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WGY

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WGY is 50,000 watt radio station licenced to Schenectady, New York) and is one of the country's oldest radio stations as well as a the oldest in New York's Capital Region. WGY is the heritage clear channel occupant of the 810 kHz frequency and has a signal which blankets much of the Northeast by day and much of the eastern United States by night. The station is owned and operated by Clear Channel Communications and broadcasts a talk radio format and is operated out of the company's Albany complex in Latham, just outside of Schenectady.

Contents

Historical Information

From its sign-on in 1922 until 1983, WGY was the flagship station of General Electric's broadcasting group, joined later by pioneering sister stations in television (WRGB, signed on 1928) and FM radio (W2XOY, later WGFM and today WRVE, signed on 1939). In 1926, WGY became an early affiliate of the NBC Red network and after the split of the sister NBC Blue network into today's ABC WGY remained with NBC through the decades. As the golden age of radio ended, WGY evolved into a full service middle of the road station, evolving its format as programming tastes seemed fit.

In 1983, WGY and WGFM were sold to local owners and for the next several years bounced around a series of owners before Dame Media acquired the stations in late 1993. In 1998, Dame sold its entire group to Clear Channel whose ownership remains to this day.

Programming

WGY's schedule is typical for a heritage large-signal news/talk station outside of major markets with a balance of local and syndicated talk programming plus frequent news updates. Newscasts air every 30 minutes with more frequent coverage in cases of breaking news or inclement weather. Top-of-hour newscasts are approximately 6-7 minutes long and usually include two minutes of Fox News Radio national news, a few minutes of local news, traffic ("WGY All-Day Traffic"), and weather ("WGY Storm Team Forecast"); some weekend newscasts subsitute sports for traffic. Bottom-of-the-hour updates, lasting around three minutes, usually consistof a lead national story, some local news, and a weather report. Shorter weather updates are also broadcast at :20 and :50 past the hour.

During Don Weeks and the WGY Morning News (weekdays 5:30-9:00 AM), this format is altered in that there are also local news updates at :20 and :50 past the hour, sports updates at :15 and :45, and "Traffic and Weather on the Eights" to go along with the normal news updates. WGY carried ABC News Radio from the end of the NBC Radio network in 1988 until August 2005, when Clear Channel Communications switched the majority of its news/talk radio stations to Fox News Radio as a boost to that network's launch.

Besides Weeks, WGY's other weekday local shows are hosted by Al Roney(9:00-11:40 AM), and (on an interim basis) Joe Pagliarulo (6:00-7:00 PM, done via ISDN from WOAI San Antonio). Local talk on weekends is more prevalent with shows hosted by WGY veterans Joe Gallagher (6:00-10:00 AM), Ed Martin (Saturday 10:00 AM-1:00 PM) and Laurie Reilly (Sunday 10:00 AM-1:00 PM) as well as Joe Pagliarulo's regular show (Saturday 1:00-4:00 PM). Notable syndicated hosts on WGY include Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Phil Hendrie, Kim Komando, and George Noory (Coast to Coast AM). WGY also airs Paul Harvey, the lone element retained from its longtime affiliation to ABC News.

Two notable fromer WGY hosts are Mike Gallagher (who hosted afternoon drive in the mid-1990s before moving to WABC and is now part of the Salem Radio Network) and Andrew Wilkow of Sirius Satellite Radio (who did part of afternoon drive and later late mornings in the mid-2000s).

WGY Schedule

Weekdays Saturday: Sunday:

Streaming Audio

In late 2005, WGY began streaming its local shows on their website (the combination of affiliate contracts and/or hosts with pay services preclude full streaming). In May 2006, WGY began posting the most recent top-of-hour newscast on the website for on-demand streaming as well as podcasts of newscasts and key fetures.

External links


Radio stations in the Albany / Schenectady / Troy market [(Arbitron Market #62)]
AM Stations 560 | 590 | 810 | 930 | 980 | 1160 | 1230 | 1240 | 1300 | 1330 | 1340 | 1400 | 1440 | 1460 | 1490 | 1540 | 1570

FM Stations 87.7 | 88.3 | 89.1 | 90.3 | 90.7 | 90.9 | 91.1 | 91.5 | 92.3 | 92.9 | 93.5 | 93.7 | 94.5 | 94.7 | 95.5 | 95.9 | 96.3 | 96.7 | 97.3 | 97.5 | 97.7 | 97.9 | 98.3 | 98.5 Catskill | 98.5 Lake George | 99.5
100.3 | 100.9 | 101.3 | 101.7 | 101.9 | 102.3 | 102.7 | 103.1 | 103.5 | 103.9 | 104.5 | 104.9 | 105.7 | 106.5 | 107.1 | 107.7

Defunct radio stations WSRA | WTRI | WXKW


Radio stations in the Saratoga Springs / Glens Falls market
AM Stations 590 | 810 | 980 | 1160 | 1230 | 1250 | 1300 | 1330 | 1400 | 1410 | 1450 | 1460 | 1540

FM Stations 87.7 | 88.3 | 89.1 | 89.7 | 90.3 | 90.9 | 91.1 | 91.5 | 91.9 | 92.3 | 92.7 | 93.7 | 94.1 | 94.7 | 95.5 | 95.9 | 96.7 | 97.5 | 98.3 | 98.5 | 99.5
100.3 | 100.9 | 101.3 | 101.7 | 102.3 | 102.7 | 103.1 | 103.9 Rensselaer | 103.9 Ticonderoga | 104.5 | 104.9 | 105.7 | 106.5 | 107.1 | 107.7 










Radio stations in the Mid-Hudson Valley market

(Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, and Ulster Counties in New York)


AM Stations
660 |
770 |
810 |
880 |
920 |
950 |
1010 |
1020 |
1050 |
1080 |
1110 |
1130 |
1170 |
1220 |
1260

1340 |
1370 |
1390 |
1420 |
1450 |
1490 Kingston |
1490 Port Jervis |
1510 |
1560 |




FM Stations
87.7 |
88.3 |
88.7 WRHV |
88.7 WFNP |
89.7 |
90.9 |
91.3 |
91.7 |
92.1 |
92.7 |
92.9 |
93.3 |
93.5 |
94.3 |
95.1 |
96.1 |
96.7 |
96.9 |
97.3 |
97.7 |
97.9

98.1 |
98.5 |
99.3 |
100.1 |
100.7 |
101.5 |
103.1 |
103.3 |
104.7 |
105.5 |
107.3 |

















 




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