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WHUD (100.7 FM) is an
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 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, sou ...
radio station licensed to
Peekskill, New York Peekskill is a city in northwestern Westchester County, New York, United States, north of New York City. Established as a village in 1816, it was incorporated as a city in 1940. It lies on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across fr ...
, United States. The station is owned by
Pamal Broadcasting Pamal Broadcasting, Ltd. is a family-owned radio group with twenty-three stations in medium-to-small markets in the Northeast. Based in the Albany suburb of Latham, New York, Pamal Broadcasting was founded in 1987 as Albany Broadcasting Company, ...
and broadcasts at 50,000 watts ERP. Its
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 ...
facility is located in Philipstown, New York. WHUD's studios are located on Route 52 in
Beacon, New York Beacon is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city located on the Hudson River in Dutchess County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's population was 13,769. Beacon is part of the Kiryas ...
, along with other Hudson Valley Pamal stations. WHUD is responsible for the activation of the
Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley or Hudson River Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The region stretches from the Capital District (New York), Capital District includi ...
area
Emergency Alert System The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a Emergency population warning, national warning system in the United States designed to allow authorized officials to broadcast emergency alerts and warning messages to the public via Cable television, cable ...
.


History

In early 1957, Highland Broadcasting, owner of
WLNA WLNA (1420 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station city of license, licensed to Peekskill, New York, and serving the Hudson Valley. The station is owned by Pamal Broadcasting and calls itself "The Beacon." It simulca ...
, began petitioning the
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 j ...
to grant a class B FM allocation to the City of
Peekskill, New York Peekskill is a city in northwestern Westchester County, New York, United States, north of New York City. Established as a village in 1816, it was incorporated as a city in 1940. It lies on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across fr ...
. In the petition, Highland noted that there were no class B FM allotments between
Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie ( ) is a city within the Town of Poughkeepsie, New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie is in the Hudson River Valley region, midway between the core of the New ...
and New York City, that the far flung northern suburbs were rather heavily populated, not all of the area was covered by FM signals, and it was culturally unique from New York City. Initially, it was thought that 106.7 MHz would fit in with the stations already licensed to New York City. However, by March 1957 that frequency had already been applied for by the
Riverside Church Riverside Church is an interdenominational church in the Morningside Heights, Manhattan, Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The church is associated with the American Baptist Churches USA and the Un ...
in New York City. After some frequency shuffling between the cities of
New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...
and
Waterbury, Connecticut Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Waterbury had a population of 114,403 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census. The city is southwest of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury i ...
, 100.7 MHz was allotted to Peekskill, New York on May 24, 1957. WLNA-FM signed on for the first time on October 24, 1958, as the second FM station between New York City and
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 ...
. The format was a 100%
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) ...
of WLNA. During this time, the FM station's main source of revenue was a
Muzak Muzak is an American brand of background music played in retail stores and other public establishments owned by Mood Media. The name ''Muzak'', a blend of music and the popular camera brand name Kodak, has been in use since 1934 and has been ...
Subcarrier A subcarrier is a sideband of a radio frequency carrier wave, which is modulated to send additional information. Examples include the provision of colour in a black and white television system or the provision of stereo in a monophonic radio bro ...
. The first major changes to the station occurred in late 1971. On October 14, 1971, 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 ...
was changed to WHUD. In December 1971, WHUD increased its power from 20 KW to 50 KW ERP. In February 1972, the simulcast with WLNA ended, WHUD began broadcasting in stereo, and launched a beautiful music format. The Bonneville format consisted largely of instrumental covers of pop songs with some vocal standards. Some
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 ...
artists were mixed into the music rotation with one vocal track per 15 minutes under the work of Program Director (and morning personality) Joe O'Brien. Prior to his work at WHUD, O'Brien was one of the WMCA ''Good Guys'' and had been doing mornings on the New York City station since the early 60s. During this early period, WHUD branded its format as ''Music From the Terrace'', a term named for the location of WHUD's studios on Radio Terrace, () a public street in the town of
Cortlandt, New York Cortlandt is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States, located at the northwestern edge of the county, at the eastern terminus of the Bear Mountain Bridge. As of the 2020 census, the population was 42,545. The town includes the vil ...
. In 1982, Highland Broadcasting sold WHUD and WLNA to Radio Terrace, Inc. The format remained unchanged, however, more resources were diverted away from WLNA in favor of WHUD as
AM radio AM broadcasting is radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions. It was the first method developed for making audio radio transmissions, and is still used worldwide, primarily for medium wave (also known as "AM band") transmi ...
began to decline. In 1986, Joe O'Brien retired and was replaced by longtime New York City radio personality Ed Baer. Baer spent a total of 18 years broadcasting in the New York City
market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market *Marketing, the act of sat ...
, also as one of the ''WMCA good guys'' then on country station WHN and later on WYNY He stayed in the morning show position until he retired for the second time in 2000. Ed Baer was replaced by longtime news director Mike Bennett who got his start at
Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley or Hudson River Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The region stretches from the Capital District (New York), Capital District includi ...
radio station WHVW in the early 1970s. 1986 was also the year that WHUD began to equal out the vocal/instrumental ratio to the point that by early 1990 it was an even split. However, the declining demographics and audience of the beautiful music format led WHUD to eliminate instrumental covers with little fanfare, evolving into a
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 ...
format. Throughout the first half of the 1990s, WHUD would continue evolving to a wide play list adult contemporary format. In 1997, WHUD was sold to Albany, New York based
Pamal Broadcasting Pamal Broadcasting, Ltd. is a family-owned radio group with twenty-three stations in medium-to-small markets in the Northeast. Based in the Albany suburb of Latham, New York, Pamal Broadcasting was founded in 1987 as Albany Broadcasting Company, ...
. The studios were moved from Radio Terrace to the newly reconstructed "Broadcast Center" on
NY Route 52 New York State Route 52 (NY 52) is a state highway in the southeastern part of the state. It generally runs from west to east through five counties, beginning at the New York–Pennsylvania border, Pennsylvania state line in the Dela ...
, in the town of
Fishkill, New York Fishkill is a village within the town of Fishkill in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The village is in the eastern part of the town of Fishkill on U.S. Route 9. It is north of Interstate 84. NY 52 is the main street. It is part of ...
.


