WPDH (101.5 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 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 ...

licensed to

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ) is a city within the Poughkeepsie (town), New York, Town of Poughkeepsie, New York (state), New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, New York, Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie i ...

, and serving 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 ...

and

Catskills The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province and subrange of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined a ...

. The station 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 ...

and broadcasts a

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 ...

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, ...

. Its

studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

s and offices are on Pendell Road in Poughkeepsie. WPDH 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 4,400

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 ...

site is on Illinois Mountain in Highland, New York. WPDH is one of only four full-power Class B FM stations between

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and Albany. ( WSPK, WHUD and WFGB are the three others.) WPDH is also

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 a Class A station, 106.1 WPDA in Jeffersonville, New York. Several translators relay WPDH's

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Businesses *Digital bank, a form of financial institution *Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company *Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...

subchannels.

History

WEOK-FM

In 1962, the station

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 ...

as WEOK-FM. It was the

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 ...

WEOK WEOK (1390 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Poughkeepsie, New York and serving the Mid-Hudson Valley. The station is owned by Townsquare Media and airs a Spanish language in the United States, Spanish adult hit ...

1390 AM The following radio stations broadcast on AM frequency 1390 kHz: 1390 AM is a Regional broadcast frequency. Argentina * LR11 in La Plata, Buenos Aires * LRA6 in Valle de Uspallata, Mendoza (960 kHz. Defunct?) Guatemala (Channel 86) ...

and was Poughkeepsie's second FM station after WKIP-FM (today's WSPK). The main purpose of the station at the outset was to provide

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 ...

programming to area offices and stores via its subcarrier. By day, WPDH

the AM's middle of the road (MOR) format, with block programming airing between the AM's sign off and 10:00 p.m. In 1972, WEOK AM and FM were sold to the Dyson family (also owners of

Dyson Racing Dyson Racing is a professional sports car racing team based in Poughkeepsie, New York in the United States. Founded by Rob Dyson in 1974, the team competed successfully in North American sports car racing series, including the IMSA GT Championsh ...

) and with the sale came key changes to the FM side. The transmitter moved from a site in Milton (now used by

WVKR WVKR-FM ''(Independent Radio)'' is a college radio station owned by and primarily staffed by students of Vassar College in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York. The station broadcasts on 91.3 MHz at 3,700 watts ERP from a tower in Milton, Ne ...

) to the current Illinois Mountain site. It upgraded to a full Class B signal and added

FM stereo FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high-fidelity sound ...

capabilities in the process.

Country Music to AOR

At the end of these upgrades, it relaunched as

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

formatted WPDH. At the time, only some people owned FM receivers and almost no car radios were equipped for FM radio. WPDH was beaten by

signal WHN after that station flipped to country. With the poor ratings playing country music, management saw a hole for an

album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the late 1960s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. US rad ...

(AOR) station in the

. The leading rock stations from New York City, 95.5

WPLJ WPLJ (95.5 FM) is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station, licensed to New York, New York. Owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), based in Franklin, Tennessee, it broadcasts EMF's Christian adult contemporary formatted p ...

and 102.7

WNEW-FM WNEW-FM (102.7 FM broadcasting, FM, ''NEW 102.7'') is a hot adult contemporary-Radio format, formatted radio station, City of license, licensed to New York, New York and owned by Audacy, Inc. The station's studios are located at the Audacy faci ...

, were difficult to receive so far from Manhattan. In 1976 WPDH abandoned country for rock music, and this format remains to this day. Through its decades in rock radio, there have been several variations of WPDH's format. At the outset, it was

automated Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...

, with no

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

s. Then, it added DJs, playing

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

along with an occasional

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

track. The format evolved through the 1980s as the station gradually tightened its

playlist A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player, either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs that can be played once or in a loop. ...

to the top selling albums of the day, and the last couple of decades of rock. The splintering of rock in the 1980s and early 1990s had varying effects on WPDH. The station added heavy metal into the playlist as well as early

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. ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an imports. The station remained successful and was a solid #1 in the market in the early 1980s, and by the 1990s was alternating the #1 spot in the market with 104.7 WSPK's

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 ...

sound.

Classic Rock

In 1994, WPDH owners Crystal Radio Group (the Dyson family spinoff headed by

Rob Dyson Robert Richard "Rob" Dyson (born June 21, 1946) is a retired United States, American sports car racing driver and owner of Dyson Racing. Dyson began competing in amateur SCCA competition in 1974 and began racing professionally in IMSA GTO and th ...

) purchased Middletown-based 92.7 WKOJ and 1340

WALL A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or serves a decorative purpose. There are various types of walls, including border barriers between countries, brick wal ...

from Orange & Rockland Utilities. With this purchase came an opportunity to both solve the new rock dilemma and to strengthen WPDH by owning its only direct competition. WPDH spent the latter part of 1994 and early 1995 evolving 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 ...

while WKOJ flipped to

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 ...

