WEXT (97.7
MHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...
) is a listener-supported,
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...
FM radio station
Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...
broadcasting an
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, ...
format
Format may refer to:
Printing and visual media
* Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements
* Paper formats, or paper size standards
* Newspaper format, the size of the paper page
Computing
* File format, particular way that informatio ...
.
Licensed
A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) 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 part ...
to
Amsterdam, New York
Amsterdam () is a city in Montgomery County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 18,219. The city is named after Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
The city of Amsterdam is bordered on the northern and ea ...
, the station serves the
Capital District
A capital district, capital region, or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any politic ...
and
Mohawk Valley
The Mohawk Valley region of the U.S. state of New York is the area surrounding the Mohawk River, sandwiched between the Adirondack Mountains and Catskill Mountains, northwest of the Capital District. As of the 2010 United States Census, ...
. The station is owned by WMHT Educational Telecommunications and features programming from
American Public Media
American Public Media (APM) is an American company that produces and distributes public radio programs in the United States, the second largest company of its type after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and o ...
,
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 ...
and
Public Radio Exchange
The Public Radio Exchange (PRX) is a non-profit web-based platform for digital distribution, review, and licensing of radio programs. The organization is the largest on-demand catalogue of public radio programs available for broadcast and internet ...
. WEXT holds periodic
fundraiser
Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...
s on the air to support the station.
WEXT 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 1,600
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. 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 off
New York State Route 30
New York State Route 30 (NY 30) is a state highway in the central part of New York in the United States. It extends for from an interchange with NY 17 (Future Interstate 86) in the Southern Tier to the US–Canada border in ...
in
Perth, New York
Perth () is a town in Fulton County, New York, United States. The population was 3,646 at the 2010 census. It is in the southeastern corner of the county, north of Amsterdam. The town is named after Perth, Scotland.
History
The land was firs ...
. Programming is also heard on an
FM translator
A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater ( two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tr ...
in
Albany, 106.1 W291BY and on the
HD Radio
HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcast, simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD R ...
digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...
of co-owned 89.1
WMHT-FM
WMHT-FM (89.1 Hertz, MHz) is a listener-supported, non-commercial radio station city of license, licensed to Schenectady, and serving the Capital District, New York, Capital District of New York (state), New York. It has a classical music radio ...
-HD2.
History
In 1975, WCSS-FM first
signed on
A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...
, airing a
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. "To ...
/
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 ...
format. It was the FM counterpart to
WCSS
WCSS (1490 AM) is a commercial radio station broadcasting a news/ talk format. Licensed to Amsterdam, New York, the station serves the Mohawk Valley, with radio studios in the Riverfront Center Mall in that city's downtown.
The station is owne ...
1490 AM
The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1490 kHz: 1490 AM is a Regional ( Class B) outside the coterminous 48 United States (Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico & U.S. Virgin Islands), and a Local ( Class C) frequency within the cont ...
. In 1979, the call letters changed to WMVQ, carrying a
Middle of the Road (MOR) format. In 1984, WMVQ changed formats to
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 ...
, which was known as ''Magic 97.7''. In late 1988, the format was changed to
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 ...
with the call letters WKOL-FM, which was known as ''Cool 97.7''. In late 1989, the station flipped 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 ...
. During the holidays in 1994, the station switched to all
Christmas music
Christmas music comprises a variety of Music genre, genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas and holiday season, Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or in the case of Christmas ...
. That would signal the end of the AC format.
On December 26, 1994, the station flipped to
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...
as WBKK ''W-Bach''. As a commercial station, the station originally ran using the
KDFC
KDFC (90.3 FM; "Classical California KDFC") is a non-commercial radio station in San Francisco, California, that broadcasts classical music 24 hours daily. It is owned by the University of Southern California. KDFC is the radio home of the San ...
DAT service, switching to the now-defunct SW Classical network and eventually to a service provided by
WCRB
WCRB (99.5 FM) is a non-commercial radio station licensed to Lowell, Massachusetts, which serves the Greater Boston area. It broadcasts European classical music, classical music. The station's studios are located in Brighton, Boston, Brighton, ...
in
Boston, Massachusetts
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 ...
.
On August 4, 2005, the station became a simulcast of
WMHT-FM
WMHT-FM (89.1 Hertz, MHz) is a listener-supported, non-commercial radio station city of license, licensed to Schenectady, and serving the Capital District, New York, Capital District of New York (state), New York. It has a classical music radio ...
after GEM Associates sold the station to WMHT Educational Telecommunications for $1.5 million. In April 2006, WBKK split off from the simulcast of WMHT-FM with a classical music format carrying shorter pieces than its sister station.
On July 7, 2007, WMHT-FM dropped their classical service on WBKK and launched a new
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, ...
format under the ''Exit 97.7'' branding and the WEXT calls. The station highlights a lot of local music, calling it "Local 518" (in reference to the station's area code). Featured programs include the children's rock and roll program called ''The Peanut Butter Jam'' and the Latin music show
The Latin Alternative.
On December 21, 2018, the program content of WEXT, which is also on WMHT-FM HD-2, was added to the translator at 106.1 with call sign W291BY.
References
External links
*
EXT
Ext, ext or EXT may refer to:
* Ext functor, used in the mathematical field of homological algebra
* Ext (JavaScript library), a programming library used to build interactive web applications
* Exeter Airport
Exeter Airport , formerly ''Ex ...
Adult album alternative radio stations in the United States
NPR member stations
Radio stations established in 1975
1975 establishments in New York (state)
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