WHYN-FM
Encyclopedia
WHYN-FM is a hot adult contemporary radio station broadcasting from Springfield
, Massachusetts
. It is owned by Clear Channel Communications
. WHYN-FM broadcasts from Mount Tom
in Holyoke, Massachusetts
, and can be heard as far south as south central Connecticut
. Aside from a period between 1985 and 1987 when the call sign was WHFM, the station has had the call sign WHYN-FM since it signed on.
, was what was known as MOR (Middle of the road) music and was syndicated as "Format 44" around the country. The DJs played sets of music followed by a stop-set (commercial break) and then announcing what was heard. Unlike the rock and roll formats of the era, the musical introductions of songs were not talked over and there was usually a little dead air
between the songs. The jingles used on the air were mainly lengthy cuts provided by Pepper-Tanner (now TM Studios), and in 1974, WHYN-FM was the pilot station for William B. Tanner's "Easy Going" jingle series. WHYN's long-time morning team consisted of Frank Knight (Katilus) and news man Ron Russell (DeMatteo). A number of other radio personalities worked on the station including Dave Mack, Bob Holland (a/k/a Holland Cooke), Rich Roy (later on WHYN-AM) and others.
WHYN-FM continued to program a "Beautiful music
" format late into the seventies. After being purchased by Affiliated Communications, the station's format was switched to a more Adult Contemporary music format geared towards the 18–54 female demographics. At that point, Frank Knight and Ron Russell exited to be the morning team on Lapin Communications WMAS AM (now WHLL) for their Music Of Your Life
format.
In the mid-eighties, WHYN-AM/FM was sold to R&R Broadcasting. The decision was made, by Group Program Director Alan Anderson, to change the call letters to WHFM and program a soft AC format and gear their programming to the general Hartford/Springfield Market in hopes of gaining listeners to the south. The IDs at the top of the hour quietly stated the Springfield city of license and the concept was that the station was THE GIANT, a mythocal entity broadcasting down to all of the people. After several months, it became obvious this approach was not working. Larry Caringer, hired by Anderson as Assistant program director
and Mornings was given the reins as PD. With Mary Ferrero as Music Director, the two fashioned a blend of Rock and Pop and within one rating period, WHFM was number one in the 18–49 demographic. "Caringer and Friends" was the number one morning show in Springfield.
In late 1987, WHFM was sold to Wilks-Schwartz Broadcasting. The purchase of WHYN (FM & AM) involved a swap, of sorts. FCC rules, at the time, did not allow multiple ownership of stations in a market. So, in order to sell WAQY-FM (Rock) Wilks-Schwartz, had to agree to change the format of their new FM (WHFM) to something that didn't compete with WAQY-FM (Rock). Much of the air staff and other employees were fired. However, Caringer, Ferrero and Casey Palmer remained on-air. Caringer remained as PD through the format change, eventually giving up the position when it became obvious he was no longer the Program Director – but, simply an order taker from the consultant in Seattle. "Caringer and Friends" News Guy, Bill Hess took the PD position. Several weeks later, Hess fired Caringer – and took over the morning show. (Ironically, Caringer had just been voted "Most Popular Radio Personality" by The Valley Advocate.) Ann Strong did mid-days and Casey Palmer was the afternoon jock. Evening DJ Mary Ferrero, who lost her position to Strong, exited to become the Production Director at WMAS-AM/FM and Jennifer Fox took her place.
WHYN-FM was later sold by Wilks-Schwartz to Radio Equity Partners who later sold to Clear Channel in 1996.
WHYN-FM for many years was known as "93WHYN" and was an Adult Contemporary station that also blended in oldies from the 1950s and 1960s in with its playlist. The station also aired "Jukebox Saturday Night", a program DJ Frank Holler started on WDRC-FM, along with an oldies show with Phil D-e-e (Drumheller), which initially aired on Fridays, then moving to Saturdays after the departure of Frank Holler in 1997. The program was moved to WHYN-AM in 1999. The station began evolving into its current "hot adult contemporary" format by the late 1990s, and in 2000, WHYN was rebranded as a "Mix" station similar to Clear Channel's other "Mix" stations across the nation.
