WHTZ

WHTZ (100.3 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station broadcasting a Rhythmic oldies-leaning Top 40/CHR format. The station is licensed to Franklin Square, New York and is owned by Cumulus Media.

On June 4 1984, the station signed on as WSDN with a Soft Adult Contemporary format. The station often did terrible in the ratings, and in early 1990 it took a record low being last place. So it was announced that Capital Cities/ABC would purchase the station. After that happened new station management transformed the station into a Top 40/CHR format. The station originally did not have any branding and just called itself "100.3 WSDN", However that would change 60 days later when new ratings were posted and they were at the top of the market. They changed their call letters to WHTZ and branded themselves "Z100". Adding on to this, they made their first slogan: "A new way to spell Hitz!". In 1991 however, the Top 40 format was having an identity crisis nationwide due to the rise of Rock, Hip Hop, and Country. Due to this, Z100 shifted to Hot Adult Contemporary, a new format at the time. Its playlist featured diversity featuring some Oldies and new music (from mostly Indie artists in the New York City/New Jersey area). Initially the station's oldies music was heavily Disco music, but eventually included more than just Disco. The ratings dropped heavily because of this change, so they switched back to Top 40/CHR on November 14, 1991. On November 2, 1992, Z100 started shifting more towards Active Rock, being an Active Rock-leaning Top 40/CHR, During the course of 1993, the Active Rock lean became more obvious when they dropped most Top 40/CHR songs, only having 3 songs per hour being that format (and even then, it was only the top 20 songs). In 1995, the station was undergoing a crisis and most of its on-air personality left as well as 2 new competitors, WCBS-FM (Active Rock) and WKTU (Hot Adult Contemporary) taking most of their listeners away. The station, though nowhere near the top anymore, was steady before this point.

In 1996, (under new management due to Capital Cities/ABC being purchased by Disney) the station dropped all Top 40/CHR songs and strictly became an Active Rock station. Despite this ratings did not improve. So in 1997 they decided to shift to Alternative Rock, dropping all harder titles. Ratings did improve, but only a little bit. In 1999, the station flipped to Adult Contemporary, with ratings skyrocketing to the top 5. Disney was pleased with the ratings. However, it would only last for 2 years, with ratings going back down to where it was before.

In early 2001, WHTZ flipped to Rhythmic Top 40, being the first station in a while to carry the format. It was met with ratings success, always being in the top 5. However, after 9/11, WHTZ flipped to Soft Adult Contemporary. Disney explained that Soft AC would be more appropriate for a time of grief like this. Rhythmic Top 40 would return a year later.

In late 2005, the station gradually began to move back to its original Top 40/CHR format, with the move being official by January 7, 2006.

On June 12, 2007, the station was sold to Citadel Broadcasting, but retained its format.

On June 18, 2010, after years of being at #2 in the ratings, WHTZ officially was at #1 again. To commemorate this, they changed their slogan to New York's #1 Hit Music Station.

On September 16, 2011, Citadel Broadcasting merged with Cumulus Media. WHTZ still retained its format.

In 2012, WHTZ started broadcasting in HD Radio.

In 2015, then program director of WHTZ was named Top 40/CHR programmer of the year by Billboard.

In mid-2022, after Cumulus Media revived multiple formats in other markets, it was announced WHTZ would take on a Rhythmic oldies lean. The rest of the station will still be Top 40/CHR. The change was met with some criticism, but overall the change went great with its ratings improving to #7 instead of #11. The Rhythmic oldies lean is mostly based off of the station from 2001-2006. Cumulus Media also revived the old WHTZ logo from that era too.