Editing WBLS (section)

===Early years===
The 107.5 frequency in New York City signed on in July 1951 as WEVD-FM, [[simulcast]]ing its sister station at [[WWRV|1330 AM]]. Within a few years, WEVD-FM moved to [[WSKQ-FM|97.9]], and 107.5 went off the air.

Several years later the New Broadcasting Company, then-owners of WLIB, was awarded a [[Planning permission#Broadcasting|construction permit]] for the dormant frequency and on September 15, 1965, WLIB-FM signed on. As the [[Federal Communications Commission]] had recently instituted a rule prohibiting full-time AM/FM simulcasting in large markets, WLIB-FM was programmed with a [[Jazz]] format. The stations were split up in 1972, when Inner City Broadcasting purchased WLIB (AM); WLIB-FM was then renamed WBLS.<ref>[https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1972/1972-05-08-BC.pdf#page=72 "For the Record; Call letter actions."] ''[[Broadcasting & Cable|Broadcasting]]'', May 8, 1972, pg. 72.</ref> Inner City reunited the pair with its purchase of WBLS in 1974.<ref>[https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1974/1974-07-29-BC.pdf#page=21 "Changing Hands; Approved."] ''Broadcasting'', July 29, 1974, pg. 21 (PDF)</ref><ref>[https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1974/1974-10-21-BC.pdf#page=9 "In Brief; Other (FM) shoe drops."] ''Broadcasting'', October 21, 1974, pg. 9 (PDF)</ref>

From 1972 to 1978, WBLS was the flagship station of the [[Mutual Black Network]] (now the [[American Urban Radio Networks]]).

As part of the [[Inner City Broadcasting Corporation]] stations, program director [[Frankie Crocker]] held 5% of the radio market in the northeast from 1975 to 1978, only ceding the title of top R&B station to upstart [[WKTU]] when that station broke out playing disco and club music in 1979. By 1982 it had fallen to number 3 in the market.<ref>{{cite news |title=Group Owners Directory |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Ratings-Directories/Inside-Radio/Inside-Radio-Spring-1982.pdf#page=30 |access-date=October 8, 2020 |work=Inside Radio Radio Ratings Report & Directory |issue=Spring |date=March 1982}}</ref>

In 1993, [[Calvin O. Butts]], pastor of [[Abyssinian Baptist Church]] in [[Harlem]], led a threat to boycott the station if they played any form of gangsta rap.  Butts' protests culminated in his bulldozing a pile of hip-hop recordings during a rally. In response to the protests, WBLS excised most hip hop music from its air and carefully screened what it did play for content and language.<ref>{{cite news|last=Myers|first=Steven Lee|title=WBLS-FM to Stop Playing Violent Songs|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE1DB153EF936A35751C1A965958260&scp=17&sq=%22Dr.+Dre%22&st=nyt|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=December 5, 1993|access-date=March 2, 2008}}</ref>

In 1995, after [[WEPN-FM|WRKS]] was purchased by [[Emmis Communications]] and dropped all hip-hop music in favor of a similar adult R&B format, WBLS countered with a controversial advertising campaign labeling WRKS as a "[[Plantations in the American South|plantation]] station."<ref>{{cite news|last=Pristin|first=Terry|title=When Aretha Spells R-E-V-E-N-U-E: Two Radio Stations Battle Bitterly for the Soul of the City|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/18/nyregion/two-radio-stations-battle-bitterly-for-the-soul-of-the-city.html?pagewanted=all|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=January 18, 1997|access-date=January 24, 2010}}</ref>  WBLS shortly reverted to urban contemporary, only to exit again in [[2004 in radio|2004]] when WBLS switched to urban adult contemporary.