Mix is home to the Dan (Williams) and Kim (Zachary) morning show, which has been broadcasting on Springfield radio for several years, along with other longtime radio personalities. The Dan and Kim morning show originally began on WHYN-AM in 1995 before switching over to the FM in 1997. Dan had gone through a series of morning co-hosts following some ownership and program director changes. Kim replaced Bo Sullivan as Dan's co-host and the show improved in the ratings almost immediately. Evenings were being "voice tracked
" by Jennifer Fox (who was working at Clear Channel in Vermont). Due to budget constraints, they fired her in late 2006 and was replaced by the syndicated John Tesh
show at night. Evenings are back to being voicetracked by Cindy Spicer from San Diego.
Dan Williams is the longest continual employee of WHYN having started in the mid-seventies when Guy Gannett Broadcasting was the owner and before they split off the radio and television stations.
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. It is owned by Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
. WHYN-FM broadcasts from Mount Tom
Mount Tom (Massachusetts)
Mount Tom, , is a steep, rugged traprock mountain peak on the west bank of the Connecticut River 4.5 miles northwest of downtown Holyoke, Massachusetts. The mountain is the southernmost and highest peak of the Mount Tom Range and the highest traprock peak of the long Metacomet Ridge...
in Holyoke, Massachusetts
Holyoke, Massachusetts
Holyoke is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, between the western bank of the Connecticut River and the Mount Tom Range of mountains. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 39,880...
, and can be heard as far south as south central Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
. Aside from a period between 1985 and 1987 when the call sign was WHFM, the station has had the call sign WHYN-FM since it signed on.
History
WHYN-FM simulcast their AM station (see WHYN) during the early sixties. In the mid-sixties, WHYN-FM began separate programming than their rock and roll AM counterpart. The format chosen, which had similarities to MuzakMuzak
Muzak Holdings LLC is a company based in metro Fort Mill, South Carolina, United States, just outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in 1934, Muzak Holdings is best known for distribution of background music to retail stores and other companies....
, was what was known as MOR (Middle of the road) music and was syndicated as "Format 44" around the country. The DJs played sets of music followed by a stop-set (commercial break) and then announcing what was heard. Unlike the rock and roll formats of the era, the musical introductions of songs were not talked over and there was usually a little dead air
Dead air
Dead air is an unintended interruption in a radio broadcast during which no sound is transmitted.The term is most often used in cases where program material comes to an unexpected halt, either through operator error or for technical reasons, although it is also used in cases where a broadcaster...
between the songs. The jingles used on the air were mainly lengthy cuts provided by Pepper-Tanner (now TM Studios), and in 1974, WHYN-FM was the pilot station for William B. Tanner's "Easy Going" jingle series. WHYN's long-time morning team consisted of Frank Knight (Katilus) and news man Ron Russell (DeMatteo). A number of other radio personalities worked on the station including Dave Mack, Bob Holland (a/k/a Holland Cooke), Rich Roy (later on WHYN-AM) and others.
WHYN-FM continued to program 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 late into the seventies. After being purchased by Affiliated Communications, the station's format was switched to a more Adult Contemporary music format geared towards the 18–54 female demographics. At that point, Frank Knight and Ron Russell exited to be the morning team on Lapin Communications WMAS AM (now WHLL) for their Music Of Your Life
Music of Your Life
Music of Your Life is a satellite-delivered radio network featuring the Adult Standards music format. Created by record executive and jingle writer Al Ham, and now under the direction of Marc Angell, Music of Your Life has more than 50 AM, FM and HD-2 radio station affiliates, and has been in...
format.
