WAAL (99.1 FM "The Whale") is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

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 ...

licensed to

Binghamton, New York Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...

. It airs a

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

and is owned by

Townsquare Media Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wi ...

. WAAL is the oldest FM radio station in the

Binghamton metropolitan area The Binghamton Metropolitan Statistical Area, also called Greater Binghamton or the Triple Cities, is a region of southern Upstate New York in the northeastern United States, anchored by the city of Binghamton. The MSA encompasses Broome and ...

. It is an affiliate of the

New York Giants Radio Network The New York Giants Radio Network is a broadcast radio network based in New York City, the official radio broadcaster of the National Football League's New York Giants. The network's radio broadcasts are currently flagshipped at WFAN, a station own ...

. The studios and offices are on Court Street in Binghamton. 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 Ingraham Hill Road, also in Binghamton, amid other towers for local TV and FM stations.

History

WKOP-FM

In March 1954, the station

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 ...

as WKOP-FM at 95.3 MHz. It was the FM counterpart of

AM 1360 The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1360 kHz: 1360 AM is a regional broadcast frequency. Class B and D stations broadcast on 1360 AM. Argentina * AM 1360 in Maria Grande, Entre Rios (still have no callsign assigned) Mexi ...

WKOP (now

WYOS WYOS (1360 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Binghamton, New York. It is owned by Townsquare Media with studios and offices on Court Street. It had broadcast a sports radio format using programming from CBS Sports Radio but went silent ...

). The two stations

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, simultane ...

and were

network affiliate In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or a ...

s of the

Mutual Broadcasting System The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Old-time radio, golden ...

. They were owned by Binghamton Broadcasters, Inc. At first, WKOP-FM broadcast at only 420

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, a fraction of the station's current power. In the 1960s, WKOP-FM received

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 ...

(FCC) permission to move to 99.1 MHz, with an increase in power to 33,000 watts. By 1970, it ended its simulcast with WKOP 1360 and began playing a

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

format.

WAAL

In 1974, the station was sold to Butternut Broadcasting, which switched 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 assigne ...

to WAAL, running an AOR format. The station was known as "WAAL (pronounced like whale) Stereo FM 99." The station dropped its AOR format in October 1985 for Top 40/CHR after the drop of CHR station WWWT-FM for adult contemporary due to the station's complaint on its listeners. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was known as "The Hot FM" and was affiliated with the ABC FM Network. 1996 brought an ownership change to Wicks Broadcasting, which changed WAAL's format to

Citadel Ownership, then Townsquare

WAAL was acquired by

Citadel Broadcasting Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the country. Only iHeartMedia and Cumulus Media ...

in 1998 from Wicks Broadcast Group in a $77 million deal that included a total of 16 radio stations. Citadel merged with

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 87 ...

on September 16, 2011. In 2013, in a $281 million, multi-station deal involving Cumulus,

and Peak Broadcasting, 99.1 WAAL and AM 1360, now known as

, were acquired by Townsquare.TownsquareMedia.com/press/"Townsquare Acquiring Assets from Cumulus and Peak"
/ref> The classic rock format has remained in place on WAAL.

On-air lineup

*Free Beer & Hot Wings - 5am-10am, Monday - Saturday *Jen Austin - 10am-3pm, Monday - Saturday *Don Morgan- 3pm-7pm, Monday - Saturday *Ultimate Classic Rock with Uncle Joe Benson - 7pm-Midnight, Monday - Friday R On Air Alumni - The Oz, Pete Bucky, Big Wally, Barry Shapiro, Pete Kinney, Chris Gordon, "The Admiral" Keith Nelson, Glenn Corneliess, Roy Dackekrman, Dick Bascom, Rob Cain, Gerry Martire, Gregg Neavin, Roberta Haber, Thunder Reynolds, Rick Kelly, Doug Cortright, Steve Becker, Bill Davis, Ron Clay, Scott Michaels, Dave Freeman, Tony Russell, Bob Lindquist, Mr. Mandyke, Steve Willet, Dave Elias, Fred Horton, Julie Evans, The Wildman, The Banana Queen, John Carter, Doug Mosher, Captain, Doc Wells, Jim Free

Shows

* Free Beer & Hot Wings - from 5am-10am Monday - Saturday featuring Dumber Than The Show Trivia. * 99 Minute Classic Rock Ride - with Jen Austin, weekdays beginning at 10 am. * 6 Pack Classic Rock Ride - Features at least six Classic Rock songs in a row every hour. * The Southern Tier Closeup - Sundays at 7 am, hosted by Kathy Whyte, a radio program showcasing community issues. * Encounter - Sundays at 7:15 am from the Broome County Council of Churches. * Time Warp - Sundays at 8am, a syndicated 4-hour classic rock radio show hosted by Bill St. James. * Ultimate Classic Rock - Monday through Sunday from 7 pm to Midnight with Uncle Joe Benson and Matt Wardlaw.

References

External links

99.1 The Whale - Official websiteThe Whale Morning CrewThe Rockin' 80's - Official websiteBig Wally's MySpace
{{coord, 42.059, N, 75.951, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title AAL Classic rock radio stations in the United States Townsquare Media radio stations