WRRV WRRV (92.7 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Middletown, New York, and serving Orange County, including parts of the mid Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains. The station is owned by Townsquare Media and broadcasts an alternative ...

in April 1995. WPDH's ratings went through some instability in the early years as classic rock. It was the regular #2 to WSPK's #1 by the turn of the 21st century. Rob Dyson sold the Crystal Radio Group to Aurora Communications in 2001 which, in turn was bought out by

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is a broadcasting company of the United States and is the second largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States ahead of Audacy and behind iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdi ...

in 2002. Amid an extended drop in ratings, WPDH was relaunched as a

mainstream rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent a cross between classic rock, active rock and alternativ ...

station over Labor Day Weekend 2003. Gary Cee, formerly of

WLIR WLIR was a radio station that played a New Pop, new music/modern rock format on the frequencies 92.7 FM broadcasting, FM, 98.5 FM, and 107.1 FM from the 1980s into the 2000s. Bob Wilson, longtime WLIR employee and historian, created the website ...

, was hired as program director, and the station stabilized at the top of the ratings in both Dutchess and Orange counties. In January 2012, Andrew Boris, program director of sister station

, became the new program director of WPDH. No formula changes in the programming were enacted. Boris later began hosting the morning

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...

show, in addition to his PD duties.

Changes in Ownership

On August 30, 2013, a deal was announced in which Cumulus would swap its stations in

Dubuque, Iowa Dubuque (, ) is a city in Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. The population was 59,667 at the 2020 United States census. The city lies along the Mississippi River at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a region ...

, and Poughkeepsie (including WPDH) to

in exchange for Peak Broadcasting's

Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

stations. The deal was part of Cumulus' acquisition of

Dial Global Westwood One, Inc. is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1976. The c ...

. Townsquare, Peak, and Dial Global are all controlled by

Oaktree Capital Management Oaktree Capital Management, Inc. is an American global asset management firm specializing in alternative investment strategies. As of September 30, 2024, the company managed $205 billion for its clientele. The firm was co-founded in 1995 by a ...

. The sale to Townsquare was completed on November 14, 2013. Under Townsquare management, WPDH plays a large amount of classic rock with a few current and recent titles.

Current WPDH personalities

* Andrew Boris & Robyn Taylor "The Boris & Robyn Show" (weekdays 6-10am) * Hopkins (middays 10am-2pm) * Tigman (afternoons 2-6pm) * Ultimate Classic Rock (evenings 6pm-12am) * Bobby Welber, news reporter (The Boris & Robyn Show)

Notable alumni

Mike Breen Michael Breen (born May 22, 1961) is an American play-by-play sports commentator. He has been the lead announcer for National Basketball Association, NBA games on NBA on ABC, ABC and NBA on ESPN, ESPN since 2006, including the NBA Finals. He is ...

, sportcaster, began his career on WPDH/WEOK around 1982-83, reading the news in the morning. Later, news/sports sidekick for Imus in the morning on NBC, play-by-play commentator for the NBA on ABC and the lead commentator for New York Knicks games on the MSG network. He also works NBA games for ESPN, and was formerly a play-by-play announcer for New York Giants preseason games, as well as for regular season NFL games on both Fox and NBC. * Jason Barrett, former program director of WPEN in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, began his career hosting the wrestling show "No Holds Barred" on Sunday nights. *

Freddie Coleman Freddie Robert John Coleman (born 15 December 1991 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish cricketer who played for Warwickshire County Cricket Club and Scotland. Coleman signed for Warwickshire in March 2013 after graduating from the county's Academy. He ...

, now of '' GameNight'' on

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternatively branded platform-agnostically as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the banner "SportsRadio ESPN". The netw ...

, entered radio at WPDH as music director and overnight host, later working at sister station

WCZX WCZX (97.7 FM) is a radio station licensed to Hyde Park, New York and serving the Mid-Hudson Valley of New York state. The station is owned by Townsquare Media and broadcasts at 300 watts ERP from the Illinois Mountain master tower in Marlbor ...

. * Jay Reynolds, ESPN Radio; spent time at WPDH as news anchor & news director (1992–1998). * Karlson and McKenzie of

WZLX WZLX (100.7 FM) is a classic rock radio station in Boston, Massachusetts. This station is owned and operated by iHeartMedia. WZLX was one of America's first classic rock FM stations. Its studios are in Medford, and its transmitter is atop th ...

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 ...

spent time at WPDH before returning to Boston. * Bob "The Wolf" Wohlfeld, longtime morning host. * Dead Air Dave started his on-air career at WPDH, years before becoming a personality on 92.3 K-Rock New York and later adding

dump button In radio and television, broadcast delay is an intentional delay when broadcasting live material, technically referred to as a deferred live. Such a delay may be to prevent mistakes or unacceptable content from being broadcast. Longer delays las ...

duties for

The Howard Stern Show ''The Howard Stern Show'' is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was radio syndication, nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WINS-FM, WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The sho ...

. * Roger "The Rajah" Clark did fill-in newscasts on WPDH. He is now a reporter and fill-in anchor for New York One News in

. * Loscalzo from WNYU started his pro career at WPDH and went on to WRCN, WDRE and WXRK. He's now at MTV.

HD Radio

Cumulus Broadcasting began upgrading its stations to HD Radio broadcasting in 2005. One of the first ten stations to be upgraded was WPDH. WPDH uses its HD2 and HD4

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 ...

to rebroadcast co-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 ...

1340 AM 1340 kHz is defined as a Class C (local) frequency in the coterminous United States and such stations on this frequency are limited to 1,000 watts. U.S. stations outside the coterminous United States (Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, & the U.S ...

and its HD3 subchannel to rebroadcast

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

adult hits

References

External links

* * {{coord, 41.719, N, 73.996, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title Poughkeepsie, New York PDH Classic rock radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1962 Townsquare Media radio stations