WKJY (98.3 FM) is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Hempstead, New York The Town of Hempstead (also known historically as South Hempstead) is the largest of the three towns in Nassau County (alongside North Hempstead and Oyster Bay) in the U.S. state of New York. It occupies the southwestern part of the county, o ...

, and serving

Nassau County, New York Nassau County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New York. At the 2020 U.S. census, Nassau County's population is 1,395,774. The county seat is Mineola and the largest town is Hempstead. Nassau County is situated on western Long Isla ...

. It broadcasts an

adult contemporary music Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, qu ...

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

and is owned by

Connoisseur Media Connoisseur Media LLC is an American media company. It is based in Westport, Connecticut and led by Jeff Warshaw. Connoisseur operates radio stations and digital assets in markets across the U.S. cities of Billings, Fredrick, Maryland; Bay Shore, H ...

. WKJY's studios and offices are located at Airport Plaza in

Farmingdale, New York Farmingdale is an incorporated village on Long Island within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York. The population was 8,189 as of the 2010 Census. The Lenox Hills neighborhood is adjacent to Bethpage State Park and the rest of the ...

, and its

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the ...

is located near the

Southern State Parkway The Southern State Parkway (also known as the Southern State or Southern Parkway; abbreviated as SO on signage) is a limited-access highway on Long Island, New York, in the United States. The parkway begins at an interchange with the Belt and ...

in Hempstead.

History

Early years

The station first

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature, placing one's name on a document * Signature (disambiguation) * Manual communication, signing as a form of communication using the hands in place of the voice * Digital signature A digi ...

the air on July 15, 1947 as WHNY. It was owned by the FM Broadcasting Company, along with AM sister station

WHLI WHLI (1100 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Hempstead, New York, and serving Long Island. It is owned by Connoisseur Media and has an oldies radio format made up of hits from the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s. The station's studios a ...

. In 1949 the call letters were changed to WHLI-FM. For its first two decades, the station mostly

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simul ...

WHLI.

Beautiful music

In the late 1960s, the FCC was encouraging AM-FM combos to offer different programming. WHLI-FM began playing

beautiful music Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator mu ...

while WHLI 1100 continued its middle of the road music format. Trying to carve out a separate identity, WHLI-FM changed its call letters in 1975 to WIOK. In 1980, it switched call signs again, this time to WKJY representing the moniker "K-Joy."

Adult contemporary

During the 1980s, as the

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, ...

audience began to age, the station switched to a

soft adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet sto ...

format. In the 1990s, the tempo picked up and the format moved to standard adult contemporary music. WKJY and WHLI were acquired by Barnstable Broadcasting in 1984. Along with

WBZO WBZO (103.1 FM) is a rock-leaning classic hits radio station owned by Connoisseur Media and licensed to Bay Shore, New York. The station's studios are located at Airport Plaza in Farmingdale, New York, and its transmitter is located on Freeman Av ...

, and WIGX, WKJY was purchased by

from Barnstable Broadcasting for $23 million in 2012. Previously known as "K-Joy 98.3," the station changed its branding to ''K 98.3'' in July 2013. The K-Joy brand was revived on May 17, 2019.

Anti-gay hoax

On February 13, 2014, an anti-gay note allegedly sent by a Baldwin mother in response to a birthday party invite from two gay dads was a hoax carried out by two of the station's

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobil ...

s. The hosts of the K-98.3 Morning Show, Steve Harper — also the station's program director — and Leanna Karlson, admitted the weekend after that the story was "totally fictitious" and that they fabricated it to "spur a healthy discourse on a highly passionate topic." An apology was posted on the radio station's website. The statement said that the hoax was perpetrated without the knowledge of the station's management. The fabricated RSVP was first posted to the radio station's Facebook page. The photo of the party invite had been scrawled with a response supposedly from a homophobic mother that included statements such as, "I will not subject my innocent son to your 'lifestyle.'" The radio station's management issued a statement saying it has a responsibility to its listeners to be accurate, and is looking at "all courses of action." The station announced on the evening of February 16 that the two hosts were suspended for one week.

References

External links

* * * {{Connoisseur Media KJY Mainstream adult contemporary radio stations in the United States Mass media in Nassau County, New York Connoisseur Media radio stations Radio stations established in 1947 1947 establishments in New York (state)