WPDH (101.5 FM) 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 radi ...

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 ...

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsi ...

, 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 ...

and

Catskills The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas c ...

. The station 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 ...

and broadcasts 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, prima ...

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 was compelle ...

. Its studios and offices are on Pendell Road in Poughkeepsie. WPDH 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 h ...

(ERP) of 4,400

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. The

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

site is on Illinois Mountain in Highland, New York. WPDH is one of only four full-power Class B FM stations between

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and Albany. (

WSPK WSPK (104.7 FM, "K-104") is a contemporary hit radio (CHR) station licensed to Poughkeepsie, New York. Its studios are located on NY 52 Business in the town of Fishkill (with a Beacon address). It is owned by Pamal Broadcasting and transmits fr ...

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 ...

and WFGB are the three others.) WPDH is also

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 ...

on a Class A station, 106.1 WPDA in Jeffersonville, New York. Several translators relay WPDH's digital subchannels.

History

WEOK-FM

In 1962, the station signed on as WEOK-FM. It was the sister station to WEOK

1390 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1390 kHz: 1390 AM is a Regional broadcast frequency. Argentina * LR11 in La Plata, Buenos Aires * LRA6 in Valle de Uspallata, Mendoza (960 kHz. Defunct?) Guatemala (Channel 86) * ...

and was Poughkeepsie's second FM station after WKIP-FM (today's

). The main purpose of the station at the outset was to provide

Muzak Muzak is an American brand of background music played in retail stores and other public establishments. The name has been in use since 1934, and has been owned by a division or subsidiary of one or another company ever since. In 1981, Westingho ...

programming to area offices and stores via its subcarrier. By day, WPDH

the AM's middle of the road (MOR) format, with block programming airing between the AM's sign off and 10:00 p.m. In 1972, WEOK AM and FM were sold to the Dyson family (also owners of Dyson Racing) and with the sale came key changes to the FM side. The transmitter moved from a site in Milton (now used by WVKR) to the current Illinois Mountain site. It upgraded to a full Class B signal and added

FM stereo FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is capa ...

capabilities in the process.

Country Music to AOR

At the end of these upgrades, it relaunched as

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

formatted WPDH. At the time, only some people owned FM receivers and almost no car radios were equipped for FM radio. WPDH was beaten by

signal WHN after that station flipped to country. With the poor ratings playing country music, management saw a hole for an

album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. Album-orien ...

(AOR) station in the

. The leading rock stations from New York City, 95.5 WPLJ and 102.7

WNEW-FM WNEW-FM (102.7 FM, ''NEW 102.7'') is a hot adult contemporary formatted radio station, licensed to New York, New York and owned by Audacy, Inc. The station's studios are located at the Audacy facility in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Ma ...

, were difficult to receive so far from Manhattan. In 1976 WPDH abandoned country for rock music, and this format remains to this day. Through its decades in rock radio, there have been several variations of WPDH's format. At the outset, it was

automated Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...

, with no

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...

s. Then, it added DJs, playing

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. In ...

along with an occasional

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

track. The format evolved through the 1980s as the station gradually tightened its playlist to the top selling albums of the day, and the last couple of decades of rock. The splintering of rock in the 1980s and early 1990s had varying effects on WPDH. The station added heavy metal into the playlist as well as early modern rock and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

an imports. The station remained successful and was a solid #1 in the market in the early 1980s, and by the 1990s was alternating the #1 spot in the market with 104.7 WSPK's

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 ...

sound.

Classic Rock

In 1994, WPDH owners Crystal Radio Group (the Dyson family spinoff headed by Rob Dyson) purchased Middletown-based 92.7 WKOJ and 1340 WALL from Orange & Rockland Utilities. With this purchase came an opportunity to both solve the new rock dilemma and to strengthen WPDH by owning its only direct competition. WPDH spent the latter part of 1994 and early 1995 evolving to

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, prima ...

while WKOJ flipped to

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...

