WDBY
Encyclopedia
WDBY is a country music
radio station licensed to Patterson, New York
. It is the only FM station licensed to Putnam County, New York
. The station primarily serves the Greater Danbury listening area. The station is owned by Cumulus Media
and broadcasts from a tower located in Patterson, NY near the Putnam/Dutchess county line. WDBY also operates a booster, WDBY-FM1 in Brookfield, Connecticut
, which broadcasts with 1.2 kilowatts.
Though it's the only FM station in Putnam County, WDBY's primary target market is Danbury, Connecticut
. Even though the hills in and around Danbury limits the main 105.5 signal, the Danbury booster has the ability to cover the primary coverage area. WDBY also targets eastern Putnam County as well as southern Dutchess County
where it regularly rates in the Poughkeepsie market.Due to its tower height, WDBY's signal covers most of the RT-22/I-684 corridor. The WDBY studios are located at 1004 Federal Road in Brookfield,CT 06804.
/classical music
hybrid format in competition with WHUD
and WEZN
. Richard Novick(also former owner of WKIP-AM/WRNQ-FM 92.1 Poughkeepsie) was WRVH's first owner/operator. The station's building was constructed with the beautiful music format in mind as all three studios (Production, FM & AM) had very high ceilings. The production studio's ceiling was also acoustic and at one time chamber music was both played and recorded there. In later years, the large room also doubled as a jock lounge. WRVH was an early success in Putnam County and got better-than-expected numbers in both Dutchess County and Danbury, CT because for many listeners it was one of the few well-signaled stations in the area.
In the mid-1980s, beautiful music began to decline. Listeners were aging out of the format and stations were playing more vocals. Dick Novick then sold WRVH to Ron Graiff and that led the station to switch to Adult Contemporary and become WMJV (MAJIC 105) on 7/21/86. The call letters stood for Majic (MJ) and the Roman numeral for 5 (V). The station's new main competitor was then Contemporary-formatted WVIP-FM and later WHUD and WDAQ. Majic 105's on-air staff (in the early 1990s) included Bob Stanhope, Dick Farrell and Gary Peters (mornings), PD/MD Al Matthews (middays), Flora, Langdon Towne and Cutler Whitman (afternoons), "Rich Andrews" (aka Joe Thomas
), Hank Tuttle and Jim Hartman (nights), John Harrison, Cutler Whitman and Langdon Towne (overnights) and weekenders Joe Rondini, JJ, Jed Taylor and Rob Deldin.
Super Station was locally programmed by multi-market PD (and former WVIP-AM/FM PD) Al Matthews (middays) with an air staff that included Gary Peters, Ray Graff and John Chipman (mornings), Cutler Whitman and Chris Cimmino (afternoons), APD/MD Jim Hartman (nights), Langdon Towne (overnights) and weekenders Jed Taylor, Alix Bragga, Colleen Brown, KC Kressu, Kyle Kelley, Steve Maiolo, Bobby West, Tim Court, Paul Hoch, Chris Todaro, Jim McCannon, Mike Cannivaro and Rob Deldin. The news department was headed by ND Janice Berliner (mornings), Jennifer Fogarty and Greg Messinger (afternoons). Morning and afternoon traffic reports were handled by Kyle Kelley and Steve Maiolo. The chief engineer was Dave Gray. Weekend music programs included a local Top 30 Countdown on Friday nights, The Retro Show (dance classics) on Saturday nights and Casey's Hot 20 on Sunday nights. Super Station's jingle package was produced by Jam Creative Productions and the stations liners were voiced by John Driscoll.
In 10/08 Cumulus sold the West Patterson property and its new owners tore down the long unused studio building. It has now become a newly-built residential location. WVIB's new calls were WZZN (The Zone-slogan though not used) with a short-lived jazz and then short-lived classic rock format also via satellite except for its live morning show with Emily Anton. Both formats were unsuccessful. The station was moved to the WFAS studios in Hartsdale, NY and eventually changed its calls to WFAF (sounds like WFAS) to become a northern simulcast of WFAS-FM and its AC format.
