WALL
Encyclopedia
WALL is a radio station
licensed to Middletown, New York
that serves Orange County, New York
. WALL is owned by Cumulus Media
and broadcasts at 1340 kHz with 1,000 watts, daytime and nighttime, both nondirectional.
WALL is an affiliate of Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel, and has a brokered local morning show. WALL flipped to this format in 2010, after a five-year run as a Radio Disney
affiliate.
and realignment. According to legend, WALL originally sought the call letters WMID
(for MIDdletown), but a Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) mixup led to another station at 1340 MHz in Atlantic City, New Jersey
to get the WMID calls, while the Middletown station got the WALL calls that Atlantic City wanted (after that city's sea WALL
). Other stories insist that the call letters were indeed correct, and WALL was named for the Town of Wallkill, which neighbors the city while WMID
was named for nearby Middle Township, New Jersey
, where the station owner resided.
Identity crisis aside, WALL signed on with a full-service popular music format with a heavy amount of local news, and with only newspapers as competition, were very successful. The station was owned by the Community Broadcasting Corporation whose partners were Roger Clipp, an executive with Triangle Publications
(WFIL
in Philadelphia) and John Morgan Davis
, who ultimately served as Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania
.
In 1950, WALL hired Jim Patt from WNBH
in New Bedford, Massachusetts
, as General Manager; he ran the station until 1972. On-air personalities included Bill Swanwick ("Breakfast With Beaming Billy"), Jerry Wax ("The Wax Works"), longtime staffer Joe Ryan and Big Jim Pappas; Al Larson served as news director, with Johnny Zaimes in charge of sales.
in New York City
("home of the Good Guys"). Straus, who had aspirations to become a United States Senator, bought WALL as well as stations in Utica
and Geneva, New York
, so his editorials could be heard throughout the state. In 1964, however, Robert F. Kennedy
decided to run for the Senate, ending Straus's plans (he ultimately sold the stations). Patt stayed on to run WALL for Straus, putting WALL-FM on the air, but when Straus sold out Patt decided it was time to retire to Fort Myers, Florida
, where he teamed up again with Roger Clipp to put a station on the air in that market.
By mid-decade, WALL had evolved into a Middle of the Road format, and on November 11, 1966 would add FM service at 92.7 MHz (today's WRRV
). It was with the FM launch that WALL switched to Top 40: from 1967-77 (under program directors Larry Berger, Dave Charity, Art Livesay, and Jim Frey), WALL was virtually unbeatable in the ratings despite new local sign-ons (such as Warwick
's WTBQ
in 1969) and serious competition from New York signals including WABC
and WNBC.
In 1974, WALL staffers (among them Randy West
) recorded a satirical tape known as "NINE!", a parody of industry marketing pitches and radio programming in general. The tape, which takes place at fictional radio station AM 900 WVWA/Pound Ridge, New York
, documents the progression of the top 40 station from earlier, awkward years (with odd sound effects, rambling disc jockeys, dead air, and wildly inaccurate weather forecasts) to a finely-tuned, professional-sounding station with various gimmicks, catch-phrases and promotions popular at the time. However, the WVWA determines it must go one step further and strip out all spoken-word content, leaving only a rapid-fire, barely intelligible station identification
once an hour and the word "NINE!" exclaimed between each song. Radio industry insiders of today consider the tape to be both ironically
humorous and inadvertently prophetic for foretelling the adoption of elements such as rapid-fire station IDs, station branding, increased automation and less emphasis on local DJs. (Fybush)
in Hyde Park, New York
. Temporary studios were quickly constructed in a basement gym, with permanent studios constructed as originally planned on the second floor of the Armory, with offices on the first floor.
In 1979, WALL and sister WKGL (the former WALL-FM) were purchased by a consortium headed by media mogul Robert F.X. Sillerman
and legendary New York air personality Bruce Morrow
("Cousin Brucie"). Headquartering their group in Middletown at the Armory (now re-christened "Broadcast Plaza"), major changes took place with WALL flipping first to a top 40/adult contemporary hybrid format, and later to Adult Standards
; WKGL went to an oldies
format. The drastic change was not a long-term success, and Morrow sold WALL and WKGL to Bell Broadcasting.
baseball, New York Giants
football, and various local sports and other community events. Additionally, WALL rehired some of the air talent from its Top 40 heyday, including Joe Ryan. These changes proved successful and WALL once again achieved ratings not seen since the early 1970s.
