WLMY is a radio station

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...

  broadcasting a Hot Adult Contemporary format. Licensed to Williamsport, Pennsylvania

Williamsport, Pennsylvania

Williamsport is a city in and the county seat of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania in the United States. In 2009, the population was estimated at 29,304...

, USA, the station serves the Williamsport area. The station is currently owned by Backyard Broadcasting Williamsport Licensee, LLC

Backyard Broadcasting

Backyard Broadcasting is a radio broadcasting company, primarily owning radio stations in medium-sized, small and rural markets in the United States. The company is owned by the private equity firms Boston Ventures Management and Pacific Corporate Group and is headed by Barry Drake, the former head...

.

History

The previous call letters, WRVH, once belonged to a Hudson Valley, New York, FM station, located at 105.5 on the FM dial, broadcasting as a class A facility with 3,000 Watts of effective radiated power. Its studio was located on New York State Route 292

New York State Route 292

New York State Route 292 is a short state highway in the Hudson Valley of New York, United States, bridging Putnam and Dutchess Counties. The southern terminus of the route is at an intersection with NY 311 in the town of Patterson, and the northern terminus is at a junction with...

 in Patterson, NY.

That station was licensed in 1982 and was the brainchild of Edward Valentine, who served as the station's general manager, as well as co-owner. It was owned by Richard Novik of North Salem, and Edward Valentine of Wappingers Falls, a retired engineer with International Business Machines.

The station played "Beautiful Music" format during the weekdays and on Sunday evenings at 7:30PM, the station featured an audiophile-oriented program called "Adventures in Sound", hosted by Anthony Fast. The station changed to Adult Contemporary format after the Beautiful Music format ended in 1986.

The WLMY calls were originally on the station known today as WBYB

WBYB

WBYB is a talk radio formatted commercial radio station, licensed to Kane, Pennsylvania. WVTT operates at an effective radiated power of 840 watts...

, in suburban Olean, New York

Olean, New York

Olean is a city in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. Olean is the largest city in Cattaraugus County, and serves as the financial, business, transportation and entertainment center of the county. It is one of the principal cities of the Southern Tier region of New York.The city is...

. WBYB is a semi-satellite of WLMI

WLMI

WVTT is an FM radio station licensed to Portville, New York. The station, broadcasting at 96.7 MHz, is owned by Colonial Radio Group and broadcasts a talk radio format.Prior to October 2011, WVTT was licensed to Kane, Pennsylvania at 103.9 MHz...

 in Kane, PA

Kane, Pennsylvania

Kane is a borough in McKean County, Pennsylvania, east by south of Erie. It was founded in 1863 by Civil War general Thomas L. Kane at an elevated site 2210 feet above sea level. In the early part of the twentieth century, Kane had large glassworks, bottle works, lumber mills, and manufactures of...

. In 2008, Backyard Broadcasting had attempted to buy WBYB (then known as WFRM-FM), but could not follow through and lost the bid to WLMI's owners

Colonial Radio Group

Colonial Radio Group, Inc. is the owner of several radio stations in the United States. It is controlled by the Androlunis family and currently is based in Olean, New York, with all of its current stations based in the western Twin Tiers region of New York and Pennsylvania.-New York:* Portville -...

. WLMI changed the call sign to WLMY, but then, switched it quickly to WBYB (while the owner claims this was a reference to the Bob FM

Bob FM

Bob FM is the on-air brand of a number of FM radio stations in Canada and the United States. The Bob FM format features a mix of classic 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s hits with some current hot adult contemporary singles....

 brand that WLMI was running, BYB was also, coincidentally, an abbreviation used by BackYard Broadcasting), began broadcasting its own country music

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...

 format against Backyard's market leader, WPIG

WPIG

WPIG is an FM radio station located in Olean, New York. Branded as the "Big Pig," "The Pig" or simply by its frequency and callsigns at times, the station operates at 95.7 MHz on the FM dial and operates a broad-based country music format...

, and hired several former WPIG staffers. Thus, Backyard likely picked up the WLMY calls as a (relatively weak) retalliatory gesture.

In another coincidence, the current WLMY was, in a previous incarnation, the FM sister station to WLYC

WLYC

WLYC is a sports radio station in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, United States branded as ESPN Radio 1050. WLYC's first air date was June 26, 1951...

(AM 1050), which was owned by the same company as WLMI until 2010.