WIZR (930 AM) is a

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 radi ...

that broadcasts a

hot 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 ...

format. Licensed to

Johnstown, New York Johnstown is a city in and the county seat of Fulton County in the U.S. state of New York. The city was named after its founder, Sir William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Province of New York and a major general during the Sev ...

, United States, the station serves the Mohawk Valley area. The station is owned by the Cranesville Radio Network and features hit songs from the 1990s till today. By day, WIZR transmits with 1,000

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 ...

s, but to avoid interference with other stations on

930 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 930 kHz: As classified by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government th ...

, at night it reduces power to only 28 watts. Programming is also heard on two

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 tra ...

s, at 102.9

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 ...

in Johnstown and on 104.3 MHz in Northville.

History

WIZR

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 ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

, airing a middle of the road format. Four years later, sister station WIZR-FM 104.9 (now

WINU WINU (104.9 MHz, "Alt 104.9") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Altamont and serving New York's Capital District. The station is owned by Pamal Broadcasting and airs an alternative rock radio format. WINU has an effective radiated p ...

in Altamont, New York) signed on,

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simulta ...

ing the AM station's programming. In 1973, the stations flipped to 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 "cont ...

simulcast; with the FM side flipping to

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 ...

in 1980. With the decline of top 40 formats on AM, WIZR switched to the syndicated "

Music of Your Life Music of Your Life is an American syndicated music radio format featuring adult standards music. First created by recording executive Al Ham in 1978, the format achieved popularity in the 1980s among AM radio stations in the United States and C ...

" format under the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assign ...

WMYL in 1981. (The call letters stood for Music of Your Life.) WIZR-FM signed off in 1982 and returned after a one-year absence, simulcasting the AM's adult standards format. In 1984, Joe Caruso acquired the stations, and reinstated the WIZR call sign on the AM side while the FM took on a new format and the WSRD call letters. In early 1998, Joe Caruso sought to move FM 104.9 closer to the Albany market by securing a construction permit to relocate WSRD to Altamont, New York. Later that year,

Pamal Broadcasting Pamal Broadcasting, Ltd. is a family-owned radio group with twenty-three stations in medium-to-small markets in the Northeast. Based in the Albany suburb of Latham, New York, Pamal Broadcasting was founded in 1987 as Albany Broadcasting Company, w ...

acquired both stations for $2.2 million. Upon the closure of the sale, former sister station WSRD moved to its new transmitter site and is now

, while WIZR began to carry ABC's now-defunct Timeless radio network. WIZR-AM 930 former logo

In December 2008, WIZR went silent as

prepared for a sale of the radio station. Eventually, Dr. Thomas J. Kuettel purchased the station in early 2010. He installed a

classic country Classic country is a music radio format that specializes in playing mainstream country and western music hits from past decades. Repertoire The radio format specializes in hits from the 1950s through the early 1980s, and focus primarily on innov ...

format under

Dial Global Westwood One is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1978. The company ...

's True Country satellite service on March 15, 2010. On June 1, 2011, the station changed to Dial Global's

network. In March 2013 WIZR changed FM translator frequencies to 102.9, also adopting a new slogan "Your Home For Classic Hits" as Dial Global had changed and updated the format. In April 2014, the sale of WIZR began, with the Cranesville Radio Network of Amsterdam, NY purchasing. The station was flipped to an AC format, with a minor Hot AC change coming in July 2014. The license transfer for WIZR(AM) and W243CV(FM) Translator was consummated on October 31, 2014, at a price of $150,000. WIZR becomes the 4th station in the Cranesville Amsterdam cluster, including

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 cit ...

AM 1490,

WKAJ WKAJ (1120 AM) is a radio station licensed to and transmitting from Saint Johnsville, New York, United States. The station had aired Westwood Oneʼs Real Country format up until late 2020. Currently WKAJ is simulcasting sister station WCSS's G ...

AM 1120, and WYVS 96.5 FM.

References

External links

* * * * {{Adult Contemporary Radio Stations in New York IZR Radio stations established in 1964 1964 establishments in New York (state) Hot adult contemporary radio stations in the United States