One of the most successful promotions in station history was WALL's "45th Anniversary Reunion Broadcast", on the weekend of August 2–3, 1987. The station looked back to its past and reunited air personalities including "Cousin Brucie", Howard Hoffman, Dave Charity, John Fisher, Ray Arthur, Randy West, Gene Pelc, Al Faust, Art Livesay, Alex Miller, Dick Wells, Jim Frey, Mark West, Ray Arthur, Jim Brownold, Jon LeMieux, Jimmy Howes
, Jim Pappas and Al Larson.
The community-mindedness of WALL would be short-lived, however. In September 1988, local power company Orange and Rockland Utilities purchased WALL and WKGL (now WKOJ); with the sale came a mass purge of staff with WALL flipping to a satellite news/talk format in all but mornings. There would be no fiftieth anniversary celebration in 1992: Joe Ryan died, as did news man Al Larson.
In 1994, Orange and Rockland would sell WALL and WKOJ to the Poughkeepsie-based Crystal Radio Group. Despite slumping ratings, WALL's news/talk format continued undisturbed for most of the rest of the 1990s. WKOJ's format was changed to modern rock
and its calls to WRRV; the station remains the same as of 2011.
While WALL was left alone and did moderately well given its signal and status in the market, Crystal Radio had problems with WEOK given the aging demographics of that station's longtime adult standards
format. Looking at an opportunity to fortify their holdings, in August 1999 Crystal decided to join WEOK with WALL and renovate WALL's talk format into a station that would target all of the Hudson Valley. On September 6, 1999, WEOK dumped pop standards and joined with WALL to simulcast talk, a format known as NewsTalk 13. John Moultrie, WALL's morning man since switching to talk, was dumped in favour of WEOK's Larry Hughes. (Moultrie later turned up doing afternoons on WTBQ
; and mornings at WVOS
.)
Up against the highly rated WABC
in New York (and sharing much of its programming), the NewsTalk 13 simulcast struggled to find an audience, especially in Middletown; many listeners there thought the new station was too "Poughkeepsie-centric". In August 2000, the ESPN Radio
programming that the station aired nights and weekends became the full-time format of the station. Soon, Aurora Communications would purchase the assets of the Crystal Radio Group. Both NewsTalk 13 and the ESPN Radio simulcast featured a large amount of sports rights including Yankees
baseball, Giants
and Jets
football, and Marist College
basketball.
Aurora's ownership of the station would prove to be short-lived; in October 2001 they would be purchased by Cumulus Media
. At 2pm on September 15, 2002 (following the rueful announcement "This was ESPN Radio"), WALL and WEOK would flip to a Spanish language Hot AC format as El Ritmo ("The Rhythm"), the first Spanish-language station in the Hudson Valley.
Poor ratings and revenues led Cumulus, in March 2005, to flip the stations again, this time to Radio Disney
; Cumulus had actually considered switching to Disney three years earlier.
, a syndicated format ironically very similar to the Top-40 WALL of the mid-80s. With the switch, WEOK and WALL stopped being a true simulcast, running liners, jingles and commercials specific to each station.
On April 11, 2011, former WALL personality Mark West brought live radio back to Middletown for the first time since 1999 when he began programming a local morning show from a studio in New Hampton, New York
. West leases the morning shift from Cumulus and sells commercials; the program airs 6am to 10am weekdays. Bob Schaeffer, formerly of WVOS
, does local news while another WALL veteran, Jack George, covers sports.
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
licensed to Middletown, New York
Middletown, Orange County, New York
Middletown is a city in Orange County, New York, United States. It lies in New York's Hudson Valley region, near the Wallkill River and the foothills of the Shawangunk Mountains. Middletown is situated between Port Jervis and Newburgh, New York. The city's population was 25,388 at the 2000 census...
that serves Orange County, New York
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...
