in the mid-1970s, station management decided to go in a radically different direction, seeking a younger demographic for wwl-fm. out went the soft instrumental musicians such as henry mancini and percy faith, trading them in for michael jackson and paul mccartney. wwl-fm flipped to a top 40 sound. but this was an era where most young people still were listening to inexpensive am radios for their favorite hits. the station failed to make much headway against am top 40 leader 690 wtix (now wqno).