WFMN 103.1 Newburgh, NY Class A FM Stand-alone

[HudsonValley1967]

We are talking about 1965-1972 and the era of stand-alone FMs. I was on this station in High School armed with a "set-of pipes" and the ability to rip and read the UPI newswire machine. Anybody recall this station? The format was elevator music. The "studio" was in an
apartment with egg cartons on the walls for sound proofing. After a sale, station became WGNY-FM, Newburgh, NY

 

[MHVRadiofan]

We are talking about 1965-1972 and the era of stand-alone FMs. I was on this station in High School armed with a "set-of pipes" and the ability to rip and read the UPI newswire machine. Anybody recall this station? The format was elevator music. The "studio" was in an
apartment with egg cartons on the walls for sound proofing. After a sale, station became WGNY-FM, Newburgh, NY

I remember 103.1 WFMN in the time period you mentioned, and perhaps a little later, playing elevator music. However, I was unaware that it was a stand-alone FM. Then again, that was a long time ago, I was a teenager and information on station ownership was not as easily available as today.
How did the egg cartons work out for soundproofing? Was the station mostly automated? Old history like this is interesting.

 

[Al_Case]

I saw egg cartons used once before at WRKL back in the 60s. Not sure how it worked out for them, but found it interesting.
Then at one of the stations I worked for they used accoustical tile on the ceilings, walls from floor to ceiling and heavy carpeting. Then they went and put fairly heavy reverb into the chain. Go figure..

 

[HudsonValley1967]

The egg-cartons worked well....very low in cost! There were very few FM stand-alones in the 1960's. Most all small market FMs in the 1960's were owned by AM stations. Most all those FMs that had AM owners simul-cast the programming at least part of the day. The FMs were considered a risk of dollars invested...few listeners. A 1967 Chevy had an AM radio. If you wanted to listen to FM in the car you needed a converter.

The Hudson Valley had FMs. WEOK-AM owned WEOK-FM (later WPDH). WKIP had a FM that was later owned by WBNR-AM (now WSPK). WGNY had a single AM stick up next to the New York State Thruway. I never knew why WGNY-AM did not start FM in the 1960's.
They ended up buying WFMN (FM) when they could have just started their own FM on 103.1 MHz.

I was on WFMN with "the start of automation". We had long playing reel-to-reel tapes and a primitive level system that injected the
commercial on the quarter hour.

 

[Towerclimber31]

Makes me wonder what the Cowan brothers are up to. Jeff Cowan was news staple in Orange County in those days. His brother Bruce got in on the action to! Jill Nado did news in the mid 80's, she is a Fox radio reporter based in Washington now.

 

[Fidel Ipac]

Perhaps WGNY didn't file to sign 103.1 on because in the early 60's AM was where it was at and FM was experimental and profitless. They probably just didn't see the point. WGNY was competing primarily with WBNR in a market where only two radio stations competed with newspapers for the Southern Dutchess/Eastern Orange local advertising revenue stream.

AM stations were dominant right through the 70's and very competitive in the 80's. FM didn't really become a player in the Hudson Valley until the early 80's. The bulk of the 60's/70's revenue from WLNA-FM (HUD) and WEOK-FM (PDH) came from MUZAK subcarriers, not advertising to main channel listeners.

Look at the FM landscape in the 60's. 104.7 was co-owned with WKIP and was so neglected they were forced to sell it. The Lessners picked it up, and it took over a decade for them to find an audience for it. WHVW-FM went on the air in the mid-60s but didn't split off from the AM until the JIB98 days, and didn't make much noise until Cousin Brucie came to town. Same for WALL-FM. WGHQ-FM signed on in 1965, didn't split off from the AM until 1975, and didn't make much noise until 1985.

The WGNY owners probably didn't see much potential for 103.1 at the time the frequency first became available. Thanks for bringing up WFMN. It's been a long time since I thought about that station.

 

[MHVRadiofan]

Fidel Ipac :
You have a valid point, during the sixties most the FM stations around here was just simulcast of their AM co-owned stations. I must quibble on one point, however 97.7 WHVW -FM signed on circa 1968 as a separate entity playing beautiful music, similar to WHUD. Their big problem was poor tower location , off Quaker Lane in Hyde Park. While the sounded fine to the north anything south of the site including parts of Hyde Park the station sounded scratchy and off channel. Eventually the calls were changed to WHVS; I think the format stayed the same. During the seventies, and really ever since the once mighty 950 WHVW, went through tough times. 97.7 eventually ended up playing top 40 music, but their signal was still terrible. The owner, one of a series, went bankrupt, and simulcast the FM top 40 on 950 (WWWI? WHVW had been scooped up by an out of market station) to save money until the more valuable 97.7 was sold to Cousin Bruise as 98 Fame.

 

[Fidel Ipac]

Thanks MHVRadioFan. I think you're right that I may be a little fuzzy on the 97.7 history pre-1980. I admit really didn't spend much time listening to it back then. Are you sure there wasn't at least a partial simulcast?

According to Wikipedia WHVW-FM signed on simulcasting WHVW-AM during it's daytime hours and running automated easy listening when 95HV wasn't on the air. Wiki says the two did not split off until 1976 when the calls of the FM were changed to WHVS and WHVW became all-news WHPN.

A couple of years later 950 became WWWI and WJJB was on the FM. In 1982 the owners went bankrupt, and to raise cash 97.7 was sold to Cousin Brucie's group.

