WKTU

WKTU (103.5 FM) – branded 103.5 KTU – is a Rhythmic Contemporary-formatted radio station licensed to Lake Success, New York, United States, a suburb of New York City. WKTU is owned by iHeartMedia and broadcasts from studios in the AT&T Building in the Tribeca district of Manhattan; its transmitter is located on the top of the Empire State Building.

History

WNNJ and pre-move WPAT-FM

The 103.5 frequency first went on the air in 1948 as WNNJ, which then changed its name to WPAT-FM. FM listenership was very light in those early days of FM broadcasting, and in 1950, WPAT-FM's Garrett Mountain transmitter was damaged by a tropical storm and never re-built. WPAT-FM was reborn in 1956 on 93.1, a frequency that became available when Major Armstrong signed off his experimental station. WPAT-FM was a top rated beautiful music outlet until it was acquired by Spanish Broadcasting, who changed it to a Spanish language format.

WGLI-FM/WTFM

The 103.5 frequency was assigned to Babylon as WGLI-FM. In 1958, the station moved from Babylon to Lake Success and transmitted with 20Kw from a 200-foot stick outside the studio building visible from the Long Island Expressway. A short time later, the transmitter was relocated to the Chrysler Building, and a major signal boost was accomplished. As WTFM, the station used the slogan "The International Stereo Sound of New York," and played an instrumental-based easy listening format until 1978, when the old WKTU (on 92.3 FM) went from an adult contemporary format to a disco music format. As an easy listening station, WTFM was up against two similar stations, WRFM and WPAT, who had higher ratings. So in the fall of 1978, WTFM switched to an adult contemporary format, even though ratings would remain low with the new format.