Programming

After the ownership transfer, Pamal altered the format with a slight recurrent lean to the play list and the addition of the ''
Delilah Delilah ( ; , meaning "delicate";Gesenius's ''Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon'' ; ) is a woman mentioned in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible. She is loved by Samson, a Nazirite who possesses great strength and serves as t ...
'' show in evening time slot in spite of the same program being cleared on the Poughkeepsie-based WRNQ. This geographic loophole also led to the stations sharing a jingle package for several years. Regardless, WHUD dropped ''Delilah'' in September 2006 and replaced her with a live and local evening program called ''Night Rhythms'' hosted by Catherine Michaels. (The Delilah program resurfaced on 106.7
WLTW WLTW (106.7 MHz) is an adult contemporary radio station licensed to New York, New York and serving the New York metropolitan area. WLTW is owned by iHeartMedia and broadcasts from studios located at 125 West 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan, ...
two months later and continues to be heard there). WHUD serves as the primary (LP-1)
Emergency Alert System The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a Emergency population warning, national warning system in the United States designed to allow authorized officials to broadcast emergency alerts and warning messages to the public via Cable television, cable ...
(EAS) station for Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, and Orange Counties. As such it is the first media outlet in the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant public warning system. Prior to the studio move to
Fishkill, New York Fishkill is a village within the town of Fishkill in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The village is in the eastern part of the town of Fishkill on U.S. Route 9. It is north of Interstate 84. NY 52 is the main street. It is part of ...
, these duties fell to WABC in New York City because WHUD's studio was located within the 10-mile Emergency Planning Zone around the Indian Point Energy Center. In July 2007 Pamal spent approximately $500,000 to upgrade WHUD's transmitter site and add redundancies to its technical facility to ensure that the station could meet its public warning responsibilities. WHUD's signal reaches most of the Hudson Valley and the suburbs of New York City with a usable signal in much of
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
,
Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
and especially in
the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...
. In total, WHUD's signal reaches parts of five states. The primary target market of WHUD is Westchester and Rockland Counties plus the Mid-Hudson Valley. In all of these areas, WHUD is at or near the top of the ratings and is the highest rated Westchester County station in Nielsen's New York City book. For many years, WHUD played
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 ...
only occasionally in the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas, going with all Holiday songs in the days leading to December 25. Most Adult Contemporary stations in the U.S. and Canada switch to all Christmas music for part of November and most of December. In 2020, during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, WHUD joined with other AC stations and played all Christmas songs from Thanksgiving to Christmas Day.


References


External links

* {{Pamal Broadcasting HUD Mainstream adult contemporary radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1958 1958 establishments in New York (state) Pamal Broadcasting Peekskill, New York