WEXT (97.7

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

) is a listener-supported,

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

broadcasting an

adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, 2 ...

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

Licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Amsterdam, New York Amsterdam is a city in Montgomery County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 18,219. The city is named after Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The City of Amsterdam is surrounded on the northern, eastern ...

, the station serves the

Capital District A capital district, capital region or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any politica ...

and

Mohawk Valley The Mohawk Valley region of the U.S. state of New York is the area surrounding the Mohawk River, sandwiched between the Adirondack Mountains and Catskill Mountains, northwest of the Capital District. As of the 2010 United States Census, th ...

. The station is owned by WMHT Educational Telecommunications and features programming from

American Public Media American Public Media (APM) is an American company that produces and distributes public radio programs in the United States, the second largest company of its type after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and oper ...

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

and

Public Radio Exchange The Public Radio Exchange (PRX) is a non-profit web-based platform for digital distribution, review, and licensing of radio programs. The organization is the largest on-demand catalogue of public radio programs available for broadcast and internet ...

. WEXT holds periodic

fundraiser Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

s on the air to support the station. WEXT has an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would hav ...

(ERP) of 1,600

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...

is off

New York State Route 30 New York State Route 30 (NY 30) is a state highway in the central part of New York in the United States. It extends for from an interchange with NY 17 (Future Interstate 86) in the Southern Tier to the US–Canada border in t ...

Perth, New York Perth is a town in Fulton County, New York, United States. The population was 3,646 at the 2010 census. It is in the southeastern corner of the county, north of Amsterdam. The town is named after Perth, Scotland. History The land was first set ...

. Programming is also heard on an

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...

in Albany, 106.1 W291BY and on the

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...

digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...

of co-owned 89.1

WMHT-FM WMHT-FM (89.1 MHz) is a listener-supported, non-commercial radio station licensed to Schenectady, and serving the Capital District of New York. It has a classical music radio format, with most programming originating in-house, but with some show ...

-HD2.

History

In 1975, WCSS-FM first

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on do ...

, airing a

top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...

format. It was the FM counterpart to

WCSS WCSS (1490 AM) is a commercial radio station broadcasting a full service oldies and classic hits radio format. Licensed to Amsterdam, New York, the station serves the Mohawk Valley, with radio studios in the Riverfront Center Mall in that city's ...

1490 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1490 kHz: 1490 AM is a Regional ( Class B) outside the coterminous 48 United States (Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico & U.S. Virgin Islands), and a Local ( Class C) frequency within the contig ...

. In 1979, the call letters changed to WMVQ, carrying a Middle of the Road (MOR) format. In 1984, WMVQ changed formats to

soft adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet sto ...

, which was known as ''Magic 97.7''. In late 1988, the format was changed to

with the call letters WKOL-FM, which was known as ''Cool 97.7''. In late 1989, the station flipped to

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

. During the holidays in 1994, the station switched to all

Christmas music Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or, in the case of carols or songs, may employ lyrics whose subject ma ...

. That would signal the end of the AC format. On December 26, 1994, the station flipped to

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

as WBKK ''W-Bach''. As a commercial station, the station originally ran using the

KDFC KDFC (90.3 FM) is a non-commercial radio station in San Francisco, California, that broadcasts classical music 24 hours daily. It is owned by the University of Southern California. KDFC is the radio home of the San Francisco Symphony and the San ...

DAT service, switching to the now-defunct SW Classical network and eventually to a service provided by

WCRB WCRB (99.5 FM) is a non-commercial radio station licensed to Lowell, Massachusetts, which serves the Greater Boston area. It broadcasts classical music. Its studios are located in Brighton, and its transmitter is located west of Andover. WCRB wa ...

in Boston, Massachusetts. On August 4, 2005, the station became a simulcast of

after GEM Associates sold the station to WMHT Educational Telecommunications for $1.5 million. In April 2006, WBKK split off from the simulcast of WMHT-FM with a classical music format carrying shorter pieces than its sister station. On July 7, 2007, WMHT-FM dropped their classical service on WBKK and launched a new

format under the ''Exit 97.7'' branding and the WEXT calls. The station highlights a lot of local music, calling it "Local 518" (in reference to the station's area code). Featured programs include the children's rock and roll program called ''The Peanut Butter Jam'' and the Latin music show ''The Latin Alternative''. On December 21, 2018, the program content of WEXT, which is also on WMHT-FM HD-2, was added to the translator at 106.1 with call sign W291BY.

References

External links

EXT Ext, ext or EXT may refer to: * Ext functor, used in the mathematical field of homological algebra * Ext (JavaScript library), a programming library used to build interactive web applications * Exeter Airport (IATA airport code), in Devon, England ...

Adult album alternative radio stations in the United States NPR member stations Radio stations established in 1975 1975 establishments in New York (state) {{NewYork-radio-station-stub