the Sonderling chain, a sale which took a year-and-a-half to become final. When Viacom took over in 1980, the call letters were changed to WKHK and the station adopted a country music format known as "Kick 106.7 FM". The format change took place in the middle of the night and brought many protests from New York jazz fans, who petitioned the FCC to deny the station's license renewal; ultimately the petition was denied. WKHK would suffer from low ratings, as they were unable to compete with WHN (1050 AM), which also had a country music format at the time. On January 23, 1984, Viacom dropped country music and turned 106.7 into an MOR station–with new call letters WLTW and on-air branding of "Lite FM". Initially they were an easy listening station without anything that would be classified as "elevator music". At this point, the station played music from such artists as Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, the Carpenters, Dionne Warwick, Kenny Rogers, Tony Bennett, Andy Williams, Barry Manilow, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, and the Stylistics. The station also played softer songs from such artists as Elton John, Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Everly Brothers, the Righteous Brothers and Billy Joel. The station would not play any new music except for new songs by artists that were familiar to listeners of the station. With this format change, ratings did increase from its previously low levels. By the late 1980s, WLTW started to play songs from such artists as Whitney Houston, Chicago, Foreigner, the Doobie Brothers and Bruce Springsteen. As other competing New York City stations changed their focus, the station stayed with their soft adult contemporary format, even though they were phasing out songs from artists such as Frank Sinatra, Barry Manilow, and the Carpenters. At this point, the station's ratings were at or near the top compared with other New York City radio stations. 1990s By the mid-1990s, with WPAT-FM adapting a Spanish adult contemporary format, WPLJ adapting a hot adult contemporary format, and WMXV switching to a modern adult contemporary format, WLTW segued to a mainstream adult contemporary format with a more uptempo direction than before, and phased out the majority of its soft adult contemporary material. Merger with Clear Channel Communications Chancellor bought WLTW and the rest of Viacom's radio group in 1997. In 1999 Chancellor merged with Capstar to form AMFM, which retained WLTW. Finally, in 2000,