1986, the station was revamped with the music staying "Hot AC", but marketed as a "Z-100 for Yuppies". The station had new jingles and imaging, and became known as "The NEW 97.1 WYNY". The format, however, was that of the same pop hits from 1964 to the then-present. The station continued to rate low. Station owner NBC had problems with sister station WNBC as well. In April 1987, country music station WHN announced plans to go to sports full-time on July 1, becoming all-sports WFAN. In response, WYNY announced it would change to country music on the same day. This format change was announced to the press in advance, but not over the air except on Saturday With Sinatra. At 12:01 a.m. on July 1, WYNY ended its AC format with "Hello, Goodbye" by The Beatles and went country, playing "Think About Love" by Dolly Parton. The airstaff all remained, though some gradually left later in the year. Dan Daniel (who had left WYNY in the mid-1980s and returned), Randy Davis, Carol Mason, Lisa Taylor, Floyd Wright, and others survived the format change and remained with WYNY's country unit even after it left 97.1 FM and moved to 103.5 FM, where it remained until its 1996 demise. WQHT (1988–present) In 1988, NBC began to sell its roster of radio stations, and Emmis Communications made arrangements to buy its two New York City stations, WYNY and WNBC (AM). However, at this time, FCC regulations limited owners to just one AM and one FM station per market, and Emmis already owned stations WQHT (then at 103.5 FM), and WFAN (1050 AM). Because the NBC stations had better coverage, Emmis decided to move the call letters and formats from its current stations to its new ones, then divest the two original stations. Emmis sold the 103.5 FM license for the original WQHT to Westwood One, as well as the intellectual property for WYNY, which resulted in the WYNY call letters and country format transferring from 97.1 to 103.5 FM. Conversely, Emmis transferred the WQHT call sign and rhythmic contemporary format from 103.5 to the former WYNY at 97.1 FM, becoming "Hot 97" at 5:30 p.m. September 22, 1988. The last song played on "Hot 103" was Debbie Gibson's "Stayin' Together"; the first song played on "Hot 97" was MARRS' "Pump Up the Volume". After the transition to Hot 97, Stephanie Miller and Howard