. WALL is owned by Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media, Inc. is the second largest Owner and Operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States, behind Clear Channel Communications, operating 570 stations in 150 markets as of September 16, 2011. The company also owns Cumulus Media Networks...
and broadcasts at 1340 kHz with 1,000 watts, daytime and nighttime, both nondirectional.
WALL is an affiliate of Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel, and has a brokered local morning show. WALL flipped to this format in 2010, after a five-year run as a Radio Disney
Radio Disney
Radio Disney is a radio network based in Burbank, California and headquartered out of the Disney Channel headquarters on West Alameda Ave., from where it has been based since November 2008. Prior to that, the network was based in Dallas, Texas...
affiliate.
Early history
WALL came to air on August 6, 1942, the first radio station in the western part of Orange County, part of a series of low-powered local stations that took to the air in the period after the 1941 North American Radio Broadcasting AgreementNorth American Radio Broadcasting Agreement
The North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement, usually referred to as NARBA, is a treaty that took effect in March 1941 and set out the bandplan and interference rules for mediumwave AM broadcasting in North America. Although mostly replaced by other agreements in the 1980s, the basic bandplan...
and realignment. According to legend, WALL originally sought the call letters WMID
WMID
WMID is a radio station in Atlantic City, New Jersey which plays "the classic oldies". Its parent company is Equity Communications ....
(for MIDdletown), but a 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...
(FCC) mixup led to another station at 1340 MHz in Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...
to get the WMID calls, while the Middletown station got the WALL calls that Atlantic City wanted (after that city's sea WALL
Seawall
A seawall is a form of coastal defence constructed where the sea, and associated coastal processes, impact directly upon the landforms of the coast. The purpose of a seawall is to protect areas of human habitation, conservation and leisure activities from the action of tides and waves...
). Other stories insist that the call letters were indeed correct, and WALL was named for the Town of Wallkill, which neighbors the city while WMID
WMID
WMID is a radio station in Atlantic City, New Jersey which plays "the classic oldies". Its parent company is Equity Communications ....
was named for nearby Middle Township, New Jersey
Middle Township, New Jersey
Middle Township is a township in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States. It is part of the Ocean City Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township population was 16,405....
, where the station owner resided.
Identity crisis aside, WALL signed on with a full-service popular music format with a heavy amount of local news, and with only newspapers as competition, were very successful. The station was owned by the Community Broadcasting Corporation whose partners were Roger Clipp, an executive with Triangle Publications
Triangle Publications
Triangle Publications, Inc. was an American media group first based at 400 North Broad Street , Philadelphia, and later at its TV Guide headquarters in Radnor, Pennsylvania. Triangle Publications was a privately-held corporation with the majority of stock owned by Walter Annenberg and his sisters...
(WFIL
WFIL
WFIL is a radio station and a former television station serving the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its transmitter is located in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania....
in Philadelphia) and John Morgan Davis
John Morgan Davis
John Morgan Davis was the Democratic Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania from 1959 to 1963.-Early life:Davis was born in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania...
, who ultimately served as Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania
Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania
The Lieutenant Governor is a constitutional officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Lieutenant Governor is elected every four years along with the Governor. Jim Cawley of Bucks County is the incumbent Lieutenant Governor...
.
In 1950, WALL hired Jim Patt from WNBH
WNBH
WNBH is one of the oldest broadcast radio stations in America , dating back to 1921. At one time WNBH had its studios at the New Bedford Hotel where it derived its callsign. In 1948 WNBH added FM service with WNBH-FM on 98.1 megahertz /Channel 251...
in New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about east of Fall River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 95,072, making it the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts...
, as General Manager; he ran the station until 1972. On-air personalities included Bill Swanwick ("Breakfast With Beaming Billy"), Jerry Wax ("The Wax Works"), longtime staffer Joe Ryan and Big Jim Pappas; Al Larson served as news director, with Johnny Zaimes in charge of sales.
Dominance in the 1960s and 1970s
The station was sold to R. Peter Straus, owner of WMCAWMCA
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...
in 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...
