I have a couple of Facebook friends that are involved in local radio – John Gabriel, the former voice of WTRY who now works for Magic 590 and YNN; and Richie Norris, who currently works for Magic 590 and was, like me, a former disc jockey at Schenectady’s 3WD radio station.
Yesterday, Gabriel commented on a Facebook picture involving some former disc jockeys at WPTR. Here’s the picture.
Yeah, the words “Your Country WPTR” kinda caught me off-guard, too.
It’s not unusual for a radio station to change its format if the station isn’t getting decent ratings. At one point in time, WPYX was a “beautiful music” station called WHSH. FLY 92 once played classical music. And long before the station at 1460 AM was a Radio Disney outlet, it was the powerhouse country station WOKO.
But sometimes, those station-changing formats are more of a hindrance than a help. Longtime listeners who appreciate a radio station and have it tuned in on their car radios as the first channel to listen to, suddenly find themselves with a different type of music and they don’t like what they hear.
Now you may have different opinions when a station changes its format; however, as far as I’m concerned, these are some of the worst changes any station could have done. So brace yourself. This won’t be pretty.
WSNY (1240 AM) goes to an “All Presidents” format – In 1968, Schenectady radio station WSNY had a middle-of-the-road radio format. That changed in 1968, when the station went Top 40 – and, in a weird quirk, had all their on-air staff take radio nicknames of famous Presidents and Revolutionary War heroes. That’s right, your on-air staff included Paul Revere and George Washington. Personally, if I want to hear Paul Revere on a Top 40 station, it better be with the Raiders, ‘kay?
The WGY-FM “Electric 99″ Format” – Long before they were “99.5 The River,” the station at that frequency was known as “Rock 99, WGFM.” Their format was simple – they would play two Top 40 songs, and then after the songs finished, an announcer would simply say, “That was Boston, with ‘More Than A Feeling.’ And before that, Fleetwood Mac with ‘Dreams.'” Then there would be the Rock 99 jingle. Well, somewhere along the line, there was an attempt to create a more vibrant Top 40 station, so we received “WGY-FM, Electric 99.” Ugh. Blech. It brought nothing new to the table. And eventually it changed to The River, the station we all know and love.
“Disco 101.” At one point in time, station WWOM was an easy listening station, with the tagline that WWOM’s initials stood for “Wonderful World of Music.” That changed in 1979, when some dimbulb at the radio station thought it would be a good idea to change to an all-disco music format. Thus began WWOM’s run as “Disco 101.” That lasted about a year, which was really a year and a half too long.
“The City Beat, WOKO.” Longtime Capital District residents know that long before WGNA was the local country music powerhouse, the best place to hear Conway Twitty and Eddy Arnold was on AM 1460, WOKO. That was all well and good, until someone thought that country music was out of tune with younger listeners, and the station flipped into a Top 40/disco format and called themselves “The City Beat.” That lasted from 1978 until 1980, when the station finally found its cowboy boots and Stetson hats again.
WGY’s “Angry Commentators.” Ah, WGY. The station with Earle Pudney and Don Weeks and Martha Brooks. The station that defined Capital District radio. And then, in the early 1990’s, the station gave afternoon “drive time” airspace to a series of confrontational commentators like Mike Gallagher, Mark Williams, J.R. Gach and Andrew Wilkow. These on-air personalities were the equivalent of on-air noise pollution.
The Death of WHRL’s “Channel 103.1” Alt-Rock Format. True story. I was driving back from Yankee Stadium with a couple of friends on a cold September night in 2010, and in order to keep awake and keep driving, I let the passengers pick the radio stations. One of the passengers picked 103.1 FM, which I knew at that time to be a nice loud alternative rock station. Unfortunately, none of us realized that the day before, the station became a simulcaster to WGY’s AM news/talk format. Maybe I’m wrong, but if WGY already exists as a 50,000 watt radio station that can be heard in Florida at night, was there really a need to have that same station take up an FM channel as well?
I’m sure there are other station formats changes that have made you want to stick cotton swabs in your ears and purchase a lifetime Sirius-XM satellite subscription. You know – all-Christmas music formats, stations with tight playlists that play Katy Perry every hour on the hour, realizing that there is a station in this area that plays the Radio Disney format – so feel free to list the most jarring radio station format changes you recall in the Capital District days.
And believe me. If I have to type the words “Disco 101” in a blog post ever again, I’m getting a box of cotton swabs for my ears as well.
Chuck The Writer 
WHRL change killed local radio for me.
