WSPK

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WSPK
City of license	Poughkeepsie, New York
Broadcast area	Hudson Valley, eastern Catskills, Western Connecticut
Branding	K-104
Slogan	Today's Hit Music
First air date	1947
Frequency	104.7 MHz
Format	Top 40
Power	7.4 kW
ERP	50 kW
Callsign meaning	W Stereo PoughKeepsie
Former callsigns	WHVS (1947-late 1950s) WKIP-FM (late 1950s-1968)
Owner	Pamal Broadcasting
Website	www.k104online.com

WSPK (K-104) is a contemporary hit radio radio station licenced to Poughkeepsie, New York and broadcasting from studios in Fishkill. It is owned by Pamal Broadcasting and broadcasts on 104.7 MHz at an ERP of 50 kilowatts from a tower at the top of Mount Beacon in Fishkill.

Though WSPK's main coverage area is centered on the Hudson Valley with secondary targeting into the eastern Catskills, Westchester County, the Danbury, Connecticut area, and Pike County, Pennsylvania, the overall signal area is vast. For many years, the station's top-of-hour ID mentioned its coverage of parts of five states (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts) and "an itty-bitty piece of Vermont". WSPK reaches much of New York City and until the launch of adjacent stations in the early 1990s reached Albany as well.

Contents 1 Pre K-104 2 K-104 History 3 K-107 4 Current Radio Personalities 5 Weekdays 6 Weekends 7 Past Radio Personalities 8 Past PDS 9 External links

[edit] Pre K-104

The 104.7 frequency signed on the air in 1947 as WHVS, the first FM station to sign on between New York City and the Albany area. In its early years, the station played classical music and for a time was a part of a regional network operated by powerhouse station WQXR. By the late 1950s, WHVS was sold to the owners of WKIP and took the WKIP-FM calls as well as simulcasting that station's full service format. In 1965, WKIP-FM moved its tower to the Mount Beacon site which hosted the area's first radio station (WOKO, which later moved to Albany), added stereo capabilities, and split off from its parent with a Top 40 format.

The height of the Mount Beacon site gave the station a wide coverage area, in many areas WKIP-FM was the only FM station which came in with an excellent signal. This increased the station's value and in 1968 WKIP-FM was sold to Olympian Broadcasting and took on new call letters: WSPK. With new owners came a varied middle of the road/classical/beautiful music format which was commonplace on many FM stations at the time and was being dominated in the market by WHUD (today a sister station to WSPK) and a very unique identifier: 10-47 (said on-air as "ten-forty-seven").

The new format paled in comparison to its rivals and afer WBNR owner Lance Broadcasting purchased the station in 1970 changes soon came. By 1972, the station flipped to country music in a preemptive move against the newly relaunched WPDH. Country did not last long on the frequency and in 1975 WSPK took on a Top 40-leaning album-oriented rock format which struggled and went into a free fall after WPDH took on a truer AOR format. In 1978, the station went to a CHR/Oldies hybrid similar to what was on WBNR at the time to early success. The station itself evolved to CHR through 1979 into 1980.

[edit] K-104 History

In 1981, newly arrived program director Stew Schantz re-imaged the station as K-104, after consultation with Chuck Stewart, the station's first African-American sales manager, who picked up the idea from a sales conference out west (there stations begin with "k" as opposed to the east cost where they being with a "w"). The new name worked wonders for a station which had spent the next decade adrift and began to quickly rival regional leader WHUD and Dutchess County leader WKIP, dominating the region by the late 1980s. Probably the two most notable names to come out of this period besides Schantz were morning host Mark Bolger (now at WBWZ) and weekend evening host Dr. John Barron (better known today as Allan Sniffen, dentist and curator of renowned radio history site musicradio77.com). Scotty Mac, current program director of the station, arrived at the station in the late 1980s in nights.

