WKNY

WKNY
City Kingston, New York
Broadcast area Poughkeepsie and Ulster County
Branding CBS 1490 AM
Slogan "The Kingston Station."
Frequency 1490 kHz
First air date August 1, 1935
Format AC/Talk
Power 1,000 watts
Class C
Facility ID 10782
Transmitter coordinates 41 56 11 N 73 00 30 W
Callsign meaning Kingston, New York
Affiliations ABC Radio through 12/31/2014, CBS Radio effective 1/1/2015
Owner Townsquare Media
(Townsquare Media Poughkeepsie Licenses, LLC)
Sister stations WALL, WCZX, WEOK, WKXP, WPDH, WRRV, WZAD
Webcast Listen Live
Website 1490wkny.com/

WKNY (1490 kHz AM) is a radio station serving the Kingston, New York, area with an adult contemporary format. It broadcasts at a power of 1 KW from a single tower located off Albany Avenue. It is owned by Townsquare Media.[1]

The WKNY calls were also briefly used for an independent TV station WKNY-TV in Poughkeepsie, New York, operating on Channel 66 in the mid-1950s.

The station was first owned by John McKenna and his family and went through several changes in ownership since then.

History

WKNY went on the air December 16, 1939 at 8:15 PM from the auditorium of Kingston High School before an audience of approximately 100 people. Major C.J. Heiselman was unable to attend WKNY's opening ceremonies but a taped message from him was broadcast over the air. The musical program was rendered by Roger Baer's Orchestra, the Vocal Rhythm Boys of Saugerties and vocal solos by Miss Lynne Clark. Following the musical program in the High School, the program continued with musical selections from the new WKNY studios in the Governor Clinton Hotel. The following morning the services in the Fair Street Reformed Church were broadcast on the air and the station began regular operations.

WKNY has authorization to broadcast at just 250 watts in 1939 at a frequency of 1490 kilocycles. In 1959 the FTC authorized WKNY to increase its daytime power to 1,000 watts and then in the 1980s, permission was given to broadcast at that power 24 hours a day.

In the 1940s, WKNY moved to the Community Theatre Building at 601 Broadway; later to 212 Fair Street in a house formerly owned by Mayor Raymond Garraghan. From its Fair Street studios, WKNY became Ulster County's most-listened-to radio station and was an Adult Contemporary reporter to Radio & Records. It also aired the syndicated "American Top 40" on Saturdays from 8am-noon, although the programming evolved from Top 40 in the early 1970s to a Full Service AC/MOR presentation by the early 1980s, when it was in heavy competition with Walter C. Maxwell's WGHQ-AM 920.

Noted former personalities include "Morning Mayor" Ward Todd, who commanded the lion's share of WKNY's audience; the station cannot be heard in Poughkeepsie and focuses on Northern Dutchess and Ulster Counties because of its limited signal, explaining its absence in Arbitron ratings for Poughkeepsie.

WKNY also aired New York Yankees baseball for many years before the games shifted to FM 94.3, a co-owned country music station (WKXP).

In 1986 WKNY moved into its present studio and offices at 718 Broadway. Today, Warren Lawrence hosts the chat-heavy weekday morning show along with the Saturday afternoon oldies show and Sunday afternoon Garage Sale program. Hank Gross provides local news; world and national news had been provided by the CBS Radio Network for 7 decades, with a brief changeover to ABC Radio News from 2012 thru 2014. WKNY returned their news affiliation to CBS Radio effective December 16, 2014, in line with the station's 75th On-Air Anniversary. Frank Auringer is the current weekday afternoon DJ, while Adam Alberts helms Saturday and Sunday mornings, in addition to production for live sporting events on the station.

Dan Reinhard provides sports commentary for WKNY, with a daily sports report on the weekday morning drive show, as well as hosting Monday Night SportTalk, and play-by-play for broadcasts of Kingston High School Varsity Football.

On August 30, 2013, a deal was announced in which Cumulus Media would swap its stations in Dubuque, Iowa and Poughkeepsie, New York (including WKNY) to Townsquare Media in exchange for Peak Broadcasting's Fresno, California stations. The deal is part of Cumulus' acquisition of Dial Global; Townsquare, Peak, and Dial Global are all controlled by Oaktree Capital Management.[2][3] The transaction was consummated effective November 14, 2013.

On-Air Personalities

References

  1. ↑ "WKNY Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
  2. ↑ "Official: Cumulus Buys Dial Global, Spins Some Stations To Townsquare; Peak Stations Sold To Townsquare, Fresno Spun To Cumulus". All Access. August 30, 2013. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Cumulus Makes Dial Global And Townsquare Deals Official". RadioInsight. August 30, 2013. Retrieved August 30, 2013.

Coordinates: 41°56′11″N 74°00′30″W / 41.93639°N 74.00833°W / 41.93639; -74.00833

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