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Chuck, you must remember this one from about 20 years ago, there was a hard rock station based in downtown Schenectady that announced a change to (if I remember) hip hop. One of the rock DJs apparently barricaded himself in for the weekend, I never did figure out if it was a publicity stunt to sell the new format to people who’d hear about it on the news. I don’t remember the call letters of the station, and Google is not helping except to show that this is a common story in the urban legend world. And also, sort of, the plot of the 1978 movie “FM.”
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Tim – I’m trying to remember if that was the case as well; the problem is, the only downtown Schenectady radio station to my knowledge was 1240AM, which was first WSNY then it was 3WD then it was WVKZ then it was a few other stations. And now, believe it or not, as of last September it’s taken hold of the old WPTR call letters and is broadcasting an oldies format. Calling that station “WPTR” is like calling ketchup a vegetable.
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If you are looking for on-air air noise pollution check out the lineup at AM 1300, WGDJ.
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Chuck, WYPX = local ion TV station. WPYX was originally WHSH
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Thanks, just fixed it. Maybe if they did a simulcast of Wakin’ Up with the Wolf on the ION station… nah, it’d get cancelled in a week and a half.
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I actually was a DJ at WHRL when it was a jazz station back in the 1980s. I remember the station owner was a massive male appendange absolutely no one liked.
I agree about WGY. The last time I listened to it on even a semi-regular basis was when Don Weeks was still on (though his act was getting long in the tooth). Now, not only does WGY jam Beck, Hannity, Rush, and Levine down our throats, but even the morning show with what’s his name whose her face has become political. And when what’s his face tries to be funny, you know he’s just reading copy from a morning show service feed they subscribe to, at least Weeks was original. Can’t they give us information in morning like they used to without dragging the political talk show format with them into every time slot?
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Jango – he couldn’t have been worse than the male appendage that drove 3WD into the ground. Ha! BTW I did enjoy when WHRL had their jazz format, sadly it’s hard to find a decent local jazz station in the area.
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Oh poor poor Jango @7………..”Now, not only does WGY jam Beck, Hannity, Rush, and Levine down our throats” REALLY……They JAM it down your throat? Here is a little hint for all you Libs out there…………TURN THE KNOB ON YOUR RADIO……….30 plus stations around here and another cry baby who cant figure out how to use his radio.
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Part of the death of local radio began when owners listened to automation vendors who claimed that their system could save them mega-bucks. Unfortunately, that assessment took several decades to reach that goal. I had the displeasure of programming (and rescuing) some of the earliest clunky reel-to-reel systems. More times than I care to count, I walked to the racks to see a dozen carts pushed out onto the floor, an alarm blaring and a pre-recorded time announcement announcing the incorrect time over and over. Funny in retrospect, but is it any wonder that more and more radios were being turned off?
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Putting Wakin up with the Wolf on 100.9 is the worst happening in broadcast history. This guys schtick gotta go and bring back the greatest dj in the Albany markets history.
Silent Bob
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heh, I remember digging “Electric 99” back in the 80s and early 90s. It was the only mainstream station playing remotely hard rock at the time (before Guns N Roses were played out as sports arena bumper music). 99.5 the River is a go-to station for me now if I absolutely must listen to the radio. I haven’t listened to radio regularly since the late 90s, though. With the proliferation of CDs, then MP3 CDs, then Mp3 players who needs radio when you can have hours and hours of your own mixes at your fingertips?
I also liked Mike Gallagher on the afternoon drive. I always liked the rivalry between him and Myrna whoever in the morning. He kept it clean for the most part. He’s now a Fox News contributor I believe.
Wasn’t a huge fan of JR Gach, though.
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A chance conversation with one of the air personalities at WHRL, when their format was “smooth jazz” gave me a heads up that that the station was about to flip. His wife and I worked at the same company and when we were talking I had mentioned that I liked jazz and that I was also a DJ (for weddings, parties, etc.) On the day of the flip, imagine my surprise when I came into my day job and found a large pile of CD’s, post-its, and other assorted chachki’s. (sp ?). Looks like they raided the library before corporate could get to it. It was great! What I am less than thrilled about, now, is the lack of local air talent in the afternoon drive slot. Not a big fan of syndicated programming. Yes, there are a handful of local shows with local people but not nearly as many as there once were.
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I remember WSNY and WWOM. WWOM had a contest over (I think) a President’s Day Weekend where they played all of the Beatles songs in alphabetical order, and they left out one. If you could guess the one left out, you could win a complete library of the Beatles recordings. I actually recorded the entire program (hours and hours) on a cassette recorder I jury rigged to my stereo, but didn’t guess the one they left out. (It was “Ticket to Ride”).
