WLNA is the

callsign 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 assigne ...

of an AM

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

station licensed to

Peekskill, New York Peekskill is a city in northwestern Westchester County, New York, United States, from New York City. Established as a village in 1816, it was incorporated as a city in 1940. It lies on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across fro ...

and serving the

Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to ...

. The station is owned by

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 ...

and broadcasts on 1420 kHz at 5,000 watts daytime and 1,000 watts nighttime, both directional, from a five-tower array located just north of Peekskill in the Town of

Cortlandt, New York Cortlandt is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States, located at the northwestern edge of the county, at the eastern terminus of the Bear Moun ...

. (The day and night patterns use two different arrays of three towers, with only one tower shared by both arrays.) Its studios are in

Beacon A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More mode ...

History

WLNA signed on-the-air on December 22, 1948, with 500 watts of power daytime only from a single tower located on Radio Terrace in the Town of Cortlandt. It was a

full service Full service or Full Service may refer to: * Full-service radio, a wide range of programming * Full Service Network, a communications company Entertainment * "Full Service", a song by the New Kids on the Block from their album ''The Block'' * F ...

middle of the road AM station with heavy emphasis on local news and community events. A typical broadcast day had local news at the top and bottom of the hour, farm reports, local weather, and recorded or live music in between. During the Peekskill Riots on September 4, 1949, WLNA was requested by

State Police State police, provincial police or regional police are a type of sub-national territorial police force found in nations organized as federations, typically in North America, South Asia, and Oceania. These forces typically have jurisdiction o ...

and City of Peekskill officials to stay on the air past its 6 p.m. sign off time to broadcast emergency information to local residents and persons traveling into the area who may have not been aware of the situation. The Riots took place near Van Cortlandtville, about 2 miles west of the station. In 1951 the station increased power to 1,000 watts. In 1958 WLNA-FM 100.7 MHz signed on as a simulcast of the AM station. After sign-off time, WLNA-FM continued on-the-air until about midnight, allowing additional advertising revenue during shortened winter broadcast days. On October 24, 1971, WLNA-FM changed its call letters to

WHUD WHUD (100.7 FM) is an adult contemporary music radio station licensed to Peekskill, New York, United States. The station is owned by Pamal Broadcasting and broadcasts at 50,000 watts ERP. Its transmitter facility is located in Philipstown, New ...

. In 1972 the simulcast ended as FM signal split off and launched a

beautiful music Beautiful music (sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for "beautiful music/easy listening") is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Easy listening, elevator musi ...

format from Bonneville. Throughout the 1970s WLNA continued the full service format. In 1980, WLNA applied to the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

for a signal upgrade to 5,000 watts daytime and 1,000 watts night time power. This would entail moving the transmitter site about 1/2 mile south and putting up a five tower directional antenna array. The station owners, Highland Broadcasting, battled the Town of Cortlandt zoning board all the way to the

New York State Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...

over a zoning variance for use of the new transmitter site. The Supreme Court sided with the radio station, and construction was finished in late 1981. After the power upgrade, the station's signal never lived up to expectations, and with the decline of AM radio, more resources were put into its sister FM station WHUD. Highland Broadcasting sold both WLNA and WHUD to Radio Terrace, Inc in 1982. Radio Terrace also owned

WROW WROW (590 kHz) – branded ''Magic 590 AM and 100.5 FM'' – is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Albany, New York, and serving the Capital District, including Albany, Schenectady and Troy. WROW has a radio format featuring soft oldies ...

and WROW-FM in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

. Radio Terrace, Inc sold WROW-AM-FM to Albany Broadcasting, predecessor of

in December 1993. In 1997, WLNA and WHUD were sold Pamal Broadcasting.

Programming

On March 24, 2014, WLNA and WBNR introduced the "

Real Country Real Country is a 24-hour radio format produced by Westwood One. Real Country is marketed at the demographic of men aged 35 to 64. Its programming consists of a fairly broad playlist of "Today's Stars and the Legends." Classic country is the st ...

" music format. On March 15, 2021, WLNA and WBNR changed their format from

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 ...

to a simulcast of classic hits-formatted

WBPM WBPM (92.9 FM) is a classic hits radio station licensed to Saugerties, New York, serving the Mid-Hudson Valley and Catskills. The station is owned by Pamal Broadcasting and broadcasts at 6,000 watts ERP from a tower in the Town of Kingston, N ...

.Magic Comes To The Hudson Valley
Radioinsight - March 14, 2021

References

External links

{{Pamal Broadcasting Westchester County, New York LNA Radio stations established in 1948 1948 establishments in New York (state) Pamal Broadcasting Classic hits radio stations in the United States