In the mid-eighties, WHYN-AM/FM was sold to R&R Broadcasting. The decision was made, by Group Program Director Alan Anderson, to change the call letters to WHFM and program a soft AC format and gear their programming to the general Hartford/Springfield Market in hopes of gaining listeners to the south. The IDs at the top of the hour quietly stated the Springfield city of license and the concept was that the station was THE GIANT, a mythocal entity broadcasting down to all of the people. After several months, it became obvious this approach was not working. Larry Caringer, hired by Anderson as Assistant program director
Program director
In service industries, such as education, a program director or programme director researches, plans, develops and implements one or more of the firm's professional services...
and Mornings was given the reins as PD. With Mary Ferrero as Music Director, the two fashioned a blend of Rock and Pop and within one rating period, WHFM was number one in the 18–49 demographic. "Caringer and Friends" was the number one morning show in Springfield.
In late 1987, WHFM was sold to Wilks-Schwartz Broadcasting. The purchase of WHYN (FM & AM) involved a swap, of sorts. FCC rules, at the time, did not allow multiple ownership of stations in a market. So, in order to sell WAQY-FM (Rock) Wilks-Schwartz, had to agree to change the format of their new FM (WHFM) to something that didn't compete with WAQY-FM (Rock). Much of the air staff and other employees were fired. However, Caringer, Ferrero and Casey Palmer remained on-air. Caringer remained as PD through the format change, eventually giving up the position when it became obvious he was no longer the Program Director – but, simply an order taker from the consultant in Seattle. "Caringer and Friends" News Guy, Bill Hess took the PD position. Several weeks later, Hess fired Caringer – and took over the morning show. (Ironically, Caringer had just been voted "Most Popular Radio Personality" by The Valley Advocate.) Ann Strong did mid-days and Casey Palmer was the afternoon jock. Evening DJ Mary Ferrero, who lost her position to Strong, exited to become the Production Director at WMAS-AM/FM and Jennifer Fox took her place.
WHYN-FM was later sold by Wilks-Schwartz to Radio Equity Partners who later sold to Clear Channel in 1996.
WHYN-FM for many years was known as "93WHYN" and was an Adult Contemporary station that also blended in oldies from the 1950s and 1960s in with its playlist. The station also aired "Jukebox Saturday Night", a program DJ Frank Holler started on WDRC-FM, along with an oldies show with Phil D-e-e (Drumheller), which initially aired on Fridays, then moving to Saturdays after the departure of Frank Holler in 1997. The program was moved to WHYN-AM in 1999. The station began evolving into its current "hot adult contemporary" format by the late 1990s, and in 2000, WHYN was rebranded as a "Mix" station similar to Clear Channel's other "Mix" stations across the nation.
Mix is home to the Dan (Williams) and Kim (Zachary) morning show, which has been broadcasting on Springfield radio for several years, along with other longtime radio personalities. The Dan and Kim morning show originally began on WHYN-AM in 1995 before switching over to the FM in 1997. Dan had gone through a series of morning co-hosts following some ownership and program director changes. Kim replaced Bo Sullivan as Dan's co-host and the show improved in the ratings almost immediately. Evenings were being "voice tracked
Voice-tracking
Voice-tracking, also called cyber jocking and referred to sometimes colloquially as a robojock, is a technique employed by some radio stations in radio broadcasting to produce the illusion of a live disc jockey or announcer sitting in the radio studios of the station when one is not actually...
" by Jennifer Fox (who was working at Clear Channel in Vermont). Due to budget constraints, they fired her in late 2006 and was replaced by the syndicated John Tesh
John Tesh
John Frank Tesh is an American pianist and composer of pop music, as well as a radio host and television presenter. His 10-year-old 'Intelligence for Your Life Radio Show' reaches 14.2 Million listeners/week, and is syndicated by Teshmedia on 400 stations in US, Canada, and the UK...
show at night. Evenings are back to being voicetracked by Cindy Spicer from San Diego.
Dan Williams is the longest continual employee of WHYN having started in the mid-seventies when Guy Gannett Broadcasting was the owner and before they split off the radio and television stations.