WHUD
Encyclopedia
WHUD is an Adult Contemporary radio station
licensed to Peekskill, New York
. The station is owned by Pamal Broadcasting
and broadcasts on 100.7 MHz at 50 kW ERP
from a tower site in Philipstown, New York
.
, began petitioning the Federal Communications Commission
to grant a class B FM allocation to the City of Peekskill. In the petition, Highland noted that there were no class B FM allotments between Poughkeepsie 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
in New York City. After some frequency shuffling between the cities of New Haven and Waterbury, Connecticut, 100.7 MHz was allotted to Peekskill 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. The format was a 100% simulcast
of WLNA
. During this time, the FM station's main source of revenue was a Muzak Subcarrier
.
The first major changes to the station occurred in late 1971. On October 14, 1971, the call sign
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 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 NYC station since the early 60's.
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, (41°18′46.0362"N 73°54′58.2552"W) a public street, in the town of Cortlandt, New York
.
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
began to decline.
In 1986, Joe O'Brien retired and was replaced by long time NYC radio personality Ed Baer. Baer spent a total of 18 years broadcasting in the New York market, 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 long time news director Mike Bennett who got his start at Hudson Valley radio station WHVW
in the early 1970's.
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 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
. The studios were moved from Radio Terrace to the newly reconstructed "Broadcast Center" on NY Route 52, in the town of Fishkill
.
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.
WHUD is one of the few stations in the Hudson Valley (along with co-owned WSPK) that is live 24/7. This allows the station to maintain a local programming element including breaking news, traffic and weather updates that voice tracked/automated station cannot. WHUD serves as the primary (LP-1) Emergency Alert System
(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, these duties fell to WABC (AM)
in New York City because WHUD's studio was located within the 10 mile EPZ
(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 the Five Boroughs (especially in the Bronx
). In total, WHUD's signal reaches parts of five states. The primary target market of WHUD is that of Westchester and Rockland counties plus the Mid-Hudson Valley. In all of these areas, WHUD is at or near the top of the ratings even with more localized competition in those markets and is by far the highest rated Westchester County station in Arbitron
's New York City book.
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
licensed to Peekskill, New York
Peekskill, New York
Peekskill is a city in Westchester County, New York. It is situated on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across from Jones Point.This community was known to be an early American industrial center, primarily for its iron plow and stove products...
. The station is owned by Pamal Broadcasting
Pamal Broadcasting
Pamal Broadcasting, Ltd. is a family-owned radio ownership with stations in medium-to-small markets in the Northeast and Florida. Based in the Albany suburb of Latham, New York, Pamal Broadcasting was founded in 1986 as Albany Broadcasting when business man James J. Morrell entered broadcast...
and broadcasts on 100.7 MHz at 50 kW ERP
Effective radiated power
In radio telecommunications, effective radiated power or equivalent radiated power is a standardized theoretical measurement of radio frequency energy using the SI unit watts, and is determined by subtracting system losses and adding system gains...
from a tower site in Philipstown, New York
Philipstown, New York
Philipstown is a town located in the western part of Putnam County, New York, United States. The population was 9,422 at the 2000 census.- History :The town was first settled around 1715....
.
History
In early 1957, Highland Broadcasting, owner of WLNAWLNA
WLNA is the callsign of an AM radio station licensed to Peekskill, New York and serving the Hudson Valley. The station is owned by Pamal Broadcasting and broadcasts on 1420 kHz at 5 kilowatts daytime and 1 kilowatt nighttime, both directional, from a five-tower array located just north of Peekskill...
, began petitioning the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
to grant a class B FM allocation to the City of Peekskill. In the petition, Highland noted that there were no class B FM allotments between Poughkeepsie and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, 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
WLTW
WLTW is a radio station with an Adult Contemporary format in New York City.The station is often number one or close to it in Arbitron ratings for New York City. From 2002 to 2004, the station generated more revenue than any other radio station in the New York market...
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
The Riverside Church in the City of New York is an interdenominational church in New York City, famous for its elaborate Neo-Gothic architecture—which includes the world's largest tuned carillon bell...
in New York City. After some frequency shuffling between the cities of New Haven and Waterbury, Connecticut, 100.7 MHz was allotted to Peekskill 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. The format was a 100% simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
of WLNA
WLNA
WLNA is the callsign of an AM radio station licensed to Peekskill, New York and serving the Hudson Valley. The station is owned by Pamal Broadcasting and broadcasts on 1420 kHz at 5 kilowatts daytime and 1 kilowatt nighttime, both directional, from a five-tower array located just north of Peekskill...
. During this time, the FM station's main source of revenue was a Muzak Subcarrier
Subcarrier
A subcarrier is a separate analog or digital signal carried on a main radio transmission, which carries extra information such as voice or data. More technically, it is an already-modulated signal, which is then modulated into another signal of higher frequency and bandwidth...
.
The first major changes to the station occurred in late 1971. On October 14, 1971, the call sign
Call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In North America they are used as names for broadcasting stations...
was changed to WHUD. In December 1971, WHUD increased its power from 20 KW to 50 KW
Kw
kw or KW may refer to:* Kuwait, ISO 3166-1 country code** .kw, the country code top level domain for Kuwait* Kilowatt* Self-ionization of water Kw* Cornish language's ISO 639 code* Kitchener–Waterloo, Ontario, Canada...
ERP
Effective radiated power
In radio telecommunications, effective radiated power or equivalent radiated power is a standardized theoretical measurement of radio frequency energy using the SI unit watts, and is determined by subtracting system losses and adding system gains...
. In February 1972, the simulcast with WLNA ended, WHUD began broadcasting in Stereo
STEREO
STEREO is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth...
