WDCD
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| WDCD | |
 |
|
| City of license | Albany, New York |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Capital District and Adirondacks |
| Branding | Life 1540 AM |
| Slogan | Life Changing Radio |
| First air date | August 8, 1948 |
| Frequency | 1540 kHz |
| Format | Christian radio |
| Power | 50,000 watts |
| Class | B |
| Callsign meaning | W Donald CrawforD (company founder/CEO) |
| Owner | Crawford Broadcasting |
| Website | www.1540wdcd.com |
WDCD (Life 1540) is a christian radio station licensed to Albany, New York, USA and serving New York's Capital District, Adirondacks, and much of western New England. The station is owned by Crawford Broadcasting, and broadcasts on 1540 kHz at 50 kilowatts from a three-tower directional antenna array adjacent to the station's studios in Colonie, New York.
[edit] History
AM 1540 signed on August 10, 1948 with 10,000 watts of power from its current location in Colonie, New York. The original call letters were WPTR, requested as such for owner Patroon Broadcasting Company. In 1953, the station gained the ABC radio network affiliation from exiting WXKW, and primarily programmed a mix of popular & country music along with news & sports. It was during this period that 1540 increased power to 50,000 watts full time to combat nighttime interference from co-channel stations KXEL in Waterloo, Iowa and ZNS-1 in Nassau, Bahamas (although the official explanation to the FCC was the "poor ground conductivity" at the transmitter site).
WPTR also had a partnership with a local FM station (W47A/WBCA, the first independent FM radio station in the United States) to produce pre-recorded programming in WBCA's state-of-the-art Schenectady studios.
In 1957, the studios were located in the Henry Hudson Hotel in Troy, N.Y. In an effort to become more competitive with the more established stations in the region, a new 'Top 40' format was introduced to Capital Region listeners. WTRY also had Top 40 programs at the time, but did not devote the entire broadcast day to it. Popular hosts on WPTR included Boom Boom Brannigan, Charlie Brown, and Bob Badger. Brannigan would stay with the station until 1974. The popular rock-and-roll format had a loyal following among listeners both locally, and throughout the Northeastern U.S. as well as eastern Canada. In fact, WPTR had a better signal (at night) in the western Boston suburbs, than Boston's own top 40 station, WMEX. By the early 1960's, WTRY had switch to Top-40 full time, and a ratings war of sorts began that lasted until the early 1980s. WPTR was many times the #1 rated station during its Top 40 heyday. By 1960, the studios were moved to the more prominent 1860 Central Avenue location in Colonie, where they remained until a fire in 1964. A new 10,000 square-foot broadcast facility was built at the transmitter site, and programming originated from the 'Gold studios' until 2005. The building was torn down and replaced with new digital facilities inside the transmitter building.
With FM stations becoming increasingly popular with younger listeners, WPTR's ratings entered a steady decline in the mid-70's, and by the end of the decade the station's owner Rust Communications finally submitted and sold WPTR to the then-owners of rival station WFLY. The new owners changed the format to country music in 1980 with veteran jock J.W. Wagner at the helm during morning drive. The station regained some popularity, and when new owners Albany Broadcasting did some improvements (including adding AM Stereo), the station stayed relatively successful. However, competition by FM rival WGNA led WPTR to leave the format in 1988, subsequently tried different talk, sports, and news formats with meager results each time. In 1995, Albany Broadcasting sold WPTR to current owners Crawford Broadcasting with the sale closing that September. Albany Broadcasting decided to retain the WPTR calls with them resurfacing at 96.3 WCDA in February 1997.
The new owners, Crawford Broadcasting Company, changed the call sign to WDCD, in honor of founder Don Crawford. The format was changed to Christian Contemporary music and related Christian programming. In 2000, the company brought its secular "Legends" adult-standards music format to AM 1540, along with the classic WPTR call letters and Boom Boom Brannigan as morning host. That format was a ratings success (putting AM 1540 back in the top 10 for the first time in 15 years), but a financial pitfall. In 2004, Christian programming returned to AM 1540, with the WDCD call sign. The WPTR call letters were moved to their sister FM station on 96.7, briefly with the 'Legends' format, then changing to the current Christian Contemporary music format.
AM 1540 began broadcasting in HD digital radio in 2006, the second AM station in the area to do so.
[edit] External links
- Query the FCC's AM station database for WDCD
- WDCD Homepage
- Unofficial (but officially recognized) 1540 WPTR tribute site
In-Town:: 590 | 810 | 980 | 1160 | 1240 | 1300 | 1330 | 1400 | 1460 | 1540
Outside the Metro: 560 | 930 | 1230 | 1340 | 1440 | 1490 | 1570
| Radio stations in the Saratoga Springs / Glens Falls market (Arbitron #unranked) |
| AM Stations
590 | 810 | 980 | 1160 | 1230 | 1250 | 1300 | 1330 | 1340 | 1400 | 1410 | 1450 | 1460 | 1540 |
| In-Market FM Stations
89.7 | 90.3 | 90.9 | 91.1 | 91.9 | 92.3 | 92.7 | 94.1 | 94.7 | 95.5 | 95.9 | 96.7 | 97.5 | 98.5 |
| Out-of-Market FM Stations serving/available in Saratoga
88.3 | 89.1 | 91.5 | 93.7 | 98.3 | 99.5 | 100.9 | 103.1 | 103.9 | 104.9 |