("home of the Good Guys"). Straus, who had aspirations to become a United States Senator, bought WALL as well as stations in Utica
Utica, New York
Utica is a city in and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 62,235 at the 2010 census, an increase of 2.6% from the 2000 census....
and Geneva, New York
Geneva, New York
Geneva is a city in Ontario and Seneca counties in the U.S. state of New York. The population was 13,617 at the 2000 census. Some claim it is named after the city and canton of Geneva in Switzerland. Others believe the name came from confusion over the letters in the word "Seneca" written in cursive...
, so his editorials could be heard throughout the state. In 1964, however, Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
decided to run for the Senate, ending Straus's plans (he ultimately sold the stations). Patt stayed on to run WALL for Straus, putting WALL-FM on the air, but when Straus sold out Patt decided it was time to retire to Fort Myers, Florida
Fort Myers, Florida
Fort Myers is the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. Its population was 62,298 in the 2010 census, a 29.23 percent increase over the 2000 figure....
, where he teamed up again with Roger Clipp to put a station on the air in that market.
By mid-decade, WALL had evolved into a Middle of the Road format, and on November 11, 1966 would add FM service at 92.7 MHz (today's WRRV
WRRV
WRRV is a modern rock radio station licensed to Middletown, New York and serving the mid Hudson Valley and Catskills of New York state plus nearby areas in New Jersey and Pennsylvania...
). It was with the FM launch that WALL switched to Top 40: from 1967-77 (under program directors Larry Berger, Dave Charity, Art Livesay, and Jim Frey), WALL was virtually unbeatable in the ratings despite new local sign-ons (such as Warwick
Warwick, New York
Warwick is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 30,764 at the 2000 census. The 2007 census population estimate is 32,669.The Town of Warwick is located in the southwest part of the county...
's WTBQ
WTBQ
WTBQ is an independent radio station broadcasting from Warwick, New York, featuring oldies, local talk shows and specialty programming. The last locally-owned radio station left in Orange County, New York , WTBQ broadcasts on 1110 AM and 93.5 FM, throughout Orange County and northern New...
in 1969) and serious competition from New York signals including WABC
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...
and WNBC.
In 1974, WALL staffers (among them Randy West
Randy West
Randy West is an American television personality who is best known for his work on game shows. He has been an announcer on American television game shows since 1990, with credits including Supermarket Sweep, Trivial Pursuit, Hollywood Showdown, and a substitute role on The Price Is Right.West's...
) recorded a satirical tape known as "NINE!", a parody of industry marketing pitches and radio programming in general. The tape, which takes place at fictional radio station AM 900 WVWA/Pound Ridge, New York
Pound Ridge, New York
Pound Ridge is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 5,104 at the 2010 census.The town is located in the eastern corner of the county, bordered by New Canaan, Connecticut, to the east, Stamford, Connecticut, to the south, Bedford, New York, to the west and...
, documents the progression of the top 40 station from earlier, awkward years (with odd sound effects, rambling disc jockeys, dead air, and wildly inaccurate weather forecasts) to a finely-tuned, professional-sounding station with various gimmicks, catch-phrases and promotions popular at the time. However, the WVWA determines it must go one step further and strip out all spoken-word content, leaving only a rapid-fire, barely intelligible station identification
Station identification
Station identification is the practice of radio or television stations or networks identifying themselves on air, typically by means of a call sign or brand name...
once an hour and the word "NINE!" exclaimed between each song. Radio industry insiders of today consider the tape to be both ironically
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
humorous and inadvertently prophetic for foretelling the adoption of elements such as rapid-fire station IDs, station branding, increased automation and less emphasis on local DJs. (Fybush)
The fire and beyond
At about 8pm on Sunday, December 21, 1975, WALL suffered a devastating fire which gutted its North Street studios, killing several residents in a third-floor apartment, and forcing the station to move to an abandoned, block-long Armory building in Middletown. Surprisingly, WALL was off the air less than half an hour; using remote broadcast equipment that was stored at the transmitter site on Monhagen Avenue, the station quickly began broadcasting from the transmitter building using records borrowed from employees. The old Armory building had already been purchased by then-owner Orange Communications, with the intent of moving the radio station there within a year; instead, the move happened overnight while flames and smoke still rose from the North Street studios. WALL signed on from the Armory at 6am the morning after the fire, using remote equipment borrowed from sister station WHVWWHVW
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 Hyde Park, New York
Hyde Park, New York
Hyde Park is a town located in the northwest part of Dutchess County, New York, United States, just north of the city of Poughkeepsie. The town is most famous for being the hometown of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt....
