Whitney Radio station WRTN(FM) in New Rochelle, N.Y., is changing calls to WVIP.
President Bill O’Shaughnessy distributed a history of the call letters. An excerpt:
“Whitney Radio is pleased to welcome home the magnificent call letters WVIP. All of us at Whitney Radio are so pleased and grateful that these legendary call letters have come home.
“This vivid and distinctive call sign first saw the light of day almost 50 years ago in 1957 when Martin Stone (the pioneering television producer of ‘Howdy Doody’ and ‘Author Meets Critic’) and Ambassador John Hay ‘Jock’ Whitney, first bestowed them on a pristine jewel of a suburban station in the rolling hills of northern Westchester.
“These majestic and unforgettable call letters were once described by the late John Van Buren Sullivan (who ran the mythic WNEW of sainted memory) as ‘the best damn, certainly the most meaningful, letters ever attached to a radio station!’ Jack Sullivan’s extravagant enthusiasm notwithstanding, they are certainly memorable,” O’Shaughnessy wrote.
“The WVIP call letters were once associated with our own beloved WVOX back in the 1960s when they were both part of the dearly departed Herald Tribune Radio Network.
“With WVOX and WVIP, we believe Whitney Radio now has the two most distinctive call letters in Radio.
“Originally the VIP call letters were designed to complement and reflect the affluent, upscale audience in the tony, leafy suburbs. And today I believe, they apply very appropriately and accurately to the emerging and vibrant ‘New Americans’ all over the metropolitan area who are now served by WRTN (soon to be WVIP at 12:01 a.m. this coming Wednesday, Nov. 1),” he stated.