WRRV WRRV (92.7 FM broadcasting, FM) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station city of license, licensed to Middletown, Orange County, New York, Middletown, New York and serving Orange County, New York, Orange County, including parts of the mid H ...

in April 1995. WPDH's ratings went through some instability in the early years as classic rock. It was the regular #2 to WSPK's #1 by the turn of the 21st Century. Rob Dyson sold the Crystal Radio Group to Aurora Communications in 2001 which, in turn was bought out by

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 8 ...

in 2002. Amid an extended drop in ratings, WPDH was relaunched as a

mainstream rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active rock ...

station over Labor Day Weekend 2003. Gary Cee, formerly of

WLIR WLIR was a radio station that played a new music/modern rock format on the frequencies 92.7 FM, 98.5 FM, and 107.1 FM from the 1980s into the 2000s. Bob Wilson, longtime WLIR employee and historian, created the website WDARE (Dare FM), which m ...

, was hired as Program Director, and the station stabilized at the top of the ratings in both Dutchess and Orange counties. In January 2012, Andrew Boris, program director of sister station

, became the new Program Director of WPDH. No formula changes in the programming were enacted. Boris later began hosting the morning

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this cl ...

show, in addition to his PD duties.

Changes in Ownership

On August 30, 2013, a deal was announced in which Cumulus would swap its stations in

Dubuque, Iowa Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...

, and Poughkeepsie (including WPDH) to

in exchange for Peak Broadcasting's

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

stations. The deal was part of Cumulus' acquisition of

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 ...

. Townsquare, Peak, and Dial Global are all controlled by

Oaktree Capital Management Oaktree Capital Management is an American global asset management firm specializing in alternative investment strategies. As of March 31, 2022, the company managed $164 billion for its clientele. The firm was co-founded in 1995 by a group that ...

. The sale to Townsquare was completed on November 14, 2013. Under Townsquare management, WPDH plays a large amount of classic rock with a few current and recent titles.

Current WPDH Personalities

* Andrew Boris & Robyn Taylor "The Boris & Robyn Morning Show" (weekdays 6-10am) * Hopkins (middays 10am-2pm) * Smitty (afternoons 2-6pm) * Uncle Joe Benson (evenings 6pm-12am) * Jackson "Jack The Ripper" George (Saturday 3-7pm, also host of "Sound Check" Sundays at 10pm) * Nancy Reamy (traffic reporter for The Boris & Robyn Morning Show)

The Past WPDH Airforce

* Mark "The Coop" Cooper (died from a stroke in August 2013) * Pete Clark (Morning show host and program director 1980-1984) * Tim Massie (Morning news anchor 1980–1984) * Johnny Tobin * Kricket * John Mulrooney * Brian Jones (news director and morning/afternoon news anchor, 2000-2008; later news director at

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 ...

WLNA WLNA is the callsign of an AM radio station licensed to Peekskill, New York and serving the Hudson Valley. The station is owned by Pamal Broadcasting and broadcasts on 1420 kHz at 5,000 watts daytime and 1,000 watts nighttime, both directi ...

WGHQ WGHQ (920 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Kingston, New York and serving the Hudson Valley. WGHQ is owned by Pamal Broadcasting The station airs a mix of adult standards, oldies, and soft adult contemporary formats known a ...

WBNR WBNR is the callsign of an AM radio station licensed to Beacon, New York, and serving the Hudson Valley. The station is owned by Pamal Broadcasting and broadcasts on 1260 kHz at 1,000 watts daytime and 400 watts nighttime, both directional, ...

and

) * Susan Browning, formerly at WNEW, WDRE/WLIR, WYNY, Y107, WFAS, now WHUD * Gary Cee (former Program Director, now Program Director and afternoon host on WNNJ-FM, as well as Director of Operations of Clear Channel TriState Radio in Sussex, New Jersey and midday host on Z93 ( WBWZ, also known as Rock 93.3) * Ron Rizzi (former Program Director) * Ron Nenni (later of

WPYX WPYX (106.5 MHz "PYX 106") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Albany, New York, and serving the Capital District. It broadcasts a classic rock radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. WPYX also carries New York Giants footbal ...