I also used to be a faithful WGY fan in the morning, but when they went to the all talk format, they lost me. I doubt they missed me, though.
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Stephen: Your response demonstrates how right-wing radio talk shows are lowering the discourse in America, thank you for proving my point.
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Local radio went to hell in a handbasket when the industry was deregulated in the 90s and ownership restrictions were lifted. Quality and competition were shelved in favor of the “bottom line” and now listeners are forced to accept whatever some out of town corporate bonehead decided to force feed them. The listener became complicit for accepting it without protest…seems they they forgot the airwaves belong to them and the greedheads only get licenses to operate “in the public interest” (see Communications Act of 1934) which, by the way, can be challenged by anyone.
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The worst change would have been when WQBK-FM 103.9 (“Q104”) went from its progressive rock format to whatever format came after that. The local music scene at different levels, has never been as good since. We had J. B. Scott’s bringing in national (and local) acts and a slew of local clubs hosting local bands. We had a goodly number of local bands, some dabbling with national exposure. We had local recording studios recording local bands that were getting airtime on local radio stations and playing in local clubs. Did I mention you could get a beer at 18?
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I can’t believe you missed all the ‘formats of the month’ for the first few years 98.3 was around, including the 4 day ‘Raisin Radio’ stunt. Really bad stuff!
For all you folks complaining about how bad local radio is now, I guess you weren’t around in the mid-to-late ’70s when it was truly awful, at least on FM. Excepting Q104 (yes, 104), which was far too eclectic for the masses, there was no variety, no personality, no nuthin! Luckily for all of you, for the last 20 years or so the Capital Region has been one of the most varied and vibrant radio markets of its size anywhere in America. Makes me almost wish I still lived there. So quit your whining and enjoy!
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Ah old Jango @15 wants every station on the radio to play what she likes……….How nice of you old girl.
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WVKZ it was! Chuck, I knew you’d remember – when Google fails to fill in memory vacuums, consult an expert. They were located in Center City, and I only remember this because I was working up the street the afternoon Gene Simmonds from KISS was doing an in studio interview. There was a mob of knuckle dragging Neanderthals milling about the corner of State and Jay, and since there was no parade that day, no monster truck show, no broken down buses in view, I wandered down to see what was up. It was Gene Simmonds in a business suit stepping into a limousine, with a lot of hairy fists holding up cassette tapes, albums, and the envelopes that their disability checks came in to be autographed.
I wonder what these guys were doing the day they tuned in to hear Public Enemy?
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Tim – yep, good ol’ WVKZ. KZ 96.7 I believe at one point it was called, and they simulcast on what was originally 3WD. If I recall correctly, WVKZ was the first station in our area to have their entire broadcast day simulcast from another location – in KZ’s case, it was from Houston. Then they went all-sports, all-country, all-oldies, all-this, all-that, all-this, all-that… I’m still not digging that the 1240AM station is now using WPTR’s call letters today. What’s next, some 10-watt eeny-weenie station broadcasting out of Hoosick Falls going to call itself WOKO?
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Went the Sirius/XM route years ago, after years of just despising commercial radio formats. Haven’t listened to terrestrial radio since. Now with iTunes Genius, Pandora, and other ways to find and listen to music you actually want to hear, I can’t even understand how radio survives.
I did tune in to radio during an ice storm a couple of years back, but found the amount of information on the emergency to be highly limited.
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For the LOVE OF GOD please DO NOT call smooth jazz just jazz. It is not smooth, nor jazz. The format was created as a way to ‘sex up’ Beautiful music. It’s called smooth jazz because the research indicated that the target audience wanted to feel hip and what’s more hip than jazz?
Please don’t insult jazz by saying WHRL was a jazz station or that you love jazz when in fact you love something very different.
Thank you
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I remember the 98.3 Raisin Radio stunt. They lost me, too. I never did understand what that was all about.
I bought a new vehicle last year that came with 6 months of Sirius/XM radio which I did enjoy, but I refuse to pay for radio. It bothers me enough to pay for television!
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I am a 64 year old man who grew up with WPTR 1540 AM. I recorded an reel to reel tape. I have some 28 to 32 reels that still play. They are recorded in thier complete program. wit Boom Boom, Roy Renolds, Tom Shovan, and etc… The news along with weather reports and commercials. I like to share the tapes with the baby boomers amd find money to buy the 1540 and call letter WPTR and put it back on the air. Time is running out and must be done soon. I don’t see how unless an angle appears and make it happen.
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Paul D –
The call letters “WPTR” are now being used for the oldies station at 1240AM, the former WVKZ.
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