WDST

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WDST
City of license	Woodstock, New York
Broadcast area	Hudson Valley
Slogan	World Class Rock
First air date	April 29, 1980
Frequency	100.1 MHz
Format	Adult Album Alternative
Power	3 kw
ERP	6 kW
Class	A
Callsign meaning	WooDSTock
Owner	CHET-5 Broadcasting
Website	www.wdst.com

WDST is the callsign of an adult album alternative radio station licenced to Woodstock, New York. The station is owned by the locally-based CHET-5 Broadcasting and broadcasts on 100.1 MHz at 3 kw ERP from a tower in the town of Ulster between Woodstock and Kingston. WDST also broadcasts on two translators:

• 102.3 W272AV Newburgh, New York
• 106.3 W292CM Poughkeepsie, New York

WDST is famous far beyond its coverage area as it has long been seen as a groundbreaking station that helped pioneer both the modern rock and adult album alternative formats and has given many artists some of their earliest (or even their first) exposure. The station has been well renowned for its uniqueness and achievements with recognition ranging from being a three-time winner of Billboard's Radio Station of the Year and being one of three radio stations spotlighted at Radio@AOL.

[edit] History

WDST first broadcasted on April 29, 1980 from studios in Woodstock and a tower in Kingston. Initially, WDST featured a freeform format which was described by some members of the press as "public radio with commercials". Through the early years of the station, the rock portions of the station's programming became the most listened to on the station and the station evolved its format more towards rock music though freeform elements would remain until the early 1990s. The progressive rock lean of the original format would evolve into an early modern rock format by the mid 1990s. The rise of alternative rock, a genre WDST had to itself, led the station to get impressive numbers in the Poughkeepsie ratings by the early 1990s.

1993 was a watershed year in the station's development as CHET-5 Broadcasting, led by principal owner, Gary Chetkof, purchasd the station along with WKNY in Kingston, NY. Gary promoted Nic Harcourt to the Morning Show and the station was programmed with an alt-rock format. WDST soon thereafter purchased a radio station in Poughkeepsie, NY and started to re-broadcast WDST onto 96.9 FM (also known at WDSP) in order to broadening WDST's reach. Nic Harcourt was promoted to Program Director and the station achieved admirable ratings. In April 1997, WDSP and WKNY were sold to the Crystal Radio Group, owners of rivals WPDH and WRRV, the latter of which used the 96.9 signal to simulcast its programming. Coverage to the south would soon be restored via translators in Newburgh (1998) and Poughkeepsie (2000). Shortly after the sale, Harcourt left for KCRW in Los Angeles, California where he now hosts the renowned Morning Becomes Eclectic. WDST programming has evolved into a more mainstream format, with popular rock songs from the last 40 years (i.e. from the late 1960's) to the present. The staion refers to its format as World Class Rock.

Like with its music, WDST has also been pioneering with technology, becoming the first station in the Hudson Valley to launch a website (September 1995), stream online (October 1995), and offer RDS so that listeners could see the names of artists and songs.

[edit] External links

• Query the FCC's FM station database for WDST
• WDST homepage
• Watch WDST's Ike Phillips VP of Sales and Marketing on independentfilm.com