) * Mike Harris (became General Manager of WEOK/WPDH) * Kenny Gonyea (later of

WRWD-FM WRWD-FM (107.3 MHz, "Country 107.3") is a country music radio station licensed to Highland, New York and primarily serving the mid-Hudson Valley of New York. The station broadcasts at 330 watts ERP from a tower near Illinois Mountain in Marlbor ...

) * Kevin Belcastro (later of

, now PD at Southern Broadcasting Stations in GA) * Stewart "Stew" Schantz (later of

, later WSKS and then WUPE-FM, deceased June 11, 2010.) * Rick Buser (former Music Director, later of WEXT, WBPM, WRNQ, WKZE-FM, and now with Fox News Radio) * Chris Barnes (Afternoon news in 1983. Later of WBPM, WPXC Cape Cod, XM Satellite Radio, Fox News Radio, and now of USA Radio Networks) * Pamela Brooks (now on WRKI, I-95 in Danbury, CT) * Matthew Walsh (later of WKLS, CNN Headline News,

CNN International CNN International (CNNI, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel that is owned by CNN Global. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates with sister network CNN's national and inte ...

) * John Steffanci (later of

WKIP WKIP (1450 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Poughkeepsie, New York. The station is owned by iHeartMedia and broadcasts at 1,000 watts from a two-tower array adjacent to its radio studios in the Arlington section of the Town of Pou ...

) * 'Bubbles' (morning show sidekick with Schantz/Stefanci and Sussman/Stefanci) * Joseph "Joe" Sussman (later Program Director Q-104/

WQBK-FM WQBK-FM (105.7 MHz "Q105.7/103.5") is a commercial radio station licensed to Malta, New York, and serving the Capital District of New York, including the Albany-Schenectady-Troy radio market. The station is owned by Townsquare Media, and ai ...

Albany and

) * Kevin Karlson * Pete McKenzie * Heather Ford * Reno * Steve Frankenberry (now on WBPM and assistant production director at Pamal, Poughkeepsie) * Bill Palmeri (longtime Program Director, Operations Manager and General Manager), also launched WRRV/RRB as GM with Greg O'Brien PD and Boris MD. Now Area President for iHeartmedia Allentown and Williamsport, PA * Greg O'Brien (former Program Director of both WPDH and

. though not simultaneously, and before that, WPDH Music Director) * Clayton "The Rock and Roll Rebel" Trag later of Q-104/WQBK Albany, Gone but never forgotten 1993. * Michael "Mad Mike" Colvin (Producer of, and voice actor on, several WPDH morning programs Most Notably: "Wakin' Up with the Wolf", "Cooper & Zolz", and "Cooper & Tobin", Voice characters included "40's Man", "Cognac the Magnificent", "Guy", and parodies of various sports announcers voices.) * Rockin' Steve * Rick Zolzer * Bob Carmody * Erica Pierson (later WLNY-TV; now on-air at

WHAR WHAR (105.1 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a Christian Worship format branded as Air 1. WHAR is licensed to Havelock, North Carolina. The station was sold in 2010 by NM Licensing LLC. The station is owned by the Educational Media Foundation ...

