| WPDH | |
| City: | Poughkeepsie, New York |
| Area: | Hudson Valley and Catskills |
| Branding: | 101.5 WPDH |
| Translators: | HD2: See HD3: See |
| Repeater: | 106.1 WPDA (Jeffersonville) |
| Airdate: | 1962 (as WEOK-FM) |
| Format: | Classic rock |
| Subchannels: | HD2: WALL simulcast (Classic hits) HD3: WEOK simulcast (Spanish adult hits) HD4: same as HD2 |
| Erp: | 4,400 watts |
| Haat: | 469m (1,539feet) |
| Class: | B |
| Facility Id: | 71514 |
| Callsign Meaning: | W Poughkeepsie Dutchess (County) Hudson (River/Valley) |
| Former Callsigns: | WEOK-FM (1962–1972) |
| Owner: | Townsquare Media |
| Licensee: | Townsquare License, LLC |
| Affiliations: | Compass Media Networks Westwood One |
| Sister Stations: | WCZX, WEOK, WKXP, WPDA, WRRV, WZAD |
| Webcast: | Listen Live |
| Website: | wpdh.com |
| Licensing Authority: | FCC |
WPDH (101.5 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Poughkeepsie, New York, and serving the Hudson Valley and Catskills. The station is owned by Townsquare Media and broadcasts a classic rock radio format. Its studios and offices are on Pendell Road in Poughkeepsie.[1]
WPDH has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 4,400 watts. The transmitter site is on Illinois Mountain in Highland, New York.[2] WPDH is one of only four full-power Class B FM stations between New York City and Albany. (WSPK, WHUD and WFGB are the three others.) WPDH is also simulcast on a Class A station, 106.1 WPDA in Jeffersonville, New York. Several translators relay WPDH's digital subchannels.
In 1962, the station signed on as WEOK-FM. It was the sister station to WEOK 1390 AM and was Poughkeepsie's second FM station after WKIP-FM (today's WSPK). The main purpose of the station at the outset was to provide Muzak programming to area offices and stores via its subcarrier. By day, WPDH simulcast the AM's middle of the road (MOR) format, with block programming airing between the AM's sign off and 10:00 p.m.
In 1972, WEOK AM and FM were sold to the Dyson family (also owners of Dyson Racing) and with the sale came key changes to the FM side. The transmitter moved from a site in Milton (now used by WVKR) to the current Illinois Mountain site. It upgraded to a full Class B signal and added FM stereo capabilities in the process.
At the end of these upgrades, it relaunched as country music formatted WPDH. At the time, only some people owned FM receivers and almost no car radios were equipped for FM radio. WPDH was beaten by New York City signal WHN after that station flipped to country. With the poor ratings playing country music, management saw a hole for an album-oriented rock (AOR) station in the Hudson Valley. The leading rock stations from New York City, 95.5 WPLJ and 102.7 WNEW-FM, were difficult to receive so far from Manhattan. In 1976 WPDH abandoned country for rock music, and this format remains to this day.
Through its decades in rock radio, there have been several variations of WPDH's format. At the outset, it was automated, with no disc jockeys. Then, it added DJs, playing progressive rock along with an occasional jazz track. The format evolved through the 1980s as the station gradually tightened its playlist to the top selling albums of the day, and the last couple of decades of rock.
The splintering of rock in the 1980s and early 1990s had varying effects on WPDH. The station added heavy metal into the playlist as well as early modern rock and European imports. The station remained successful and was a solid #1 in the market in the early 1980s, and by the 1990s was alternating the #1 spot in the market with 104.7 WSPK's Top 40 sound.
In 1994, WPDH owners Crystal Radio Group (the Dyson family spinoff headed by Rob Dyson) purchased Middletown-based 92.7 WKOJ and 1340 WALL from Orange & Rockland Utilities. With this purchase came an opportunity to both solve the new rock dilemma and to strengthen WPDH by owning its only direct competition. WPDH spent the latter part of 1994 and early 1995 evolving to Classic Rock while WKOJ flipped to alternative rock WRRV in April 1995.
WPDH's ratings went through some instability in the early years as classic rock. It was the regular #2 to WSPK's #1 by the turn of the 21st century. Rob Dyson sold the Crystal Radio Group to Aurora Communications in 2001 which, in turn was bought out by Cumulus Media in 2002. Amid an extended drop in ratings, WPDH was relaunched as a mainstream rock station over Labor Day Weekend 2003. Gary Cee, formerly of WLIR, was hired as program director, and the station stabilized at the top of the ratings in both Dutchess and Orange counties.
In January 2012, Andrew Boris, program director of sister station WRRV, became the new program director of WPDH.[3] No formula changes in the programming were enacted. Boris later began hosting the morning drive time show, in addition to his PD duties.
On August 30, 2013, a deal was announced in which Cumulus would swap its stations in Dubuque, Iowa, and Poughkeepsie (including WPDH) to Townsquare Media in exchange for Peak Broadcasting's Fresno, California stations. The deal was part of Cumulus' acquisition of Dial Global. Townsquare, Peak, and Dial Global are all controlled by Oaktree Capital Management.[4] [5]
The sale to Townsquare was completed on November 14, 2013.[6] Under Townsquare management, WPDH plays a large amount of classic rock with a few current and recent titles.
Kevin ODell "aka Turf as Sports Director" and overnight jock. Also provided comedy for the Wolf's morning show doing imitations of Pee Wee Herman, Jim Ignatowski from Taxi and more.
Cumulus Broadcasting began upgrading its stations to HD Radio broadcasting in 2005. One of the first ten stations to be upgraded was WPDH.[8]
WPDH uses its HD2 and HD4 digital subchannel to rebroadcast co-owned oldies WALL 1340 AM and its HD3 subchannel to rebroadcast Spanish adult hits WEOK 1390 AM.