You might have heard a lot about MTV, that other format launch that took place on August 1, 1981, but WRKS (Kiss 98.7) New York’s thirtieth anniversary deserves recognition as well. An unassuming station that pushed its way into one of the toughest markets for Urban radio, Kiss had a lot to do with what R&B radio sounded like for the next decade or so.

The thirtieth anniversary here is of the Kiss brand on the frequency. Formerly Top 40 WXLO (99X), the station had gone from Hot AC to Urban a year earlier using the slug-line, “From the Streets.” It relaunched on August using the name that had become associated with Urban thanks to WKYS Washington, D.C., and WXKS-FM (Kiss 108) Boston. At a time when New York had no real Top 40 on FM, Kiss entered a back and forth battle between WBLS, then very much in its Frankie Crocker heyday, and the former “Disco 92” WKTU.

Although most remembrances of Kiss now focus on the hiring of DJ Red Alert and the station’s role in rap’s breakthrough, it had a much less heralded effect on the rest of the Urban format. Taking on two stations with high-profile personality and lots of mystique, Kiss was definitely the tightest of the three outlets. And by finding a “more music” foothold against two stations that weren’t considered broken, Kiss helped foster Urban consulting careers for both Don Kelly and Barry Mayo, helping to tighten the format elsewhere. It was a streamlining of the format that really kicked into gear with the Churban challengers of the late ’80s.

Listening to a tape of Kiss from Thanksgiving weekend 1981, it still has that low-key presentational feel that Urban radio had at a time when Jazz crossover was at its peak. A monitor of the station finds it bouncing between the early ’80s disco that was still very much a force in New York (at a time when Kashif was wresting away the influential producer mantle from the Chic team) and a lot of sax-drenched ballads.

Presentationally, there’s still plenty of personality—in the same way that there’s still plenty of personality on KHJ Los Angeles under Bill Drake—it’s just not the “down-the-fade and up-the-next-intro” style of WBLS at the time. The top-of-the-hour ID promises that, “Nobody Gives More Music,” which at that time is defined as “70 hours of commercial free music every week.”

Kiss’ published playlist is still 47 titles, still tight when you consider that some Urban stations reported more than 65 songs in that era. Although WRKS is remembered as “more Urban” than WKTU or WBLS, both of which had played Bruce Springsteen and John Lennon a few months later, even Kiss had some pop crossover titles (including "I Love Rock & Roll") in that time before WHTZ (Z100) and WPLJ brought Top 40 back to FM in a bigger way.

Kiss remained an Urban powerhouse until WQHT (Hot 97)’s 1993-94 segue to the station “Where Hip-Hop Lives.” Hot and Kiss might have battled back and forth. Instead, the stations ended up co-owned and Kiss went Urban AC. Still in that format, it’s celebrating its anniversary by going to the library today and letting listeners share their memories; (Tracey from the Bronx remembers winning tickets to the premiere of “Krush Groove” and being hit on by a then-unknown Blair Underwood.)

At this writing, Urban and Urban AC radio in New York is a grand total of thirteen PPM shares in June, split four ways, with WRKS at a 2.6 share. It does make you wonder now how somebody might update the early Kiss formula for 2011. Urban radio, in its post-PPM panic, has obligingly given us “more music, practically no talk” in many markets. In doing so, they’ve overshot where Kiss was.

Here’s WRKS from late November, 1981, about four months after its launch:

Debra Laws, “Very Special”
Jimmy Ross, “First True Love Affair”
Angela Bofill, “Tropical Love”
Thelma Houston, “Don’t Leave Me This Way” (still qualified as R&B gold in New York in 1981—now long given to Jammin’ Oldies and pop AC formats)
Slave, “Wait For Me”
Grover Washington, Jr., & Bill Withers, “Just The Two Of Us”
Rufus & Chaka Khan, “Sharing The Love”
Gladys Knight & Pips, “I Will Fight” (uptempo, Ashford & Simpson-produced)
Daryl Hall & John Oates, “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)” (breaking quickly with R&B radio help at a time when Top 40 was still very busy with “Private Eyes”)
Chic, “Take It Off”

Check out what the Radio-Info.com boards are remembering about Kiss’ early days.

This article is part of the twice-weekly Ross On Radio newsletter on radio programming trends and history. If you're not seeing ROR regularly, let us know and we'll add you to the mailing list.