) * Shelli Sexton * Jeff Jensen - currently a traffic reporter on WINS * Billy "The Moranimal" Moran (now producer of the

Brother Wease Brother Wease is the stage name, on-air name of Alan Levin (born November 1, 1946 in Rochester, New York), a radio personality from Rochester, New York. He is currently heard on WAIO "Radio 95.1" a classic rock station in Rochester, as well as WHT ...

show) * Daniel "The Doctor" Giannascoli - now "Sergeant Dan" on Thunder 106 * Richie Coelho * Greg Gattine (former Program Director, now on WDST in Woodstock, NY) * Brandon Terry * Scotty "On The Air" Perry, Voted Best Radio Disc Jockey In Hudson Valley & Best Disc Jockey Website in 2007s Best Of In The Time's Herald Record * The Biker * John "Tigman" Rutigliano - now works at WBWZ/Z93 in New Paltz, NY * Justin Foy (now on WDST in Woodstock, NY) * Jay Burstein * Scott "The Candyman" Carlin (onetime Promotions Director, later Program Director then Operations Manager) * Jim Hansen (a.k.a. Steve Clark on WCZX) - died suddenly after his first full-time air shift on WCZX, in 1994 * Chris Donahue (a.k.a. Marty Allen on WCZX) * Thomas Licursi (aka "Tommy Potatoes") * Amy Salerno (now a traffic reporter for WCBS-AM in New York City) * Steven Colvin (Also part-time on WRRV 92.3 & 96.9 late-nights) * Anthony "Tony" DeBarros * Brando (now Producer/Mornings on 103.9 LI News Radio * Greg Deichler *

Patty Rosborough Patty Rosborough is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and television writer. From 1990 to 1993, she co-hosted ''Short Attention Span Theater'' with Jon Stewart. Her stand-up comedy has been televised on Comedy Central, A&E, Showtime, and V ...

* Marshall "Sean Lennon" Rhoades (Now of Mole N' Zanes' Podcast of Rambling Randomness™ and digitalzoneent.com)

Notable alumni

Mike Breen Michael Breen (born May 22, 1961) is an American play-by-play sports commentator for '' NBA on ABC'' and is the lead announcer for New York Knicks games on the MSG Network. Breen also calls NBA games for ESPN and was formerly a play-by-play anno ...

, sportcaster, began his career on WPDH/WEOK around 1982-83, reading the news in the morning. Later, news/sports sidekick for Imus in the morning on NBC, play-by-play commentator for the NBA on ABC and the lead commentator for New York Knicks games on the MSG network. He also works NBA games for ESPN, and was formerly a play-by-play announcer for New York Giants preseason games, as well as for regular season NFL games on both Fox and NBC. *Jason Barrett, former program director of WPEN in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, began his career hosting the wrestling show "No Holds Barred" on Sunday nights. * Freddie Coleman, now of '' GameNight'' on ESPN Radio, entered radio at WPDH as music director and overnight host, later working at sister station WCZX. * Jay Reynolds, ESPN Radio; spent time at WPDH as news anchor & news director (1992-1998). *Karlson and McKenzie of WZLX in Boston, Massachusetts spent time at WPDH before returning to Boston. *Bob "The Wolf" Wohlfeld, longtime morning host. * Dead Air Dave started his on-air career at WPDH, years before becoming a personality on 92.3 K-Rock New York and later adding dump button duties for

The Howard Stern Show ''The Howard Stern Show'' is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The show has aired on Howard 100 a ...

. *Roger "The Rajah" Clark did fill-in newscasts on WPDH. He is now a reporter and fill-in anchor for New York One News in

. *Loscalzo from WNYU started his pro career at WPDH and went on to WRCN, WDRE and WXRK. He's now at MTV.

HD Radio

Cumulus Broadcasting began upgrading its stations to HD Radio broadcasting in 2005. One of the first ten stations to be upgraded was WPDH. WPDH uses its HD2 and HD4 digital subchannel to rebroadcast co-owned

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 ...

WALL

1340 AM 1340 kHz is defined as a Class C (local) frequency in the coterminous United States and such stations on this frequency are limited to 1,000 watts. U.S. stations outside the coterminous United States (Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, & the U.S. V ...

and its HD3 subchannel to rebroadcast

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

adult hits WEOK

References

External links

* * {{coord, 41.719, N, 73.996, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title Poughkeepsie, New York PDH Classic rock radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1962 Townsquare Media radio stations