In 2006, when its iron-clad 40-year lease was up, WFAF's tower was moved from atop Darlington Castle to the Fox Lane Campus in Bedford and since then, its signal is not as strong due to a decrease in both terrain and tower height. Due to economic conditions and signal issues,the 106.3 frequency has never been a stand-alone FM since its sale and split from WVIP back in late September 1993. It has been and still is a simulcasted signal-first with WMJV/WVYB, then WFAS, for a short time WPDH and then again WFAS. WPUT-AM also flipped its satellite format from Country to Adult Standards and then to ESPN Sports. The (daytime only) station is licensed to Brewster, NY and is also housed in Brookfield where it simulcasts with WINE-AM.
(FCC) market concentration concerns. When Aurora Communications purchased those stations WAXB saw an increase in its budget that allowed the station to eliminate satellite fed programming. With this came a modified name, "B105.5", and modified oldies that leaned as recent as the early 80s. However, Aurora's ownership was to be short-lived as in 2000 a failed buyout by Nassau Broadcasting took place which was followed in 2001 by Aurora being bought out by Cumulus Media
.
After Cumulus took control of the Aurora stations in 4/02, control of the Danbury cluster became separate from their Hudson Valley cluster. Though WAXB had good ratings in both Danbury and Dutchess County with oldies, listeners were aging out of the format and Cumulus management sensed a hole for a more contemporary competitor against market rival 98Q. WAXB flipped to Adult Top 40 on 9/26/02 as Y-105 after two days of stunting and taking the new WDBY calls (DanBurY) that October. It forced 98Q to move to a more Top 40 approach in both music and presentation. Y-105 has since evolved from a Bright AC to a Hot AC. Y-105 also scored a coup on 1/12/09 by signing legendary,longtime 98Q morning host Mr. Morning to host its morning show.
WDBY switched to its current country format on 1/11/10.
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
radio station licensed to Patterson, New York
Patterson, New York
Patterson is a town in Putnam County, New York, United States. The town is in the northeast part of the county. Interstate 84 passes through the southwest part of the town. The population was 11,306 at the 2000 census. The town is named after early farmer Matthew Paterson...
. It is the only FM station licensed to Putnam County, New York
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...
. The station primarily serves the Greater Danbury listening area. The station 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 from a tower located in Patterson, NY near the Putnam/Dutchess county line. WDBY also operates a booster, WDBY-FM1 in Brookfield, Connecticut
Brookfield, Connecticut
Brookfield is a town located in northern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 16,452 at the 2010 census. First settled in 1710 by John Muirwood and several other colonial founders who bartered for the land From the Wyantenuck Nation Under the Sachem Waramaugs who lived...
, which broadcasts with 1.2 kilowatts.
Though it's the only FM station in Putnam County, WDBY's primary target market is Danbury, Connecticut
Danbury, Connecticut
Danbury is a city in northern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It had population at the 2010 census of 80,893. Danbury is the fourth largest city in Fairfield County and is the seventh largest city in Connecticut....
. Even though the hills in and around Danbury limits the main 105.5 signal, the Danbury booster has the ability to cover the primary coverage area. WDBY also targets eastern Putnam County as well as southern Dutchess County
Dutchess County, New York
Dutchess County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York, in the state's Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley. The 2010 census lists the population as 297,488...
where it regularly rates in the Poughkeepsie market.Due to its tower height, WDBY's signal covers most of the RT-22/I-684 corridor. The WDBY studios are located at 1004 Federal Road in Brookfield,CT 06804.
Early History & Majic 105
The 105.5 frequency first signed on (as a Docket 80-90 station) in the spring of 1981 in Patterson, NY as WRVH, airing a beautiful musicBeautiful music
Beautiful music is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in American radio from the 1960s through the 1980s...
/classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
hybrid format in competition with WHUD
WHUD
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.-History:...
and WEZN
WEZN-FM
WEZN is a radio station broadcasting an Adult Contemporary format, licensed to the Bridgeport, Connecticut community. The station is currently owned by Cox Radio and it has a strong signal which reaches into most of Westchester County, New York and well north of Hartford, Connecticut...
. Richard Novick(also former owner of WKIP-AM/WRNQ-FM 92.1 Poughkeepsie) was WRVH's first owner/operator. The station's building was constructed with the beautiful music format in mind as all three studios (Production, FM & AM) had very high ceilings. The production studio's ceiling was also acoustic and at one time chamber music was both played and recorded there. In later years, the large room also doubled as a jock lounge. WRVH was an early success in Putnam County and got better-than-expected numbers in both Dutchess County and Danbury, CT because for many listeners it was one of the few well-signaled stations in the area.
