WNJR (AM) - Sunny 1430 Era

Sunny 1430 Era

After WQEW in New York City became Radio Disney in late 1998, WNJR began playing adult standards. Julius LaRosa was the morning host, while Johnny Michaels hosted during the afternoon. In March 1999, Multicultural decided to fill the hole and put a Standards format on 1430. WNJR changed its callsign to WNSW June 8, 1999. The station became known as "Sunny 1430". They originally planned to switch to this format full-time except for Sunday mornings, but initially would run this format from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to Midnight Saturdays and not at all on Sundays. The rest of the time they ran ethnic programming that was brokered. On Sundays they played Gospel Music and preaching.

During the week though they played a Standards format with artists like Frank Sinatra, Neil Diamond, Petula Clark, Tony Bennett, Tommy Dorsey, Peggy Lee, Elvis Presley, Nat King Cole, Pat Boone, The Carpenters, Jack Jones, Tom Jones, the Andrews Sisters, Bobby Darin, James Taylor, the Four Aces, Johnny Mathis, Artie Shaw, Righteous Brothers, etc. The format was similar to 1560 WQEW's old format. They mixed in baby boomer pop in moderation. Still they focused on the standards. Some of the airpeople included Johnny Knox (who was program director and operations manager the first year of operation), John Von Soosten, Chuck Leonard, Danny Stiles, Julius LaRosa, among others.