WALK-FM (97.5 FM) is 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 ...

radio station

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 ...

Patchogue, New York Patchogue (, ) is a village in Suffolk County, New York. The population was 11,798 at the time of the 2010 census. Patchogue is part of the town of Brookhaven, on the south shore of Long Island, adjoining Great South Bay. It is officially known ...

, and serving

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

. The station is owned by

Connoisseur Media Connoisseur Media LLC is an American media company. It is based in Westport, Connecticut and led by Jeff Warshaw. Connoisseur operates radio stations and digital assets in markets across the U.S. cities of Billings, Fredrick, Maryland; Bay Shore, H ...

, with

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

s and offices located at Airport Plaza in

Farmingdale, New York Farmingdale is an incorporated village on Long Island within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York. The population was 8,189 as of the 2010 Census. The Lenox Hills neighborhood is adjacent to Bethpage State Park and the rest of the ...

and its transmitter located on Telescope Hill in

Farmingville, New York Farmingville is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Suffolk County town of Brookhaven, New York, United States. The population was 15,481 at the 2010 census. History The first settlement in what is now called Farmingville occurr ...

. WALK-FM broadcasts in 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 ...

hybrid format with its HD2 channel carrying the

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 ro ...

programming of co-owned 94.3 WWSK.

History

1952 to 1999

WALK-FM first

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature, placing one's name on a document * Signature (disambiguation) * Manual communication, signing as a form of communication using the hands in place of the voice * Digital signature A digi ...

the air on December 12, 1952. It was owned by the Suffolk Broadcasting Corporation, and was the FM counterpart to co-owned

WALK Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an ' inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults ...

1370 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1370 kHz: 1370 AM is a regional broadcast frequency, on which Class B and D stations broadcast. Argentina * LRA 54 in Ingeniero Jacobacci, Rio Negro * Trece 70 in Isidro Casanova, Bueno ...

. WALK was a

daytimer A clear-channel station is an AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The system exists to ensure the viability of cross-co ...

station, so WALK-FM allowed listeners with FM radios to hear the programming after sunset. In its early years, WALK-AM-FM played

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" al ...

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

, adult standards and

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 ...

. WALK-FM was originally powered at 15,000 watts, only heard in the western part of Suffolk County. WALK-FM was purchased in 1963 by the Island Broadcasting System along with its

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

s, 1370 WALK Patchogue and 1570 WRIV Riverhead. Island Broadcasting was owned in part by

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's v ...

anchorman

Chet Huntley Chet is a masculine given name, often a nickname for Chester, which means ''fortress'' or ''camp''. It is an uncommon name of English origin, and originated as a surname to identify people from the city of Chester, England. Chet was ranked 1,027th ...

. In 1997, WALK-AM-FM were bought by Chancellor Communications. One of WALK-FM's longest running shows was "Klein 'til 9 and Again 'til 10" hosted by Bob Klein. Klein was 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 ...

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), mobil ...

for much of the 1980s, 90s and early 2000s, helping a couple of generations of Long Islanders start their day. Klein died in 2017 at age 92. WALK-FM was one of the first stations on

to run 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 ...

during the holiday season, beginning weeks before

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

. The all-holiday format began in 1995 on AM 1370 WALK. Beginning in 2002, it was run on both WALK AM and FM. It continues to run on WALK-FM annually from a week or two before Thanksgiving through Christmas Day.

2000s

In 2000, WALK-AM-FM were acquired by

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

. In 2014, Clear Channel switched its name to

iHeartMedia, Inc. iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company fou ...

The WALK Breakfast Club, the weekday morning show now hosted by Mark Daniels and Cindy, was featured on ABC's "

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. ...

" in December 2005. A GMA reporter was live on national TV, asking Mark and Cindy about playing all holiday music on radio stations. After the report, Cindy jokingly accused Mark of paying off the photographer since the camera was only focusing on Mark. Long-time WALK-FM DJ Dave Shnayer, known as "JD Howard" on-air, died on November 17, 2007, after a three-year battle with

non-Hodgkin lymphoma Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include enlarged lymph nodes, fever, night sweats, weight loss, and tiredne ...

. The death was announced the following afternoon by Holly Levis.

2010s

WALK-FM dropped the slogan "Yesterday and Today," switching to "Long Island's Best Variety" in May 2010. Around that time, the station began decreasing the amount of music from the 1970s to one-to-two songs per hour, starting the transition to a hotter AC format. Eventually, music from the 1970s was eliminated, and music from the 1980s has been scaled back. By July 2012, the station's tempo had increased to where it was no longer playing

adult contemporary music 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, qu ...

but had switched to a

format as

Mediabase Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analytic ...

moved it to the "Hot AC Panel." However, WALK-FM continued on the Nielsen BDS AC panel. On May 15, 2014, Qantum Communications announced that it would acquire WALK-AM-FM from the

Aloha Station Trust Aloha Station Trust, LLC was a privately owned trust company that owned radio and television stations previously owned by Clear Channel Communications, forerunner of the modern iHeartMedia. After Clear Channel was acquired by private equity inter ...

in exchange for transferring its existing 29 stations to Clear Channel. Qantum immediately sold WALK-AM-FM to

, making them sister stations to Nassau County-based AC station 98.3 WKJY. The transaction was consummated on September 9, 2014. The WALK stations were split up in late 2019, after Connoisseur donated the AM station to Cantico Nuevo Ministry, which renamed it

WLID WLID (1370 AM) is a radio station licensed to Patchogue, New York. Established in 1952 as WALK, the station broadcasts a Spanish language Christian radio format. WLID broadcasts at 500 watts by day. Because radio waves travel farther at nigh ...

HD Programming

In mid-2006, WALK-FM began broadcasting in the

hybrid format. Weeks later, WALK-FM began playing

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, ...

on its HD2 subchannel, which Clear Channel Communications claimed was the first country station on Long Island in years. Programming on WALK-FM-HD2 was discontinued after the sale of the station to

. WALK-FM-HD2 returned to the air in 2017 with sister station WWSK 94.3 FM "The Shark" now heard on the HD2 signal.HD Radio Guide
/ref> The Shark is a

station also serving Suffolk County.

Awards

In 2007, the station was nominated for the

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 ...

Station of the Year Award by

Radio & Records ''Radio & Records'' (''R&R'') was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It started as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006 and became a relaunched sister ...

magazine for the top 25 U.S. radio markets. Other nominees included

WMJX WMJX (106.7 FM) – branded Magic 106.7 – is a commercial adult contemporary radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station serves Greater Boston and much of surrounding New England. The WMJX studios ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

KOST KOST (103.5 FM) is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California. Owned by iHeartMedia, it broadcasts an AC radio format, switching to Christmas music for much of November and December. Its studios are co-located with its sister stati ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

WLTW WLTW (106.7 FM) is an adult contemporary radio station licensed to New York City and serving the New York metropolitan area. WLTW is owned by iHeartMedia and broadcasts from studios in the former AT&T Building in the Tribeca neighborhood o ...

in New York City,

WBEB WBEB (101.1 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station broadcasts an adult contemporary format, switching to Christmas music for part of November and December. The broadca ...

Philadelphia 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. Since ...

and

KEZK-FM KEZK-FM (102.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to St. Louis, Missouri. It broadcasts an adult contemporary radio format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. From mid-November through the Christmas holiday, KEZK switches to an all-Christma ...

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

References

External links

*
Total Traffic Network website
{{Connoisseur Media ALK-FM Hot adult contemporary radio stations in the United States Mass media in Suffolk County, New York Connoisseur Media radio stations Radio stations established in 1952 1952 establishments in New York (state)