WHUD
Adult contemporary | |
Affiliations | Compass Media Networks |
---|---|
Ownership | |
Owner |
|
WBNR, WBPM, WGHQ, WLNA, WSPK, WXPK | |
History | |
First air date | October 24, 1958 |
Former call signs | WLNA-FM (1958–1971) |
Call sign meaning | Hudson |
Technical information | |
Facility ID | 54854 |
Class | B |
ERP | 50,000 watts |
HAAT | 152 meters (499 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 41°20′17.9″N 73°53′38.7″W / 41.338306°N 73.894083°W |
Links | |
Webcast | Listen live |
Website | whud.com |
WHUD (100.7
History
In early 1957, Highland Broadcasting, owner of WLNA, began petitioning the Federal Communications Commission[2] to grant a class B FM allocation to the City of Peekskill, New York. 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, Connecticut and Waterbury, Connecticut, 100.7 MHz was allotted to Peekskill, New York on May 24, 1957.[3]
WLNA-FM signed on for the first time on October 24, 1958 as the second FM station between New York City and
The first major changes to the station occurred in late 1971. On October 14, 1971, the
The
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′46.04″N 73°54′58.2552″W / 41.3127889°N 73.916182000°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 longtime New York City radio personality Ed Baer. Baer spent a total of 18 years broadcasting in the New York City market, also as one of the WMCA good guys then on country station WHN and later on WYNY[8] He stayed in the morning show position until he retired for the second time in 2000. Ed Baer was replaced by longtime news director Mike Bennett who got his start at Hudson Valley radio station WHVW in the early 1970s.
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
In 1997, WHUD was sold to Albany, New York based
Programming
After the ownership transfer, Pamal altered the format with a slight recurrent lean to the play list and the addition of the
WHUD serves as the primary (LP-1) Emergency Alert System (EAS) station for Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, and Orange Counties.[9] As such it is the first media outlet in the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant public warning system.[10] Prior to the studio move to Fishkill, New York these duties fell to WABC (AM) in New York City because WHUD's studio was located within the 10 mile Emergency Planning Zone around the Indian Point Energy Center.[11] 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.[12]
WHUD's signal reaches most of the Hudson Valley and the suburbs of New York City with a usable signal in much of
The primary target market of WHUD is Westchester and Rockland Counties plus the Mid-Hudson Valley. In all of these areas, WHUD is at or near the top of the ratings and is the highest rated Westchester County station in Nielsen's New York City book.For many years, WHUD played Christmas music only occasionally in the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas, going with all Holiday songs in the days leading to December 25. Most Adult Contemporary stations in the U.S. and Canada switch to all Christmas music for part of November and most of December. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, WHUD joined with other AC stations and played all Christmas songs from Thanksgiving to Christmas Day.
References
- ^ "WHUD Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
- ^ Federal Communications Commission Docket Number 12032, April 23, 1957
- ^ Notice of Proposed Rule Making FCC 57-538, May 24, 1957
- ^ "1959 Broadcasting Yearbook page 299". Broadcasting Publications, Inc. Archived from the original on 2009-11-27. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
- ^ Subcarrier authorization, FCC form 318, September 12, 1959
- ^ Authorization/license change telegram, from FCC to Highland Broadcasting, December 24, 1971
- ^ Construction Permit WLNA-FM 100.7 MHz Peekskill, New York Federal Communications Commission File number BPH-6827, October 31, 1969
- ^ "Whud.com". Pamal Broadcasting, Ltd. 2009.
- ^ "New York State EAS Plan". New York State Emergency Communications Committee, December 16, 2004.
- ^ "Westchester County Emergency Planning Guide". Westchester County Government.
- ^ "Emergency Planning Guide, Westchester County". Entergy Corporation.
- News Corporation) November 30, 2007.
- ^ "WHUD 54 dBu coverage map". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
External links
- 100.7 WHUD website
- WHUD in the FCC FM station database
- WHUD in Nielsen Audio's FM station database