*Z100 stickers between 1983 and 2013... happy 30th anniversary!!!
WHTZ (100.3 FM)–branded Z100–is a commercial Top 40 (CHR) radio station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, serving the New York metropolitan area. Owned by Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, WHTZ serves as the flagship station for Elvis Duran and the Morning Show and the New York affiliate for On Air with Ryan Seacrest. The WHTZ studios are located in the TriBeCa neighborhood of New York City, while the station transmitter resides atop the Empire State Building. Besides a standard analog transmission, WHTZ broadcasts over two HD Radio channels, and is available online via iHeartRadio. The station also simulcasts over channel 12 on SiriusXM satellite radio.
Z100 went on the air at 6:08 AM on August 2, 1983 with program director/morning show host Scott Shannon. The first two songs ever played on the station were "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor, followed by "America" by Neil Diamond. Initially, the station called themselves by their new call letters (WHTZ), but by late August, they began calling themselves "Z100". The station signed on from its new and still-incomplete studio in Secaucus, transmitting from the old FM tower site in West Orange, New Jersey, as their antenna was not moved to the top of the Empire State Building until August 4 at 6 AM.
Listen to audio of Z100's first day on the air here.
Z100 was the second station that summer to attempt to bring the Top 40 format back to New York, with rock station WPLJ having begun the evolution to top 40 in June. WHTZ was programmed to remind listeners of one-time AM powerhouse WABC, which had gone from a tight Top 40 format to leaning Disco in early 1979 to leaning adult rock later in 1979, to leaning adult contemporary in 1980 and then evolving to Adult Contemporary/Talk in 1981, before it finally flipped to an all-talk format on May 10, 1982.
Within 74 days of signing on, WHTZ had climbed from last place to first in the New York Arbitron ratings book. Over the years, Z100 stayed with a top 40 format, with WPLJ behind them in the ratings. Scott Shannon left Z100 at the end of 1988 to begin "Pirate Radio" (KQLZ) in Los Angeles, and Steve Kingston took over as operations manager and Frankie Blue would become assistant programming director. By 1991, however, the Top 40 format was in an identity crisis. A major sign of this crisis came when WPLJ moved to a hot adult contemporary format by 1992. Z100 responded to this by adding some older songs and introducing an evening talk show called "Love Phones." Ratings gradually dropped from 1991 to 1993. In 1993, Z100 dropped the older songs and began mixing in alternative rock music which wasn't normally being played on Top 40 stations. By the end of 1994, the majority of the station's music consisted of alternative rock with only a few non-modern-rock-based songs per hour. The station still played the current big hits by artists such as Madonna, TLC, Mariah Carey, and others. Although, notably, Z100 snubbed several big pop hits at the time such as "Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman" by Bryan Adams, "You Are Not Alone" by Michael Jackson, and "I Could Fall In Love" by Selena. At this point, Z100 was sold to Shamrock Broadcasting. Frankie Blue would leave in 1995 and Sam Milkman would move up to his position.
Ratings, though nowhere near the top anymore, remained steady at the station during much of the mid-1990s, but by March 1996, there was a steep drop after WKTU signed on at 103.5 FM with a dance music format, and WXRK (92.3 K-Rock) adapted a full-time alternative rock format. Both stations took listeners from Z100. Steve Kingston and his assistant Sam Milkman left Z100 for WXRK, while music director Andy Shane left for WKTU, joining another former Z100 music director, Frankie Blue. Airstaff had also gradually begun leaving the station beginning that February. Z100 had even stopped using the name "Morning Zoo" the year before. Morning host John Lander left in November 1995. That January, Steve Cochrane arrived to do mornings, but by May, he was gone. Z100 was undergoing a crisis at this point. The station was sold in a corporate deal to Chancellor Media.
In April 1996, the station brought in Tom Poleman as its new programming director. Initially, at that point, Z100 dropped all non-modern rock titles and began playing strictly pop alternative. By May 1996, Z100 began gradually replacing its on-air staff, and the harder alternative songs were phased out. Though initially it seemed that Z100 was becoming a modern AC station, beginning that summer, the station gradually began to move back to a mainstream Top 40 format, as it added pop music from such formats as R&B, rap, and adult contemporary. One of Poleman's biggest moves was to switch DJ Elvis Duran from afternoons to the "Z Morning Zoo" (which was known as "The Morning Show" for the previous several years), Z100's popular morning show. Despite having shared the post with other hosts (such as Elliot Segal, now at WWDC) through the years, Duran remains the "Head Zookeeper" to this day. By December 1996, Z100 was a full-time Top 40 station again. Chancellor merged with Evergreen in 1997, making WKTU a sister station of Z100. Still, both stations continued on the same courses, occasionally overlapping with music.
