Hudson Valley WLNA programming change

[Ex-RadioTV]

Possibly because of the demise of WFAS, Pamal’s WLNA Peekskill, WBNR Beacon, and WGHQ Kingston have collectively rebranded as “The Beacon”. The sweepers say news, talk and sports. The trio is now carrying some Fox News hourlies, as well as Brian Kilmeade’s 9-noon show (Hello WABC. Are you reading this?) and Dan Bongino’s noon-3 show, the latter formerly cleared on WFAS. Didn’t catch the name of the 3-6pm talker.
At 6:00PM they switched to sports, no ToH newscast. The logo, grabbed from the WGHQ.fm webpage, makes no mention of the AM frequencies.

 

[MTNProductions]

Possibly because of the demise of WFAS, Pamal’s WLNA Peekskill, WBNR Beacon, and WGHQ Kingston have collectively rebranded as “The Beacon”. The sweepers say news, talk and sports. The trio is now carrying some Fox News hourlies, as well as Brian Kilmeade’s 9-noon show (Hello WABC. Are you reading this?) and Dan Bongino’s noon-3 show, the latter formerly cleared on WFAS. Didn’t catch the name of the 3-6pm talker.
At 6:00PM they switched to sports, no ToH newscast. The logo, grabbed from the WGHQ.fm webpage, makes no mention of the AM frequencies.
View attachment 7885

This is very sad news. I listened to WGHQ’s “Magic 92.5” for the past 3 years, and now, it’s finally pulled the plug.

The problem with “Magic”, is that:

1. They had way too many completions from other stations like WGNY-FM’s “Fox Oldies” at 98.9, WKXP’s “Lite-FM” 94.3 and WRNQ’s “Q92”.

2. Lack of local DJ’s. They should’ve add more DJ’s to do shows on “Magic 92.5”, and that’s not happening, but it ran jockless for 3 years.

3. “Magic 92.5” had a terrible signal where it doesn’t reach Poughkeepsie.

4. WGHQ’s “Magic 92.5” got a big fat “0” in the ratings. The station had no listeners, but some including myself I listened to over the course of three years.

5. It was a disaster. That’s right! Soft oldies is now a dying format, but half of its audience ended up going to 98.9 which is WGNY’s “Fox Oldies” for their upbeat oldies format where they’re now playing some 80’s music and no more 50’s music and pre-1964 oldies, because of “Hudson Valley Mornings” with Bob O, John Roberts and Rose Tamerino (now known as the Three Stooges), WRNQ’s “Q92” and WKXP’s “Lite-FM” at 94.3, all three stations are grabbing all of its listeners from the loss of WGHQ’s “Magic 92.5”. I hope if soft AC is dying, WKXP’s “Lite-FM” at 94.3 should flip to Hot AC until it goes all-Christmas soon.

WGHQ “Magic 92.5” was a great station, and it was an incredible ride for the past three years. And now, things have changed. Sad to see it go.

RIP: WGHQ “Magic 92.5” (2022-2024)😢

 

[MHVRadiofan]

I don't think many people including Pamela cared about the demise of 929 WGHQ or its 92.5 translator. They put zero effort into it. As a translator its expected service area did not really cover Poughkeepsie.
I was a bit more surprised about the end of simulcast of WBPM 92.9 on 96.5 translator of WBNR. 96.5 actually had a decent signal for a translator and pushed WBPM into southern Dutchess County where 92.9 is weak at best. I thought it could boost WBPM ratings in that area. The weak signals of WLNA ,Peekskill , and its tiny 1 what translator on 94.3 are a non factor in all this . It allows WLNA to technically be on FM but with only one watt on a crowded band they don't cover much.
I doubt another third teer conservative talk station in an area that has several top teer stations of that genera will gather much listeners. Just keep the transmitter warm, for now.

 

[MTNProductions]

And, as a tribute to WGHQ’s “Magic 92.5”, I have 15 Airchecks posted there. I decided to put it on Mediafire, because Internet Archive is still down, except Wayback Machine is now running, and the main site will resume like later this week. Internet Archive has down since Thursday due to hackers, but let’s hope Internet Archive will return to normal ASAP.

MediaFire

MediaFire is a simple to use free service that lets you put all your photos, documents, music, and video in a single place so you can access them anywhere and share them everywhere.

www.mediafire.com

 

[MTNProductions]

And just a little bit of a format history. WGHQ has been doing a news-talk format since 1999 after they first sold to Clear Channel (now iHeartMedia), but it lasted 2+ years until 2001 when it flipped back to MOR/standards with “Music Of Your Life” syndicated radio network until around 2005 where it went to talk where they did Rush Limbaugh from WABC and WOR and then sold to Pamal when it went back to standards again in 2007 where they carried ABC Stardust until 2008 when it became “Hudson Valley Talk Radio” running programs from WHDD from Sharon, CT until 2016 when it flipped to classic country known as “Real Country” until 2021 when it became “Magic 92.5” which was a good oldies station, but it lasted four years until this year, for the first time since 2016, it’s now “The Beacon” as a conservative talk station. In addition, “The Beacon” is now competing with Poughkeepsie’s iHeart AM talker, WKIP at 1450AM which has been doing talk since the late 2000’s. How many times that WGHQ flipped to talk? A few times over the years.

Now that the Soft Oldies format is gone, I don’t know when will it show up elsewhere. Maybe WGNY-FM’s “Oldies 98.9” might grab half of its audience from the loss of “Magic 92.5”, WKXP’s “Lite-FM” at 94.3 might grab many of its audience, and so does WRNQ’s “Q92” at 92.1 are all grabbing all of its listeners due to the loss of “Magic 92.5”, and also online streaming like “Rewound Radio”, WLNG, WALL, and many other radio stations like WROW’s “Magic 100.5” from up in Albany due to the loss of “Magic 92.5”.

 

[bilvihur]

I previously posted about moving to Peekskill in 1968 where WLNA (and later WHUD) became my goto radio station. Reading about WGHQ in this forum makes me want to add a little more. IBM moved me to Kingston in 1973 where WGHQ and WKNY competed for my listening time. The WGHQ morning show had Bill Skilling, Harry Thayer, and Orville Norman (at different times). The WKNY morning show was hosted by Ward Todd. I used to turn the dial to get the most recent weather forecast. I haven't tuned to WGHQ in a long time, and I'm surprised there is still a WLNA at all. I still listen to Warren Lawrence on WKNY in the morning, WHUD and WDST the rest of the time.