, and launched a Beautiful music
Beautiful music
Beautiful music is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in American radio from the 1960s through the 1980s...
format.
The Bonneville
Bonneville International
Bonneville International Corporation is a broadcasting company wholly owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through its for-profit arm, Deseret Management Corporation...
format consisted largely of instrumental covers of pop songs with some vocal standards. Some Adult Contemporary 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
WMCA
WMCA, 570 AM, is a radio station in New York City, most known for its "Good Guys" Top 40 era in the 1960s. It is currently owned by Salem Communications and plays a Christian radio format...
Good Guys and had been doing mornings on the NYC station since the early 60's.
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, (41°18′46.0362"N 73°54′58.2552"W) a public street, in the town of Cortlandt, New York
Cortlandt, New York
Cortlandt is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 41,592 at the 2010 census.The Town of Cortlandt is in the northwest part of the county...
.
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
AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation. AM was the first method of impressing sound on a radio signal and is still widely used today. Commercial and public AM broadcasting is carried out in the medium wave band world wide, and on long wave and short wave...
began to decline.
In 1986, Joe O'Brien retired and was replaced by long time NYC radio personality Ed Baer. Baer spent a total of 18 years broadcasting in the New York market, also as one of the WMCA good guys then on country station WHN
WHN
WHN was a radio station in New York City located at 1050 kHz. Its best known format was country music, which the station played from 1972 to 1987...
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 long time news director Mike Bennett who got his start at Hudson Valley radio station WHVW
WHVW
WHVW is a radio station licensed to Hyde Park, New York that is noted for its eclectic format based on old-fashioned blues, jazz, country and Americana music. In a time of corporate ownership of broadcast outlets, it is also one of only three Hudson Valley radio stations that are independently...
in the early 1970's.
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 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
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
based Pamal Broadcasting
Pamal Broadcasting
Pamal Broadcasting, Ltd. is a family-owned radio ownership with stations in medium-to-small markets in the Northeast and Florida. Based in the Albany suburb of Latham, New York, Pamal Broadcasting was founded in 1986 as Albany Broadcasting when business man James J. Morrell entered broadcast...
. The studios were moved from Radio Terrace to the newly reconstructed "Broadcast Center" on NY Route 52, in the town of Fishkill
Fishkill, New York
Fishkill is an upscale village within the much larger town, Town of Fishkill, one of the fastest growing towns in the region, in Dutchess County, New York, USA. The village population was 1,735 at the 2000 census...
.
Programming
After the ownership transfer, Pamal altered the format with a slight recurrent lean to the play list and the addition of the DelilahDelilah Rene
Delilah Rene Luke , almost always known mononymously as Delilah, is an American radio personality, author, and songwriter, best known as the host of a nationally syndicated nightly U.S...
show in evening time slot in spite of the same program being cleared on the Poughkeepsie-based WRNQ
WRNQ
WRNQ is an adult contemporary radio station licensed to Poughkeepsie, New York and serving the Mid-Hudson Valley of New York state. The station is owned by Clear Channel Communications and broadcasts at 6 kilowatts ERP from the Illinois Mountain master tower in Highland, New York to which it moved...
. 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.
Emergency Alert System
The Emergency Alert System is a national warning system in the United States put into place on January 1, 1997, when it superseded the Emergency Broadcast System , which itself had superseded the CONELRAD System...
(EAS) station for Westchester
Westchester County, New York
Westchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of and has a population of 949,113 according to the 2010 Census, residing in 45 municipalities...
, Rockland
Rockland County, New York
Rockland County is a suburban county 15 miles to the northwest of Manhattan and part of the New York City Metropolitan Area, in the U.S. state of New York. It is the southernmost county in New York west of the Hudson River, and the smallest county in New York outside of New York City. The...
, Putnam
Putnam County, New York
Putnam County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York, in the lower Hudson River Valley. Putnam county formed in 1812, when it detached from Dutchess County. , the population was 99,710. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. The county seat is the hamlet of Carmel...
, and Orange
Orange County, New York
Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area and is located at the northern reaches of the New York metropolitan area. The county sits in the state's scenic Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley...
counties. As such it is the first media outlet in the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant
Indian Point Energy Center
Indian Point Energy Center is a three-unit nuclear power plant station located in Buchanan, New York just south of Peekskill. It sits on the east bank of the Hudson River, 38 miles north of New York City...
public warning system. Prior to the studio move to Fishkill, these duties fell to WABC (AM)
WABC (AM)
WABC , known as "NewsTalkRadio 77 WABC" is a radio station in New York City. Owned by the broadcasting division of Cumulus Media, the station broadcasts on a clear channel and is the flagship station of Cumulus Media Networks...
in New York City because WHUD's studio was located within the 10 mile EPZ
Emergency evacuation
Emergency evacuation is the immediate and rapid movement of people away from the threat or actual occurrence of a hazard. Examples range from the small scale evacuation of a building due to a bomb threat or fire to the large scale evacuation of a district because of a flood, bombardment or...
(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
Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in New York State, United States, from northern Westchester County northward to the cities of Albany and Troy.-History:...
and the suburbs of New York City with a usable signal in much of the Five Boroughs (especially in the Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
). In total, WHUD's signal reaches parts of five states. The primary target market of WHUD is that of Westchester and Rockland counties plus the Mid-Hudson Valley. In all of these areas, WHUD is at or near the top of the ratings even with more localized competition in those markets and is by far the highest rated Westchester County station in Arbitron
Arbitron
Arbitron is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio audiences. It was founded as American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging with L.A. based Coffin, Cooper and Clay in the early 1950s...
's New York City book.