In the mid-1980s, beautiful music began to decline. Listeners were aging out of the format and stations were playing more vocals. Dick Novick then sold WRVH to Ron Graiff and that led the station to switch to Adult Contemporary and become WMJV (MAJIC 105) on 7/21/86. The call letters stood for Majic (MJ) and the Roman numeral for 5 (V). The station's new main competitor was then Contemporary-formatted WVIP-FM and later WHUD and WDAQ. Majic 105's on-air staff (in the early 1990s) included Bob Stanhope, Dick Farrell and Gary Peters (mornings), PD/MD Al Matthews (middays), Flora, Langdon Towne and Cutler Whitman (afternoons), "Rich Andrews" (aka Joe Thomas
Joe Thomas
-Cleveland Browns:Thomas signed a 6-year contract worth $43 million, $23 million guaranteed, including a voidable year, with the Browns. Thomas won the starting left tackle job, with previous Browns left tackle Kevin Shaffer moving to right tackle. He made his NFL debut versus the Pittsburgh...
), Hank Tuttle and Jim Hartman (nights), John Harrison, Cutler Whitman and Langdon Towne (overnights) and weekenders Joe Rondini, JJ, Jed Taylor and Rob Deldin.
Putnam/Westchester simulcast & Super Station era
In the early 1990s, Majic 105 began to have more competition as the rivals it had as WRVH also evolved to Adult Contemporary, in turn giving the station bigger signaled and heritage competition. In late 9/93 in order to more effectively compete with WHUD and WFAS-FM in Westchester and Putnam Counties and 98Q in Danbury, CT, Majic 105's owner/manager Ron Graiff acted on impulse and purchased WVIP-FM/106.3 Mount Kisco from Martin Stone. WVIP-FM by then had encountered tough times, it was airing a gold-based AC format with some dayparts live and some satellite-fed. It had become a shell of its former self. The plan was to expand WMJV's reach via simulcast further south into Westchester County for a bigger and better area-wide signal. The stations could then be heard from Dover Plains to White Plains. On Friday night 9/24 at 7PM, Alix Bragga did the last show on WVIP-FM. The last song played was "The Star Spangled Banner" by Whitney Houston. The station then signed off at midnight and was moved overnight from Radio Circle in Mount Kisco to the WMJV studios on RT-292 in West Patterson. On Saturday morning 9/25 the plan turned into reality as WVIP-FM became WMJU (the calls meant nothing-it was alphabetically before WMJV and looked similar). The stations were then simulcast and branded as "NY's Super Station" super-serving both Putnam and Westchester Counties. Weekender Jed Taylor did the first show at 6 am. The format was upgraded from AC to Hot AC and in time it became Putnam County's Arbitron rated #1 radio station. At its peak, Super Station had a music library of almost 1,300 songs that spanned the 1970s, 1980s up to the mid-1990s and was consistently rotated. All music decisions were made in-house and its positioning statement was "The Most Music and the Best Variety". It was very successful for its time although it lasted just two years.Super Station was locally programmed by multi-market PD (and former WVIP-AM/FM PD) Al Matthews (middays) with an air staff that included Gary Peters, Ray Graff and John Chipman (mornings), Cutler Whitman and Chris Cimmino (afternoons), APD/MD Jim Hartman (nights), Langdon Towne (overnights) and weekenders Jed Taylor, Alix Bragga, Colleen Brown, KC Kressu, Kyle Kelley, Steve Maiolo, Bobby West, Tim Court, Paul Hoch, Chris Todaro, Jim McCannon, Mike Cannivaro and Rob Deldin. The news department was headed by ND Janice Berliner (mornings), Jennifer Fogarty and Greg Messinger (afternoons). Morning and afternoon traffic reports were handled by Kyle Kelley and Steve Maiolo. The chief engineer was Dave Gray. Weekend music programs included a local Top 30 Countdown on Friday nights, The Retro Show (dance classics) on Saturday nights and Casey's Hot 20 on Sunday nights. Super Station's jingle package was produced by Jam Creative Productions and the stations liners were voiced by John Driscoll.
