top five ratings in the early 1980s, at one point moving from 22nd place to 3rd. Notable Kiss FM Mixmasters at the time were Shep Pettibone and the Latin Rascals who relied heavily on Freestyle music.

Around mid-1983, Kiss-FM approached Afrika Bambaataa about an underground rap music show. He liked the idea and appointed DJ Jazzy Jay, a member of Zulu Nation. He then passed the gig on to his cousin DJ Red Alert. In the fall of 1983, Kiss was the first New York station as well as in the United States to play rap music regularly. Also in 1983, the non-R&B Dance music and disco were phased out, as the station played strictly music catering only to the African American audience. WBLS would respond by hiring Mr. Magic to conduct a weekend rap show, which would help WBLS reach number three in the ratings that same year, and beat out Kiss FM. By 1984, although Kiss was not black-owned, the station promoted Barry Mayo as the first black general manager in the RKO radio chain. Kiss would incorporate rap artists such as Kurtis Blow, Run DMC, the Fat Boys, Newcleus, LL Cool J into the same rotation with established acts like Ashford & Simpson, Kool and the Gang and Gladys Knight among others. In 1986 Emmis Broadcasting launched WQHT-FM which had a huge emphasis on Dance music. This forced Kiss FM and rival station WBLS to add more Dance music to their playlist again. In 1988, Mayo left to organize a new broadcasting company with Lee S. Simonson and Bill Pearson, as RKO appointed Charles Warfield (former general manager of rival station WBLS) as the new general manager of Kiss. During his tenure, he upsurped the station to first place for an additional six years, making Kiss one of the most listened-to radio stations in the country.

RKO General owned three stations in New York which would end up being sold to different companies. In 1987, WOR-TV would be sold to MCA (and renamed WWOR-TV). On June 26, 1989, RKO sold Kiss FM to the Summit Communications Group of Atlanta. Around the same time as Kiss FM's sale, WOR was sold to Buckley Broadcasting. Several radio stations began to use the moniker "Kiss FM" name as well as the format. For years Kiss FM was number one on the Arbitron ratings due to its hip hop-influenced format. In 1990, in an attempt to regain listeners away from the station and claim the number one spot on the Arbitron ratings, WBLS lured on-air personality Mike Love (formerly of the original Kiss Wake-Up Club) to their morning drive time. Kiss immediately formulated a new morning show featuring Ken Webb and Jeff Foxx along with an unknown Wendy Williams. The show was an instant hit, making it the most listened-to morning show in the country.

In 1994, WQHT-FM (Hot 97) changed formats from Dance music to strictly rap, and thus entered into a rivalry with Kiss. The station responded by adding Mixmaster shows, producing remixes unheard on other urban stations and formulating a new morning show featuring Wendy Williams. Emmis Broadcasting, which owned Hot 97 agreed to purchase Kiss FM from Summit in December 1994, forming the market's first FM duopoly. Notable DJ's such as Wendy Williams (now on WBLS) and Red Alert (previously returned to Kiss and now heard on WWPR-FM) moved from Kiss FM to Hot 97. Hot 97 continued with its new format; Kiss stopped playing rap and focused on an Urban Adult Contemporary format using the slogan "Smooth R&B and Classic Soul," tightening the competition with WBLS-FM.

In 1999, Kiss FM switched from a classic soul format to current R&B. That same year the late Frankie Crocker (formerly of rival station WBLS) was hired as an announcer and a weekend DJ. The station slowly began to reintroduce rap back on its playlists in 2000. When WWPR-FM was launched in March 2002 the station slightly switched back to classic soul. In 2003 Barry Mayo returned as general manager for Kiss FM, Hot 97 and WQCD-FM. Now the station is back to an Urban Adult Contemporary format, targeting the 25-54 year-old audience, focusing more on current R&B hits from the 80's, 90's, and today. The station continues to play classic soul music on Sundays and holidays.