 

[HudsonValley1967]

thanks for all comments on early fms. the wfmn-fm cp was taken out by two guys-both last named nelson, but not related- who had worked for abc radio in new york city. the two guys had another cp for an area around kingston,ny.. they lacked the dollars to build out both cps. i think the kingston area cp was sold to the owners of whvh-am. sale price of that cp, un-known. wfmn was sold to wgny-am for over 1 million dollars in the early 70's. wgny-am could have had 103.1 in the early 60's for the cost of a washington, dc fcc connected attorney.

wfmn, at the time i had my fcc phone permit with broadcast endorsement-recall that license-was running a gates transmitter with 860 watts-1967. my biggest dx for the station was when i was just about to turn off the transmitter at 1am. i got a call from cambridge crystal near boston,ma. they were monitoring the frequency tolerance for us at a distance of about 200 miles. they told me to leave the transmitter on for another half hour. we were right on frequency.

typing with one hand after rotator-cuff surgery.

 

[HudsonValley1967]

the last post acorrection. i meant cp sold to whvw-am 950 khz. the 1966 broadcasting yearbook said the cp held by the two nelson's was on 97.7 mhz. 97.7 cp sold in late 1967. wghq-am kingston, ny was building out their cp at same time on 94.3 mhz.

more hudson valley trivia, only am to go silent in the 60's or 70's......wbrz kingston, ny 1550 khz....any others?
i wonder how wbrz ever got away from wptr's 50kw pattern on 1540 khz. they both must have had highly directional sticks.

 

[MHVRadiofan]

Thanks MHVRadioFan. I think you're right that I may be a little fuzzy on the 97.7 history pre-1980. I admit really didn't spend much time listening to it back then. Are you sure there wasn't at least a partial simulcast?

According to Wikipedia WHVW-FM signed on simulcasting WHVW-AM during it's daytime hours and running automated easy listening when 95HV wasn't on the air. Wiki says the two did not split off until 1976 when the calls of the FM were changed to WHVS and WHVW became all-news WHPN.

A couple of years later 950 became WWWI and WJJB was on the FM. In 1982 the owners went bankrupt, and to raise cash 97.7 was sold to Cousin Brucie's group.

Yes, I am sure about the simulcast. The change of calls for 97.7 to WHVS might have occurred when WHVW was sold and the new owners changed the format to news and WHPN, but I think it was before. BTW, the stations were sold because Ubiquitous Corp ran afoul of FCC rules. I am sure of the WHVW being separate because as a teenager at the time, my friends and I loved WHVW-AM, but our parents hated it. On the other hand my parents enjoyed the ‘beautiful music ‘on the FM side, but complained about the scratchiness the signal . I was mistaken about the timing of the financial troubles of the stations it was the early eighties.

 

[MHVRadiofan]

the last post acorrection. i meant cp sold to whvw-am 950 khz. the 1966 broadcasting yearbook said the cp held by the two nelson's was on 97.7 mhz. 97.7 cp sold in late 1967. wghq-am kingston, ny was building out their cp at same time on 94.3 mhz.

more hudson valley trivia, only am to go silent in the 60's or 70's......wbrz kingston, ny 1550 khz....any others?
i wonder how wbrz ever got away from wptr's 50kw pattern on 1540 khz. they both must have had highly directional sticks.

WBAZ aka WKOT Kingston is the only Hudson Valley station to go silent that I know of; the IRS seized their equipment. They must not have had much of a signal, living in Poughkeepsie I never knew that they had existed until I read about them on this board years later.

 

[HudsonValley1967]

yes a very small signal from wbaz kingston, ny in the 60's. i could hear them near newburgh on the thruway. the early signals from wgny on 1220 and their single tower were quite good. i recall hearing them near jones beach, li, ny in 1957 on my dads 49' plymouth car radio.

other recalls-
wspk with a brief period of a country and western format in 1968. they broadcast then in mono.
my news report of a rare tornado hit near cornwall while at wwle cornwall in 1970.
a glimpse of a tower base, with no tower atop mt. beacon. the tower base may have been woko's before them moved to albany.
visiting wgny's studio on broadway, near the old armory, as a cub scout in the 1950's.

 

[Fidel Ipac]

Yes, I am sure about the simulcast. The change of calls for 97.7 to WHVS might have occurred when WHVW was sold and the new owners changed the format to news and WHPN, but I think it was before. BTW, the stations were sold because Ubiquitous Corp ran afoul of FCC rules. I am sure of the WHVW being separate because as a teenager at the time, my friends and I loved WHVW-AM, but our parents hated it. On the other hand my parents enjoyed the ‘beautiful music ‘on the FM side, but complained about the scratchiness the signal . I was mistaken about the timing of the financial troubles of the stations it was the early eighties.

I yield to your superior knowledge of the early days on 97.7 MHVRadiofan. Wiki is not always accurate, and I think that's the case here. I give you much more than the benefit of the doubt.

WBAZ aka WKOT Kingston is the only Hudson Valley station to go silent that I know of; the IRS seized their equipment. They must not have had much of a signal, living in Poughkeepsie I never knew that they had existed until I read about them on this board years later.

WWLE in Cornwall was also silent for a very long time. It was dark so long that a lot of people thought the station was extinct. Then one day out of nowhere it came back. Bizarre.

 

[MHVRadiofan]

WWLE in Cornwall was also silent for a very long time. It was dark so long that a lot of people thought the station was extinct. Then one day out of nowhere it came back. Bizarre.

This is true. I thought they were gone also. The same can be said about 560 WCKL, Catskill. Both stations came on for a brief time every year, in WCKL's case from 2004 until last June, in order to keep the license alive. In the case of WBZA I was referring to going dark permanently.