. Temporary studios were quickly constructed in a basement gym, with permanent studios constructed as originally planned on the second floor of the Armory, with offices on the first floor.
In 1979, WALL and sister WKGL (the former WALL-FM) were purchased by a consortium headed by media mogul Robert F.X. Sillerman
Robert F.X. Sillerman
Robert FX Sillerman is an American businessman and media entrepreneur. Once on the Forbes 400 list, he also briefly owned the WLAF's New York/New Jersey Knights.-Biography:He grew up in the Riverdale section of the Bronx...
and legendary New York air personality Bruce Morrow
Bruce Morrow
Bruce Morrow is an American radio personality known to many listeners as Cousin Brucie.-Radio work:...
("Cousin Brucie"). Headquartering their group in Middletown at the Armory (now re-christened "Broadcast Plaza"), major changes took place with WALL flipping first to a top 40/adult contemporary hybrid format, and later to Adult Standards
Adult standards
Adult standards is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations.Adult standards is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly those persons over 50 years of age, but it is mostly targeted for senior citizens...
; WKGL went to an oldies
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
format. The drastic change was not a long-term success, and Morrow sold WALL and WKGL to Bell Broadcasting.
1980s and 1990s
By 1985 WALL began to regroup by bringing in program director Rob Dillman and flipping to a higher-energy oldies format. With this change came the acquisition of sports programming such as New York MetsNew York Mets
The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
baseball, New York Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
football, and various local sports and other community events. Additionally, WALL rehired some of the air talent from its Top 40 heyday, including Joe Ryan. These changes proved successful and WALL once again achieved ratings not seen since the early 1970s.
One of the most successful promotions in station history was WALL's "45th Anniversary Reunion Broadcast", on the weekend of August 2–3, 1987. The station looked back to its past and reunited air personalities including "Cousin Brucie", Howard Hoffman, Dave Charity, John Fisher, Ray Arthur, Randy West, Gene Pelc, Al Faust, Art Livesay, Alex Miller, Dick Wells, Jim Frey, Mark West, Ray Arthur, Jim Brownold, Jon LeMieux, Jimmy Howes
Jimmy Howes
Jimmy Howes is a radio disc jockey and talk show host, stand-up comic. New York City On-Air Radio Host under dozens of different synonyms. Morning Show Host on Jukebox Radio, New York City, Mid-Day host with WVNJ, Program Director and a morning show host of WGHT...
, Jim Pappas and Al Larson.
The community-mindedness of WALL would be short-lived, however. In September 1988, local power company Orange and Rockland Utilities purchased WALL and WKGL (now WKOJ); with the sale came a mass purge of staff with WALL flipping to a satellite news/talk format in all but mornings. There would be no fiftieth anniversary celebration in 1992: Joe Ryan died, as did news man Al Larson.
In 1994, Orange and Rockland would sell WALL and WKOJ to the Poughkeepsie-based Crystal Radio Group. Despite slumping ratings, WALL's news/talk format continued undisturbed for most of the rest of the 1990s. WKOJ's format was changed to modern rock
Modern rock
Modern rock is a rock format commonly found on commercial radio; the format consists primarily of the alternative rock genre...
and its calls to WRRV; the station remains the same as of 2011.
WEOK simulcast history
- (for a detailed history on these formats, see the article on WEOKWEOKWEOK is a radio station licensed to Poughkeepsie, New York and serving the Mid-Hudson Valley. The station is owned by Cumulus Media broadcasts on 1390 kHz at 5 kilowatts daytime and 106 watts nighttime from a two-tower directional antenna array adjacent to the Cumulus cluster complex on Pendell...
