Z100 streams pop and Top 40 hits live from New York City, broadcasting from a transmitter atop the Empire State Building and home to Elvis Duran and the Morning Show plus the annual Jingle Ball concert at Madison Square Garden. You can stream it live and free right now on Radio Shuffle, wherever you are in the world.
Last Place to First in 74 Days
Z100 did not slowly build an audience, it exploded into one. Cleveland-based Malrite Communications bought the 100.3 FM frequency in May 1983, flipped it to a Top 40 format under the new call sign WHTZ on August 2, 1983, and installed Scott Shannon as morning host, according to Wikipedia's history of the station. The first two songs played were "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor and "America" by Neil Diamond. Within 74 days of signing on, WHTZ had climbed from last place to first in the New York Arbitron ratings, one of the fastest turnarounds in American radio history, later chronicled in the 2022 documentary Worst to First: The True Story of Z100 New York.
A Call Sign That Spelled Out Its Own Ambition
The name itself was a piece of branding as bold as the ratings jump. WHTZ became "Z100" because the call letters spelled out a new way to spell "Hitz" with a Z, a small trick that made the station's entire identity, hits, sound obvious from the name alone.
Elvis Duran's Three-Decade Morning Show
Z100's most enduring on-air figure arrived over a decade after launch. Programming director Tom Poleman moved Elvis Duran to mornings on April 22, 1996, and Duran has held that slot ever since, running what started as the Z Morning Zoo and evolved into Elvis Duran and the Morning Show. The program began national syndication on May 22, 2006, and now airs on more than 70 stations across the country, all still anchored by the same New York studio.
Jingle Ball at Madison Square Garden
Z100's biggest annual event is Jingle Ball, a holiday-season concert at Madison Square Garden that has hosted some of pop music's biggest names. The 2011 edition alone brought out Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, David Guetta, Pitbull, and LMFAO on a single bill, the kind of lineup that turns a radio station's Christmas show into a genuine industry event.
Tune In
From a 74-day climb to number one in 1983 to three decades of Elvis Duran mornings and a Madison Square Garden holiday show, Z100 has stayed near the center of New York pop radio for more than 40 years. Stream it free on Radio Shuffle to hear it live.