WQHT played a different variety of music than what was on the New York radio dial at that time. There was no CHR/Dance station in the market since WKTU left the air a year earlier. WQHT came on the air with a new and improved dance-oriented format, which radio trade magazines of the day called a hybrid format. The station mixed in Top 40 hits with Dance and Club music of the day. The station was also known for playing "hotmixes" or extended versions of certain songs. The "hotmixes" were either just the extended versions available commercially on 12" singles, or mixes that were created by local club DJs, such as "Little" Louie Vega. They also aired regular versions of the songs that had longer intros than that of their competitors. Noel used WQHT's version of his single "Silent Morning" for the song's music video, as evidenced in the video's credits. With the debut of WQHT, some record labels such as Atco and Elektra reportedly started to see a spike in 12" single sales in the New York metropolitan area, as was reported by Billboard.