)
While WALL was left alone and did moderately well given its signal and status in the market, Crystal Radio had problems with WEOK given the aging demographics of that station's longtime adult standards
Adult standards
Adult standards is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations.Adult standards is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly those persons over 50 years of age, but it is mostly targeted for senior citizens...
format. Looking at an opportunity to fortify their holdings, in August 1999 Crystal decided to join WEOK with WALL and renovate WALL's talk format into a station that would target all of the Hudson Valley. On September 6, 1999, WEOK dumped pop standards and joined with WALL to simulcast talk, a format known as NewsTalk 13. John Moultrie, WALL's morning man since switching to talk, was dumped in favour of WEOK's Larry Hughes. (Moultrie later turned up doing afternoons on WTBQ
WTBQ
WTBQ is an independent radio station broadcasting from Warwick, New York, featuring oldies, local talk shows and specialty programming. The last locally-owned radio station left in Orange County, New York , WTBQ broadcasts on 1110 AM and 93.5 FM, throughout Orange County and northern New...
; and mornings at WVOS
WVOS-FM
WVOS-FM is a radio station broadcasting a Classic Hits format. Licensed to Liberty, New York, USA. The station is currently owned by Watermark Communications LLC and features programming from ABC Radio .-History:...
.)
Up against the highly rated WABC
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 (and sharing much of its programming), the NewsTalk 13 simulcast struggled to find an audience, especially in Middletown; many listeners there thought the new station was too "Poughkeepsie-centric". In August 2000, the ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio is an American sports radio network. It was launched on January 1, 1992 under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN." ESPN Radio is located at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut...
programming that the station aired nights and weekends became the full-time format of the station. Soon, Aurora Communications would purchase the assets of the Crystal Radio Group. Both NewsTalk 13 and the ESPN Radio simulcast featured a large amount of sports rights including Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
baseball, Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
and Jets
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
football, and Marist College
Marist College
Marist College is a private liberal arts college on the east bank of the Hudson River near Poughkeepsie, New York. The site was established in 1905 by Marist Brothers, and the college was chartered in 1929...
basketball.
Aurora's ownership of the station would prove to be short-lived; in October 2001 they would be purchased by Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media, Inc. is the second largest Owner and Operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States, behind Clear Channel Communications, operating 570 stations in 150 markets as of September 16, 2011. The company also owns Cumulus Media Networks...
. At 2pm on September 15, 2002 (following the rueful announcement "This was ESPN Radio"), WALL and WEOK would flip to a Spanish language Hot AC format as El Ritmo ("The Rhythm"), the first Spanish-language station in the Hudson Valley.
Poor ratings and revenues led Cumulus, in March 2005, to flip the stations again, this time to Radio Disney
Radio Disney
Radio Disney is a radio network based in Burbank, California and headquartered out of the Disney Channel headquarters on West Alameda Ave., from where it has been based since November 2008. Prior to that, the network was based in Dallas, Texas...
; Cumulus had actually considered switching to Disney three years earlier.
True Oldies Channel and return to live radio
On February 22, 2010 the WEOK and WALL simulcast dropped Radio Disney for Scott Shannon's The True Oldies ChannelThe True Oldies Channel
The True Oldies Channel is a syndicated radio programming stream begun in the spring of 2004, hosted by American radio personality Scott Shannon...
, a syndicated format ironically very similar to the Top-40 WALL of the mid-80s. With the switch, WEOK and WALL stopped being a true simulcast, running liners, jingles and commercials specific to each station.
On April 11, 2011, former WALL personality Mark West brought live radio back to Middletown for the first time since 1999 when he began programming a local morning show from a studio in New Hampton, New York
New Hampton, New York
New Hampton is a small hamlet in the Town of Wawayanda in Orange County, New York, USA. It is just outside the city of Middletown, across Interstate 84 along US 6 and NY 17M. It has the ZIP Code 10958....
. West leases the morning shift from Cumulus and sells commercials; the program airs 6am to 10am weekdays. Bob Schaeffer, formerly of WVOS
WVOS (AM)
WVOS is a radio station broadcasting a Spanish sports radio format. Licensed to Liberty, New York, USA, the station is currently owned by Watermark Communications LLC....
, does local news while another WALL veteran, Jack George, covers sports.