WAMC (1400 AM) is a

public radio Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive ...

station licensed to

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

. Along with

WAMC-FM WAMC-FM (90.3 FM broadcasting, FM) is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to Albany, New York, United States, featuring a public radio format. Owned by "WAMC Northeast Public Radio" with a legal name of "WAMC", WAMC-FM's primar ...

(90.3), the station serves as a

flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyal ...

of the

Northeast Public Radio The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each ...

network, which carries a listener-supported, commercial-free

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, ...

of news, talk and eclectic music. The WAMC stations are members of

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

(NPR). WAMC is a Class C AM station transmitting 1,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), 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 quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s, using a

non-directional antenna In radio communication, an omnidirectional antenna is a class of antenna which radiates equal radio power in all directions perpendicular to an axis (azimuthal directions), with power varying with angle to the axis (elevation angle), declining t ...

. With WAMC-FM's

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

Western Massachusetts Western Massachusetts, known colloquially as "western Mass," is a region in Massachusetts, one of the six U.S. states that make up the New England region of the United States. Western Massachusetts has diverse topography; 22 colleges and univ ...

, some listeners in the Albany area may tune in AM 1400 if they have trouble receiving the FM signal. WAMC's

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is on Braintree Street in Albany, near the

New York State Thruway The New York State Thruway (officially the Governor Thomas E. Dewey Thruway and colloquially "the Thruway") is a system of controlled-access toll roads spanning within the U.S. state of New York. It is operated by the New York State Thruway ...

. Its studios are on Central Avenue in Albany.

History

WAMC was first licensed on August 1, 1930, to W. Neal Parker and Herbert M. Metcalfe as WBGF in

Glens Falls, New York Glens Falls is a City (New York), city in Warren County, New York, Warren County, New York, United States and is the central city of the Glens Falls, New York metropolitan area, Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,83 ...

, and initially broadcast on 1370 kHz. In 1932, the station's license was assigned to O. T. Griffin and G. F. Bisssel, representatives for the ''

Elmira Star-Gazette The ''Star-Gazette'' is the major newspaper for Elmira, New York. Based in Elmira, the publication is owned by Gannett. History The ''Star-Gazette'' was the first newspaper of the now massive Gannett conglomerate. It was founded as the weekly ' ...

'', and 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 as ...

became WESG. The newspaper proposed to move the station to Elmira and change its frequency to 1420 kHz. However, this plan was abandoned a few months later, when the newspaper decided to instead lease WEAI, the radio station at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

Ithaca Ithaca most commonly refers to: *Homer's Ithaca, an island featured in Homer's ''Odyssey'' *Ithaca (island), an island in Greece, possibly Homer's Ithaca *Ithaca, New York, a city, and home of Cornell University and Ithaca College Ithaca, Ithaka ...

. The WESG call letters were transferred to the Ithaca operation, with the Glens Falls station changing its call sign to WGLC, and remaining on 1370 kHz. The next year WGLC moved to

Hudson Falls Hudson Falls (formerly Sandy Hill) is a village located in Washington County, New York, United States. The village is in the southwest of the town of Kingsbury, on U.S. Route 4. Hudson Falls is part of the Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical ...

. In late 1934, the call letters were changed to WABY, when Al Kelert moved the station to Albany. This made WABY one of the first stations to broadcast from New York's capital city, along with WOKO (now WOPG). WABY moved to 1400 kHz in 1941 due to the

North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement The North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA, ; ) refers to a series of international treaties that defined technical standards for AM band (mediumwave) radio stations. These agreements also addressed how frequency assignments were d ...

(NARBA) frequency shift. In its early years, WABY was a

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 ...

of both 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 Golden Age of Radio, ...

(MBS) and the

NBC Blue Network The Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a now defunct American radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945. Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the National Broadcasting Co ...

.''

Broadcasting Yearbook ''Broadcasting & Cable'' (''B&C'', or ''Broadcasting+Cable'') was a telecommunications industry monthly trade magazine and, later, news website published by Future US. Founded in 1931 as ''Broadcasting'', subsequent mergers, acquisitions and in ...

1941'
page 139
Retrieved November 8, 2023. The station provided the typical mix of popular music and network programming throughout most of its first 30 years of service. In 1961, the station changed to a high energy

top-40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently 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 ...

format, which was short-lived as the competition in that format was intense; WABY would leave this format in late 1963. From 1964 to 1971, WABY ran a middle of the road format, followed by

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music. Since 2 ...

in 1971, and a return to top-40 in 1973. By 1976, it had changed to

all-news All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to the discussion and broadcast of news. All-news radio is available in both local and radio syndication, syndicated forms, and is carried on both major US satellite radio networks. All-news sta ...

, using NBC's " News and Information Service". It then switched to

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

in 1979. In 1981, WABY changed to a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

format; a year later, it flipped to

adult standards Adult standards (also sometimes known as the nostalgia or Big Band format) is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations. Adult standards started in the 1950s and is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly tho ...

. Getting many key market names, WABY spent years as one of the highest-rated standards stations in the United States, and added an FM simulcast on WEMX (94.5 MHz) in 1995. In February 1999, Bendat sold his stations to Tele-Media, Inc., which switched the AM side to an all-news format by day with simulcasting of WABY-FM (the former WEMX, which itself would flip to

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 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

as WKLI that summer) on nights and weekends. This arrangement remained through Tele-Media's ownership of the station, the company's sale of WABY and WKLI to

Galaxy Communications Galaxy Media Partners (formerly Galaxy Communications) is a radio broadcasting company with radio stations entirely in the Central New York area. As of 2024, Galaxy owns 13 radio signals in New York. History Ed Levine, the company's president ...

in August 2001, and the flip of 94.5 FM to

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

as WRCZ. On April 22, 2002, after 68 years, the WABY calls left 1400 kHz as Galaxy replaced it with WHTR. The new call sign reflected a new format: a

hot talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

simulcast with a new move-in station at 93.7 FM. (As a tribute, a radio station in Mechanicville adopted the WABY call letters from 2002 to 2014; that station's owners then moved the call sign to a co-owned station in Watervliet). The talk format was short-lived, and that August, 1400 and 93.7 switched to

modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. ...

; while WHTR-FM concurrently changed its call sign to WKRD, 1400 retained the WHTR calls. Galaxy sold WHTR to Northeast Public Radio in February 2003, giving it the WAMC calls (with 90.3 FM modifying its own call sign to WAMC-FM as a result). The WABY call sign was displayed on the WAMC tower until 2008.

References

External links

* ( Guide to reading History Cards) (covering WBGF / WESG / WGLC / WABY from 1930-1981) {{Authority control AMC (AM) Radio stations established in 1930 NPR member stations 1930 establishments in New York (state)

History

See also

References

External links