92.3 FM was originally the home of WMCA-FM. But since FM radio was a money-loser in the early days, WMCA sold the station and by 1951 it had become WHOM-FM, owned by Progress Broadcasting Corporation. By the summer of 1975, it experimented with a mellow-rock format and featured Murray the K, Stan Martin, Scott McClennan, Larry Miller and Steve White during the week and with Randy Place, Joe Guarisco, Johnny Michaels and Bruce Fox on weekends.

But 92.3 hit the big time in early 1978 when it became a Disco station and was probably one of the major reasons for the demise of "music radio" WABC. The station featured Rosko in the night slot, Maria Milito evenings and Dan Ingram even did an afternoon shift there during 1985.

In July of 1985, it became an AOR station with a unique lineup that included Howard Stern, Pete Fornatale, Dave Herman and Flo & Eddie (of Turtles fame). Vin Scelsa also had a weekend show. But in January of 1996, the station switched to an alternative rock format and hired all new jocks. The station has continued to evolve but has had problems finding its identity in recent years.

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WXRK 92.3

Jonathan Schwartz: Back to 1967, Summer of Love [scoped-stereo]

circa August 13, 1987 (30:01)

contributed by Ken Tullipano

In August of 1987, K-Rock held a "Summer of Love" celebration and invited Jonathan Schwartz to particpate and replicate a 1967 radio show. This was held just 2 1/2 months before WNEW-FM would celebrate their 20th anniversary and also invite back Schwartz to participate. This is probably the final air hour of that show.

At about the seven-minute mark of this 1987 show about 1967, Schwartz discusses the benefits of the LP over "future media" and "predicts" that the LP will disappear and its two-sided acts and large format artwork with it. In 1987, when this show was recorded, the CD was only three years old and no one was predicting the end of the album format. But Schwartz successfully predicted what would happen 20 years after the show was recorded and 40 years after the Summer of Love when by 2007, the album format had essentially disintegrated in favor of digital downloads of singles.

Jonathan Schwartz

Zacherley: Back to 1967, Summer of Love [scoped-stereo]

circa August, 1987 (32:16)

contributed by Ken Tullipano

K-Rock also invited former WNEW-FM, WABC-FM and WPLJ DJ Zacherley to participate in the 20th anniversary of 1967. Zach didn't take it all as seriously as Jonathan Schwartz and admitted to pretending that this was 1967, although it sounded pretty real when he says that he's deciding whether to go down to the Cheetah or the Bitter End after the show. The Cheetah had actually closed in the 1970s. Also note all the drug references. Zach would be turning 69 just a few weeks after this show was recorded and he sounds simply great.

Zacherley

Pete Fornatale's First Show on WXRK [scoped-stereo]

Saturday, September 23, 1989 (51:28)

contributed by Ken Tullipano

Pete Fornatale had joined WNEW-FM in late summer of 1969 and spent most of his career in the 6-10am or 10am-2pm shift before moving to weekends in the Winter of 1982 to maintain his freedom on the air. He broadcast his last weekend WNEW-FM show on September 16, 1989, a week before moving to K-Rock's Classic Rock format.

This show started at 8am on a Saturday, but he also held down a regular 10am-2pm weekday shift, following Howard Stern and leading into Flo & Eddie at first and Dave Herman later. He would stay until January of 1996, when the station switched to an Alternative format and hired all new air personalities. He would return to WNEW-FM around a year after that for their Classic Rock and Classic Jocks format.

But here's his very first WXRK show, he seems happy to be there and judging from the songs played, he mostly picked his own music, although the station seemed to be pushing Bruce Springsteen really hard, due to a promotion (not that there was anything wrong with that).

Pt.1

Pt.2