WFYX (96.3 FM, "The Penguin") is a radio station broadcasting an adult hits music format. Licensed to

Walpole, New Hampshire Walpole is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,633 at the 2020 census. The town's central village, where 573 people resided at the 2020 census, is defined as the Walpole census-designated place (CDP) a ...

, United States, it serves the

Monadnock Region The Monadnock Region is a region in southwestern New Hampshire. It is named after Mount Monadnock, a 3,165 foot isolated mountain, which is the dominant geographic landmark in the region. Although it has no specific borders, the Monadnock Region i ...

in Southwestern New Hampshire and Southeastern Vermont. It first began broadcasting in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

under 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 ...

WLPL. The station is owned by Great Eastern Radio. Programming is simulcast with the third

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 ...

channel of

WHDQ WHDQ (106.1 FM, "Q106") is a radio station broadcasting a classic rock format. Licensed to Claremont, New Hampshire, United States, the station serves the Lebanon-Rutland- White River Junction area. The station is owned by Jeffrey Shapiro's Gr ...

(106.1 FM) in Claremont and

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

W294AB (106.7 FM) in

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

, which serve the

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

Rutland Rutland is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Leicestershire to the north and west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-west. Oakham is the largest town and county town. Rutland has a ...

- White River Junction area; a second translator, W293AB (106.5 FM), serves Keene.

History

The station went on the air in January 2001 as WLPL, owned by Gary Savoie and simulcasting Vox Radio Group-owned

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 ...

station WWOD (104.3 FM). WLPL's sign on was delayed when environmental objections prevented the station from building a tower in Athens, Vermont; it chose to transmit from an existing tower in New Hampshire. The call letters were changed to WCFR-FM on October 19, shortly after they were dropped from WXKK (93.5 FM, now WEEY); soon afterward, Savoie sold the station to Vox. Nassau Broadcasting Partners acquired most of Vox's northern New England radio stations, including WCFR and WWOD, in 2004. WCFR-FM's call letters were changed to WPLY-FM on October 12, 2005, then to WFYX on October 7, 2008. WFYX, WWOD, and 28 other Nassau stations in northern New England were purchased at bankruptcy auction by Carlisle Capital Corporation, a company controlled by

Bill Binnie William Harrison "Bill" Binnie is an American industrialist, investment banker, and philanthropist, who is currently president of the Carlisle Capital Corporation, president of the media company New Hampshire 1 Network and owner of Carlisle One M ...

(owner of WBIN-TV in

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

), on May 22, 2012. The stations, and 11 of the other stations, were then acquired by Vertical Capital Partners, controlled by Great Eastern Radio owner Jeff Shapiro. As this would put Shapiro over the

U.S. Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains ju ...

's (FCC) ownership limits in the

- White River Junction market, WWOD and WEXP were acquired by Electromagnetic Company, a company controlled by William and Gail Goddard; WFYX was not included in that transaction. (updated June 14, 2012) As a result, on December 1, 2012, WFYX began to simulcast classic hits station WMXR (93.9 FM, now WWOD), while 104.3 FM left the air (that station is now WJKS in Keeseville, New York). The Vertical Capital Partners stations were transferred to Great Eastern Radio on January 1, 2013. On January 9, 2013, WFYX was granted an FCC

construction permit Planning permission or building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to bu ...

to increase ERP to 600 watts. On July 7, 2016,

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

announced that WWOD and WFYX would be the new carriers of Big Green men's and

women's basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It was first played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large parts via women's college compet ...

broadcasts as part of the Big Green Sports Network / Learfield Sports. On November 1, 2017, Great Eastern Radio transferred the "Kool FM" programming, which by then had shifted to an oldies format provided by Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel, from WWOD to WHDQ-HD2 and W294AB; the format continued to simulcast on WFYX. On October 1, 2024, WFYX and its simulcasts dropped the oldies format for adult hits, branded as "The Penguin". The "Penguin" programming was already available in the market via

WTSL WTSL (1400 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. It airs an adult hits radio format and serves the Lebanon-Hanover- White River Junction area. The station is owned by Great Eastern Radio, LLC. ...

(1400 AM and 97.5 FM) in Hanover and W269DI (101.7 FM) in Claremont.The Penguin Expands in New Hampshire
Radioinsight - October 7, 2024

References

External links

* * * * ; WHDQ-HD3 translator * * {{Lebanon-Hanover-White River Junction Radio 2001 establishments in New Hampshire Adult hits radio stations in the United States Cheshire County, New Hampshire Radio stations established in 2001 FYX