WDBY
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| City of license | Patterson, New York |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Lower and Mid-Hudson Valley, Western Connecticut |
| Branding | Y-105 |
| Slogan | "The Best Music Mix" |
| First air date | 1981 |
| Frequency | 105.5 MHz |
| Format | Adult Top 40 |
| Power | 900 watts |
| ERP | 6 kW |
| Class | A |
| Callsign meaning | W DanBurY (main market area) |
| Former callsigns | WRVH (1981-86) WMJV (1986-95) WAXB (1995-2002) |
| Owner | Cumulus Media |
| Website | www.y105radio.com |
WDBY (Y-105) is an Adult Top 40 station licenced to Patterson, New York and is the only FM station licenced to Putnam County, New York. The station is owned by Cumulus Media and broadcasts on 105.5 MHz with 6 kilowatts ERP from a tower located in Patterson near the Putnam/Dutchess county line. WDBY also operates a booster, WDBY-FM1 in Brookfield, Connecticut, which broadcasts with 1.2 kilowatts.
Though the only FM station in Putnam County, WDBY's primary target is the nearby Danbury, Connecticut even though the hills in and around Danbury limited the main 105.5 signal, warrenting the Brookfield booster. Unlike key rival WDAQ, WDBY also targets Putnam County as well as southern Dutchess County where it regularly rates in the Poughkeepsie market.
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[edit] History
The 105.5 frequency first signed on in the spring of 1981 as WRVH, airing a classical music/beautiful music hybrid format in competition with WHUD and WEZN. The station immediately became a success in Putnam County and got better-than-expected numbers in both Danbury and Dutchess County as for many listeners it was one of the few well-signaled stations in the area.
In early 1986, reports that the beautiful music format was headed for a decline led WRVH to panic for the future of the station. WRVH instead decided ed to do a sudden flip to adult contemproary and became WMJV (Magic 105) that spring. The overreaction became a good move as WMJV became the #1 station in Putnam County and made it as high as #2 in the Danbury market, forcing rival WDAQ to eventually leave the format.
[edit] Westchester simulcast
As the 1990s began, the Magic 105 format began to see competition as the rivals it had as WRVH evolved to adult contemporary, in turn giving the station bigger signaled and heritage competion. Looking to go against WHUD and WFAS-FM in Westchester and Putnam Counties, in 1992 the station purchased 106.3 WVIP-FM in Mount Kisco, New York to expand WMJV's reach further into Westchester County though the stations would air separate commercials. With that sale, WVIP-FM became WMJB and the station became known as Magic 105/Magic 106. However, the addition of the new station did not help matters as the station lost much of its audience and went to an Oldies/AC hybrid in 1994 as a last-ditch attempt to save the format.
Late in 1994, the WMJV/WMJB simulcast flipped to an oldies format as B-105/B-106 with WMJV taking the new WAXB calls. In 1996, the two stations would be sold to Capstar Broadcasting with the two stations being split up from both its simulcast and geographically. While WMJB moved its studios to White Plains and got its own format, WAXB would be relocated to Capstar's Danbury complex.
[edit] Danbury relocation
Though WAXB kept its oldies format, with the move to Danbury came a reduced budget (given the station was working alone) and a switch to a further dependency on satellite fed programming (fed via ABC).
When Capstar was purchased by AMFM, Inc. in 1999, the company was forced to divest its holdings in the suburbs north of New York City due to FCC market concentration concerns. When Aurora Communications purchased those stations, WAXB saw an increase in its budget that allowed the station to eliminate satellite fed programming. With this asset came a modified name (B105.5) and a modified approach that leaned as recent as the early 1980s. However, Aurora's ownership was to be short lived as in 2000 a failed buyout by Nassau Broadcasting took place which was followed in 2001 by Aurora being bought out by Cumulus Media.
After Cumulus took control of the Aurora stations in April 2002, control of the Danbury cluster was combined with that of their Hudson Valley cluster. Though WAXB had good ratings in both Danbury and Dutchess County with oldies, management at Cumulus saw the format as being beyond its time and wanted to change formats. Sensing a hole for a competitor against market leader WDAQ (and a chance to make sister WRKI #1 in Danbury), WAXB flipped to Adult Top 40 on September 26, 2002 as Y-105 after two days of stunting and taking the new WDBY calls that October.
Though more current-based music approach and a larger target area than its rival, WDBY struggled against its rival as WDAQ responded by tweaking their music accordingly. Combined with signal problems and the heritage of its rival, WDBY actually gardnered lower ratings and even revenue as opposed to its "beyond its time" predecessor. In fact, for a time the station had higher ratings in the secondary market of Dutchess County than in Danbury though this has since changed though WDBY still has a fraction of the ratings of WDAQ.
[edit] External links
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