WRWB-FM
| Simulcast of iHeartMedia, Inc. | |
|---|---|
| WCTW, WHUC, WPKF, WRNQ, WRWD-FM, WZCR | |
| History | |
First air date | 1970 (as WELV-FM) |
Former call signs | WELV-FM (1970–1981) WDRE (1981–1984) WELV-FM (1984–1989) WWWK (1989–1995) WTHN (1995–2001) WFKP (2001–2006) WRWC (2006–2009) WKIP-FM (2009–2012) |
Call sign meaning | similar to WRWD |
| Technical information | |
| Facility ID | 63525 |
| Class | A |
| ERP | 115 watts |
| HAAT | 497 meters (1,631 ft) |
| Links | |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | wrwdcountry.iheart.com |
WRWB-FM (99.3
History
The 99.3 frequency first signed on in 1970 as WELV-FM, sister to AM daytimer WELV (today's WJIP) and the first FM station in Ulster County outside of Kingston. The FM signal allowed WELV to extend its middle of the road programming with the two stations simulcasting during daytime hours with the FM continuing after the AM's signoff. This arrangement would continue until 1981, when WELV-FM would separate from the AM and switch to a beautiful music/easy listening format with mostly instrumentals. The station would be known as WDRE and be automated.
In January 1985, Eric Straus (grandson of Nathan Straus, then owner of
In mid-1989, WELV's long-standing format was broken with WELV-FM flipping to a music-intensive, mainly satellite-fed adult contemporary format as WWWK (K-Lite) with WELV simulcasting it much of the day. The "K-Lite" format would last until late 1994 when WWWK (and WELV) flipped to a satellite-fed
In the spring of 1995, WWWK joined with WRVW in Hudson with the two stations simulcasting a satellite "hot country" format known as Thunder Country with WWWK changing its calls to WTHN in the process. With the move, the on-air operations for WTHN (and WELV) would move from Ellenville to Hudson, a move that would be short lived as both the Hudson and Ellenville stations would move to Poughkeepsie in 1997 when the format added WTND in that city.
Faced with competition from market dominant
Though the Kiss format was successful marketwide and on WPKF, WFKP suffered from unsteady ratings in the nearby Newburgh/Middletown market. After a period of declining ratings, WFKP left its simulcast with WPKF in March 2005 to flip to an adult contemporary format as "LiteFM", airing a delayed and localized version of the programming heard on sister WRNQ in Poughkeepsie. However, the experiment proved unwieldy and in the wake of Clear Channel announcing the sale of their Poughkeepsie-area stations the simulcast was terminated on November 20, 2006. Coincidentally, this briefly reunited the former WELV and WELV-FM in terms of programming.
On November 20, 2006, WFKP replaced the WRNQ "shadowcast" with two days of love songs as "Cupid 99.3". After that ended, WFKP began playing a "Country Holiday Favorites" format and announced that after Christmas the station would begin simulcasting with sister station WRWD-FM, also from Poughkeepsie. On November 28, new call letters of WRWC would follow.
On November 2, 2009, WRWC changed its call letters to WKIP-FM and changed its format to news/talk, swapping formats with sister station 1370 AM, WRWD.
On March 8, 2012, WKIP-FM returned to simulcasting WRWD-FM; the talk programming, a simulcast of WKIP from Poughkeepsie, returned to 1370 AM.[1] The call letters were changed to WRWB-FM the next day (March 9).
References
External links
- WRWB in the FCC FM station database
- WRWB in Nielsen Audio's FM station database