Throughout its history, Connoisseur’s WHLI Long Island is the sort of station that might have evaded industry attention, although Ross on Radio readers are the ones most likely to know about its current blend of ‘60s/’70s oldies, similar to other reader favorites like KDRI (The Drive) Tucson, Ariz., and WECK Buffalo, N.Y.
Licensed to Hempstead, WHLI was a full-service AC until the late ‘70s, although this aircheck of WHLI in summer 1975 has them doing a very contemporary version of the format that includes shotgun jingles. In 1979, it became a flagship station of the Music of Your Life Adult Standards format in 1979. By 1987, it had a 5.2 share, according to Chris Huff. (Here’s a brief aircheck, recorded from Philadelphia, of WHLI in 1990, with music going back to the ‘30s.)
Like a lot of standards outlets, WHLI contemporized with the addition of ‘60s/’70s titles, before completing the evolution with its current format. There’s still a nod to the “MOYL” era, both in the current positioner (“The Hits of a Lifetime”) and the station logo. Under current OM Patrick Shea and PD Jon Daniels, it’s now also heard on FM at 104.7. The change returned the station to the Nassau/Suffolk ratings after a decade
Recently, WHLI was nominated for the NAB Marconi Award’s legendary stations, putting them in the company of N/T WABC New York, Classic Hits rival WCBS-FM, Heritage Rock WMMS Philadelphia, and N/T WLW Cincinnati.
If WHLI is new to you, in a way that those other stations are not, know that they’ve been doing what an NAB nominee is supposed to for the last 78 years in terms of local service. When I took a “Fresh Listen” to the station on August 8, there was an ad for an upcoming Bluefish Tournament. Middayer Rob Rush, also the PD of Active Rock sister WWSK (The Shark) was also talking about the upcoming Doobie Brothers show at Jones Beach with Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band.
Here’s the station on August 8, just before 10 a.m:
- Jackson 5, “Dancing Machine”
- Jim Croce, “I Got a Name”
- Steppenwolf, “Born to Be Wild”
- Elvis Presley, “Wear My Ring Around Your Neck”
- Earth, Wind & Fire, “September”
- Beatles, “All You Need Is Love”
- John Sebastian, “Welcome Back”
- Herman’s Hermits, “There’s a Kind of Hush”
- Starbuck, “Moonlight Feels Right”
- Cowsills, “The Rain, the Park, and Other Things”
- Natalie Cole, “This Will Be”
- Tommy James & Shondells, “Crimson and Clover”
- Jimmy Buffett, “Margaritaville”
- Righteous Brothers, “Rock and Roll Heaven”
- Rose Royce, “Car Wash”—with a “station that keeps you dancing” stager
- Four Seasons, “Opus 17 (Don’t You Worry ‘Bout Me)”
- Orleans, “Dance with Me”
This story first appeared on radioinsight.com