WHLI was first licensed in 1947 to Paul and Elias Godofsky, the owners of WLIB/New York from 1942 to 1944. WHLI began broadcasting local radio just as the nearby potato fields of Island Trees, Long Island were being replaced by houses in Levittown, New York. Long Island was becoming one of America's most lucrative markets. It was one of the first AM/FM pairs. Its FM sister at 98.3FM actually first went on air a short while before WHLI as WHNY. (98.3FM would assume the WHLI-FM calls on January 1, 1948, later becoming WIOK and today is known as "K-JOY" WKJY).

WHLI began as a 250w non-directional AM station at 1100 and was given permission to raise its power to the current 10 kW two-tower directional signal by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1960. It is a "daytimer" and must either reduce power or sign-off at local sunset as it broadcasts on the same frequency as WTAM in Cleveland. The WHLI towers are located next to the Southern State Parkway in Hempstead near the Baldwin Road/Grand Avenue exit. They are a popular landmark as signage touting the WHLI call letters and dial position (1100) have been mounted on the main tower for decades for passing motorists to see. The historic signs were removed temporarily from the WHLI Tower #2 on August 13, 2010 (Friday the 13th) at 11:00AM to allow for minor repairs and upgrades to the transmission facilities. Note the odd occurrence that they were removed at 11:00AM from the towers that broadcast on 1100 kHz on the AM band.

According to the book The Airwaves Of New York', programming on WHLI in 1947 included dinner music from the syndicated program "Candlelight and Silver" and that the station "looked to the local audience for talent and encouraged amateurs and professionals to audition, welcoming everyone from classical musicians to pop singers and comedians."

From the first day, WHLI aimed to an upscale audience. As "The Voice Of Long Island", the station became the dominant local station in Nassau County with a decent signal into Suffolk and Queens counties. By the early 1950s, WHLI's "Commuter's Time" was the top-rated morning show. The rest of the broadcast day was filled with "familiar good music and local news". The station aired concerts from The Long Island Pops and hours of "Music From The Country Club".

In the 1970s, WHLI played popular music as a Top 40 station, but on Saturday January 21, 1979 it changed to Al Ham's then-new "Music Of Your Life" format. WHLI continues as a locally programmed station today playing adult standards with national news from Westwood One Radio Networks, as well as their own news staff.

Studios

WHLI's first offices and studios were in a frame house at 245 Baldwin Road, Hempstead, New York. In 1957 the station moved to a two-story facility constructed for them at 384 Clinton Street in Hempstead. (The small street on the north side of the station building was renamed WHLI Way and is still on the map today.) They moved to the third floor of 1055 Franklin Avenue in neighboring Garden City in 1991 and remained there until 2001, when Barnstable consolidated operations for WHLI, WKJY, WBZO & WMJC (now WWSK) into a newly designed and constructed- management, sales, promotions and technical operations center at 234 Airport Plaza, Farmingdale, NY. This consolidation makes it the largest, privately owned, radio broadcast facility in New York.

September 24, 2014 Overnight: WHLI 1100 & WALK 1370 Simulcast Studio relocated to a new custom-designed studio within the Airport Plaza Broadcast Complex to what was the infamous "Production A" the home of numerous interview programs and a satellite studio for the WBZO morning drive time show.

Ownership