In a 1999 merger, Z100's parent company, Chancellor, acquired Capstar, forming AM/FM Inc. Shortly after the merger was finalized, AM/FM was bought by its current owners, Clear Channel Communications.
In early 2006, Z100 launched an HD Radio station that plays songs by bands who have not gone mainstream, or have very little exposure. Currently, it is the only New York City area HD2 station that features DJs.
In October 2007, 22 months after top-rated morning show host Howard Stern had departed the New York FM airwaves for satellite radio and after years of hovering near the top, Z100 once again became the highest-rated station in New York City, scoring a 5.1 rating in persons 12+ in the Summer book. That marked the first number-one finish for the station since the 1980s, according to Clear Channel New York programming guru Tom Poleman. It also scored a first-place among the 18-34 demographic in the book, as well as a second place in the 25-54 demo.
The call letters are supposed to represent the word "hits"; indeed, an early advertising campaign for the station claimed that HTZ was "The New Way to Spell 'Hitz' in New York." Z100's current slogan is "New York's Hit Music Station.", used in tandem on-air with "All The Hits". The long-running "#1" part of the slogan was removed in 2007. The former slogan was "Today's Best Music." Z100 is considered the 2nd largest pop/CHR/Top 40 station in the world after BBC Radio 1, pulling in an audience of 5 million daily. Additionally, according to the radio industry website, RadioStats.Net, Z100's site is the most visited US CHR website in the world and, in fact, one of the most frequented radio websites overall.
Indeed, today Z100 serves as a bellwether of soon-to-break acts and sets the pace for pop singles that spread coast to coast. In addition, the station's Jingle Ball concert is about to expand with plans to franchise the lineup to other Clear Channel stations. Thirty years after a shaky start, Z100 is still "serving the universe," as its longtime slogan boasts.
*source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WHTZ
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/earshot/worst-first-as-z100-turns-598914
http://www.z100.com/pages/30th-anniversary/
Here's my collection of Z100 stickers:
Front side: shaped, background: black: Z100 logo.
Back side: white.
Front side: oval, shaped, yellow chrome; background: black, Dollar symbol; Z100 logo + 1 small sticker: Z100 logo.
Back side: Z-Free Money stickers promo.
Front side: background: white; Z100 logo.
Back side: Z-Free Money sticker promo.
Front side: background: white; Z100 logo.
Back side: white.
Front side: background: black, X-turquoise; Z100 logo.
Back side: Slap It On! promo.
Front side: background: black, bar-chartreuse; Z100 logo.
Back side: white.
Front side: background: clear, black, yellow; Z100 logo.
Back side: Slap It On! promo.
Front side: shaped, background: white; Z100 logo, New York, recycle symbol + 2 small Z100 logo, WIZ logo, 'I Zoo in My Car... Z100!'.
Back side: WIZ promo, Genovese discount coupon.
Front side: shaped, background: white; frequency 100.3 FM, Z100 logo, New York, Dunkin' Donuts logo + small 'I Zoo in My Car... Z100!, Z100 logo.
Back side: Z100 contest rules, 'The Original Z100 Shirt Shop' order form.
Front side: shaped, background: white; frequency 100.3 FM, Z100 logo, Mountain Dew logo + 2 small Z100 logo, Get Vertical, Mountain Dew logo.
Back side: Z100 contest rules, 'The Original Z100 Shirt Shop' order form.
Front side: shaped, background: white; Z100 logo, New York, frequency 100.3 FM + 2 small Z100 logo, Z100 heart sign Dunkin' Donuts logo.
Back side: Z100 contest rules, 'The Original Z100 Shirt Shop' order form.
Front side: shaped, background: white; Z100 logo + 2 small Z100 logo, Z100 heart sign Dunkin' Donuts logo.
Back side: 'The Z100 Gift Catalog' order form.
Front side: shaped, background: white; Z100 logo + 2 small Z100 logo.
Back side: 'The Z100 Gift Catalog' order form.
Front side: shaped, background: white; city landscape, Z100 logo + 2 small Z100 logo.
Back side: 'Z-100 Z-Shirt or Sweatshirt' order form.
Front side: shaped balloon; background: yellow; 'Turn Up the Volume', Agree shampoo logo.
Back side: white.
Front side: shaped balloon; background: yellow; Z100 logo, 'Turn Up the Volume', Agree shampoo logo.
Back side: white.
Front side: shaped balloon; background: yellow; Z100 logo, 'Turn Up the Volume', Agree shampoo logo.
Back side: white.
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