WCYY (94.3 FM) is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

radio station licensed to

Biddeford, Maine Biddeford ( ) is a city in York County, Maine, United States. It is the principal commercial center of York County. Its population was 22,552 at the 2020 census. The twin cities of Saco and Biddeford include the resort communities of Biddef ...

, and serving the

Portland metropolitan area The Portland metropolitan area is a metropolitan area, metro area with its urban area, core in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington (state), Washington. It has 5 principal cities, the largest being Portland, Oregon. The U.S. Office of Man ...

. Its target audience are men between 18 and 44. The station airs an active/

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

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 wit ...

. WCYY studios are at One City Center in Portland. WCYY 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 ha ...

(ERP) of 11,500 watts. The

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 Cascade Road in

Saco, Maine Saco ( ) is a city in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 20,381 at the 2020 census. It is home to Ferry Beach State Park, Funtown Splashtown USA, Thornton Academy, as well as Saco Valley Shopping Center. General Dynamics ...

. WCYY is

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of 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, simultaneously) ...

on WPKQ (103.7 FM) in North Conway, New Hampshire, which transmits from Mount Washington and covers a large swath of northern

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

History

WIDE-FM, WBYC, WYJY and WSTG

The station signed on the air in August 1972 as WIDE-FM. It

the middle of the road programming of 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 ...

WIDE (1400 AM; now WVAE). The stations were owned by Hoy Communications and were affiliates of the ABC Information Radio Network. WIDE-FM became WBYC ("We're Beautiful York County") on March 1, 1981, with a beautiful music format. The station was mostly automated and played quarter hour sweeps of instrumental

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s of pop hits, Broadway and Hollywood show tunes. On December 2, 1985, WBYC became WYJY playing

soft 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 ...

music as "Joy 94.3". WYJY changed its call letters to WSTG on January 28, 1991, moving to a bit more upbeat

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 ...

format as "Star 94.3".

WCYY

On July 8, 1994, WSTG flipped to

adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, ...

and changed its

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 ...

to WCYY. After a while, WCYY went

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. ...

which it still plays. Prior to June 2007, WCYY was simulcast on 93.9 WCYI in

Lewiston, Maine Lewiston (; ) is the List of municipalities in Maine, second most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine, with the city's population at 37,121 as of the 2020 United States census. The city lies halfway between Augusta, Maine, Augusta, the sta ...

. That station was bought by the Educational Media Foundation and switched to Christian contemporary music as part of the Air1 network. On February 21, 2008, WCYY moved to a new studio. On August 30, 2013, a deal was announced in which

would acquire 53 Cumulus Media stations, including WCYY, for $238 million. The deal was part of Cumulus' acquisition of Dial Global; Townsquare and Dial Global were both controlled by Oaktree Capital Management. The sale to Townsquare was completed on November 14, 2013. WCYY is one of six alternative stations under Townsquare Media (another being Hudson Valley's WRRV, also acquired from Cumulus Media).

Simulcast

WCYY began simulcasting on WPKQ (103.7 FM) in North Conway, New Hampshire, and WJZN (1400 AM and 95.9 FM) in

Augusta, Maine Augusta is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Maine. The city's population was 18,899 at the 2020 United States census, making it the List of cities in Maine, 12th-most populous city in Maine, and third ...

, on October 25, 2021. The expansion, which resulted in WCYY's programming being heard in much of northern New England (in part because of WPKQ's transmitter on Mount Washington), was promoted as "WCYY 3.0". The simulcast coincided with the syndication launch of '' Toucher and Rich'' from WBZ-FM in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. The three WCYY stations, along with Bangor sister station 92.9 WEZQ, became the program's first four affiliates. WCYY and WPKQ dropped ''Toucher and Rich'' in October 2023, returning to a locally-originated music-focused morning show.

Notes

References

External links

* {{coord, 43.544, N, 70.404, W, type:landmark_region:US-ME_source:FCC, display=title CYY Active rock radio stations in the United States Alternative rock radio stations in the United States Townsquare Media radio stations Radio stations established in 1972 Biddeford, Maine