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WINU
WINU (104.9 FM, "Big Country 104.9 & 97.9") is a commercial radio station licensed to Altamont and serving New York's Capital District. The station is owned by Pamal Broadcasting and airs a classic country radio format.
WINU has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 530 watts. The transmitter is on Pinnacle Road in the Helderberg Escarpment tower farm in New Scotland, amid the towers for other Albany-area TV and FM stations. The programming is a simulcast of co-owned WMML 1230 AM in Glens Falls and on its FM translator on 97.9 MHz.
WINU is one of several signals to have moved into the Albany market in recent years. Prior to its relocation in March 1999, it was licensed to Johnstown, New York, as the sister station to WIZR (930 AM). It first signed on the air on June 26, 1968, as WIZR-FM. At first, it was a simulcast of its AM companion. In 1980, it began broadcasting a live and local oldies format. That lasted until the station went dark in 1982.
It returned to the air in 1983 once again simulcasting WIZR. In early 1984, it got its own call sign as WSRD ("The Wizard") as it switched to a short-lived live and local album rock format. It flipped to a satellite-delivered adult contemporary format in late 1984, and eventually to satellite delivered oldies in 1987. The oldies format remained in place until early 1999.
In early 1998, longtime WIZR/WSRD owner Joe Caruso obtained a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) construction permit to move WZMR to the Albany suburb of Altamont. That put it in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy radio market, making the station more valuable. In October 1998, Caruso sold the stations to Albany Broadcasting (today's Pamal Broadcasting) for $2.2 million. Albany Broadcasting closed on the stations in March 1999 and quickly moved WSRD into its studios.
The new call sign for the station was WAAP. The transmitter site was initially on the Channel 23 tower with sister station WAJZ, but was later moved to the WYJB tower in November 2000. The format was changed to modern adult contemporary as The Point when it began broadcasting from its new transmitter, on March 10, 1999.
The switch to Modern AC was an attempt to capitalize on the then-recent flips of WXLE (now WTMM-FM) to rhythmic oldies, WRVE to a more mainstream format, and the then-stunting WKLI. It was WKLI which spoiled these plans, as Albany Broadcasting was sued by CBS Radio, then-owners of the Point name, on the behalf of WKLI-owner-in-waiting Tele-Media. In response, the station relaunched as WZMR with the Z104.9 branding and a modern rock format. The Point name surfaced on WKLI (which changed to WCPT) that May. However, the ratings were not what Albany Broadcasting had hoped for.
On October 2, 1999, WHRL (now WGY-FM) switched from smooth jazz to modern rock, Albany Broadcasting took advantage of the format hole. Within two weeks, WZMR flipped to smooth jazz at 6:00 a.m. on October 18, 1999, as "Smooth Jazz 104.9." The final song played under WZMR's short-lived modern rock format was "You Get What You Give" by The New Radicals, also the first song played under the format. Though the return of smooth jazz was initially a success, ratings had declined at the station by early 2003.
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WINU
WINU (104.9 FM, "Big Country 104.9 & 97.9") is a commercial radio station licensed to Altamont and serving New York's Capital District. The station is owned by Pamal Broadcasting and airs a classic country radio format.
WINU has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 530 watts. The transmitter is on Pinnacle Road in the Helderberg Escarpment tower farm in New Scotland, amid the towers for other Albany-area TV and FM stations. The programming is a simulcast of co-owned WMML 1230 AM in Glens Falls and on its FM translator on 97.9 MHz.
WINU is one of several signals to have moved into the Albany market in recent years. Prior to its relocation in March 1999, it was licensed to Johnstown, New York, as the sister station to WIZR (930 AM). It first signed on the air on June 26, 1968, as WIZR-FM. At first, it was a simulcast of its AM companion. In 1980, it began broadcasting a live and local oldies format. That lasted until the station went dark in 1982.
It returned to the air in 1983 once again simulcasting WIZR. In early 1984, it got its own call sign as WSRD ("The Wizard") as it switched to a short-lived live and local album rock format. It flipped to a satellite-delivered adult contemporary format in late 1984, and eventually to satellite delivered oldies in 1987. The oldies format remained in place until early 1999.
In early 1998, longtime WIZR/WSRD owner Joe Caruso obtained a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) construction permit to move WZMR to the Albany suburb of Altamont. That put it in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy radio market, making the station more valuable. In October 1998, Caruso sold the stations to Albany Broadcasting (today's Pamal Broadcasting) for $2.2 million. Albany Broadcasting closed on the stations in March 1999 and quickly moved WSRD into its studios.
The new call sign for the station was WAAP. The transmitter site was initially on the Channel 23 tower with sister station WAJZ, but was later moved to the WYJB tower in November 2000. The format was changed to modern adult contemporary as The Point when it began broadcasting from its new transmitter, on March 10, 1999.
The switch to Modern AC was an attempt to capitalize on the then-recent flips of WXLE (now WTMM-FM) to rhythmic oldies, WRVE to a more mainstream format, and the then-stunting WKLI. It was WKLI which spoiled these plans, as Albany Broadcasting was sued by CBS Radio, then-owners of the Point name, on the behalf of WKLI-owner-in-waiting Tele-Media. In response, the station relaunched as WZMR with the Z104.9 branding and a modern rock format. The Point name surfaced on WKLI (which changed to WCPT) that May. However, the ratings were not what Albany Broadcasting had hoped for.
On October 2, 1999, WHRL (now WGY-FM) switched from smooth jazz to modern rock, Albany Broadcasting took advantage of the format hole. Within two weeks, WZMR flipped to smooth jazz at 6:00 a.m. on October 18, 1999, as "Smooth Jazz 104.9." The final song played under WZMR's short-lived modern rock format was "You Get What You Give" by The New Radicals, also the first song played under the format. Though the return of smooth jazz was initially a success, ratings had declined at the station by early 2003.