By the early 1990s, K-104 evolved to a more adult-leaning approach as the CHR format went into a short-term decline. With this, the numbers weakened even though there was no real competition for its target audience. In 1996, owner Beacon Broadcasting (the evolved Lance Broadcasting) sold their remaining stations to Albany Broadcasting (which would take the Pamal name in 1999). Seeing his future at risk, Schantz then retired from the station and has since gone on to do behind-the-scenes work in Utica and Albany.

Schantz's departure led for the return of Scotty Mac, now in the program director position, and a re-imaged CHR approach which leaned towards dance music, a rarity in the United States. The station soon regained its dominance and soon would set all-time ratings records given a further lack of competition in its key market. Though in recent years competition has come in the form of WPKF and the station is no longer a perennial #1, K-104 still is one of the highest rated and most visionary stations in the CHR format.

In April of 2006 after K-Fest 12, the Morning Show host Woodman resigned from the morning show slot. Later that year, radio personality Chris Marino took over the Morning Show and has been hosting ever since.

[edit] K-107

In early 2003, Pamal Broadcasting purchased WYNY (107.1 MHz), the Westchester County portion of the Y-107/Rhumba 107.1 "quadcast" from Nassau Broadcasting (which itself bought all four stations from Big City Radio). Though rumors of Pamal doing a format not seen in the area (namely the country format which had previously been on the frequency) circulated, Pamal instead used the purchase as an opportunity to expand the reach of K-104 further into Westchester County. On April 9, WYNY took on the WXPK calls and the stations relaunched as K-104 and K-107.

Though a good idea in principle, K-107 was beset with various difficulties ranging from a months-long delay with Verizon to install an ISDN line from the Beacon studios to the WXPK transmitter in Briarcliff Manor to getting local businesses to advertise on the station to even the socioeconomic differences between Westchester County and the Hudson Valley. The station soon vanished from the ratings for Westchester County and actually brought down WSPK's numbers in the New York City area ratings. Pamal ended the simulcast after one year and the 107.1 frequency flipped to adult album alternative as 107.1 The Peak.

[edit] Current Radio Personalities

[edit] Weekdays

• 3AM - 5:30AM - Bill Beale
• 5:30AM - 10AM - Chris Marino, Bill Beale, Tory Grace, Ray Love
• 10AM - 2PM - Scotty Mac
• 2PM - 7PM - Skywalker
• 7PM - Midnight - D. Knight

[edit] Weekends

• Terry Donovan
• Andrew Enriquez
• Jess Tyler
• Matt Davenport
• Jenn Doherty
• Carly
• Eddie Watson
• Monique
• Slater

[edit] Past Radio Personalities

• Jim Hartman
• John LeMiux
• Jimmy Howes (Currently Marconi Award Program Director of WGHT Radio)
• Chris Lead
• Pete James
• Nick Robins
• Cathy Brannon
• Bob Anthony
• Ron Carson
• Andy Shane
• Dave Redpath
• Bob Weil
• John Shaffer
• Deb Weber
• KC Roads (Better Know Today as Ken Rosato Reporter For WABC-TV)
• Bob Dayton
• Dr. John Barron (Better Know Today as Allan Sniffen)
• Sean Phillips
• Chris St.James
• Lou Brown
• Mark Bolger
• Dawn Spicer
• Frank Banks
• Scotty Mac
• Bruce Clayton
• Sue Turk
• Stew Schantz
• Kacey (Now on Sister Station WHUD 100.7)
• Bill Carroll
• Scott Sebastian
• Andrew Costa
• Donnie Michaels
• John Foxx
• Mark Foxx
• Stick
• Paulie Cruz
• Stevie T
• Matt Davenport
• Lynn Kelly
• Phill Kross
• Bill Plax
• Hamilton
• Nikki
• Jack Hammer (Now on Sister Station WBPM Classic Hits 92.9 Mornings 6am - 10am)
• Woodman
• Brian Stylez
• Danny Valentino (Now on Sirius Satellite Radio in New York City)

[edit] Past PDS

• Chris Lead
• Bob Dayton
• Stew Schantz

[edit] External links

• Query the FCC's FM station database for WSPK
• Station homepage