Sold stations, format changes and relocations
On Monday 10/2/95 Ron Graiff sold the stations (along with Country AM sister WPUT-1510) to then-WRKI/WINE owner Gary Starr. He dropped the "Super Station" brand, changed the call letters to WVYB/WVIB (to remind listeners of the old WVIP-FM) and flipped the format back to a gold-based AC branded as "B-105/B-106". In essence it reverted to what WVIP-FM was airing prior to it being sold in 9/93. That afternoon at 3PM Chris Cimmino and then Chris Todaro did the last Super Station show. The last song played was "Goodbye Stranger" by Supertramp. At 7PM Jim Hartman did the first B-105/B-106 show. The new format was put into place and the music library was then drastically cut. Lorna Potter took over as general/sales manager. PD Al Matthews left and Emily Anton took over middays. The I-95 PD's Lou Rizzo and then Tim Sheehan were the program directors(though they were still based at WRKI)and Alan Sneed (based in Atlanta, GA) was hired as a programming and music consultant. Then,in about four weeks time,the stations were sold again to Commodore Media Inc. (Commodore Media would later be sold to Capstar Broadcasting) and the two stations were then split up from its simulcast, format, call letters and location. The entire staff except for the morning show were let go. WVYB's new calls were WAXB (the B-105 brand was kept) with an oldies format via satellite from Westwood One except for its live morning show with John Chipman and Steve Maiolo. The station was moved to the WRKI studios in Brookfield, CT, and its Arbitron market was changed from Poughkeepsie to Danbury. The WAXB calls would later be ironically returned by competitor Berkshire Broadcasting's True Oldies Channel flagship affiliate WREF-AM on 2/1/11 to reflect its newly acquired FM translator at 107.3 and its new branding as B-107.3In 10/08 Cumulus sold the West Patterson property and its new owners tore down the long unused studio building. It has now become a newly-built residential location. WVIB's new calls were WZZN (The Zone-slogan though not used) with a short-lived jazz and then short-lived classic rock format also via satellite except for its live morning show with Emily Anton. Both formats were unsuccessful. The station was moved to the WFAS studios in Hartsdale, NY and eventually changed its calls to WFAF (sounds like WFAS) to become a northern simulcast of WFAS-FM and its AC format.
In 2006, when its iron-clad 40-year lease was up, WFAF's tower was moved from atop Darlington Castle to the Fox Lane Campus in Bedford and since then, its signal is not as strong due to a decrease in both terrain and tower height. Due to economic conditions and signal issues,the 106.3 frequency has never been a stand-alone FM since its sale and split from WVIP back in late September 1993. It has been and still is a simulcasted signal-first with WMJV/WVYB, then WFAS, for a short time WPDH and then again WFAS. WPUT-AM also flipped its satellite format from Country to Adult Standards and then to ESPN Sports. The (daytime only) station is licensed to Brewster, NY and is also housed in Brookfield where it simulcasts with WINE-AM.
From B-105 to Y-105 to Kicks 105-5
When Capstar Broadcasting was purchased by AM/FM Inc. (a subsidiary of what would become Clear Channel Communications) in 1999, the company was forced to divest its holdings in the northern suburbs of New York City due to Federal Communications CommissionFederal 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) market concentration concerns. When Aurora Communications purchased those stations WAXB saw an increase in its budget that allowed the station to eliminate satellite fed programming. With this came a modified name, "B105.5", and modified oldies that leaned as recent as the early 80s. However, Aurora's ownership was to be short-lived as in 2000 a failed buyout by Nassau Broadcasting took place which was followed in 2001 by Aurora being bought out 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...
.
After Cumulus took control of the Aurora stations in 4/02, control of the Danbury cluster became separate from their Hudson Valley cluster. Though WAXB had good ratings in both Danbury and Dutchess County with oldies, listeners were aging out of the format and Cumulus management sensed a hole for a more contemporary competitor against market rival 98Q. WAXB flipped to Adult Top 40 on 9/26/02 as Y-105 after two days of stunting and taking the new WDBY calls (DanBurY) that October. It forced 98Q to move to a more Top 40 approach in both music and presentation. Y-105 has since evolved from a Bright AC to a Hot AC. Y-105 also scored a coup on 1/12/09 by signing legendary,longtime 98Q morning host Mr. Morning to host its morning show.
WDBY switched to its current country format on 1/11/10.