WHCY

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WHCY-FM

City of license	Blairstown Township, New Jersey
Broadcast area	Sussex County, Warren County
Branding	The Mix 106.3
Slogan	The 90's & More
First air date	1973
Frequency	106.3 MHz
Format	CHR
Power	330 watts
ERP	6 kW
Class	A
Callsign meaning	)
Owner	Clear Channel Communications
Website	WNNJ-FM Website

WHCY, known as Max 106.3, is a CHR/Rock class A FM radio station broadcasting on 106.3 FM. The station is licensed to Blairstown Township, New Jersey but also serves the surrounding Sussex County as well as Warren County, and Monroe County in Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Clear Channel Communications. The station's transmitter is located near Blairstown while their studios and offices are co-located with WNNJ, WNNJ-FM, and WSUS in a state-of-the-art facility in Franklin, New Jersey.

[edit] History

The station signed on in October,1973 with Oldies format with the WFMV call letters. The station was owned by the Warren Broadcasting Corporation and was co-owned with WCRV 1580 in Washington, New Jersey. From October 1973 to Early 1977, the station was called "Golden FMV" and featured such DJ's as Sy Marsh, Chucky B, Scott O'Connor, Tommy John, Rod Baumann and others. In January 1977, Kurt Gebauer was hired as VP/General Manager and the station became "FM 106" retaining the oldies format, but updating to a more 60s-centric sound. The DJ's at the time were: Mark Austin, Steve Altemus, Tommy John, George Fuller, Rod Baumann, Ron Kaplan, Bill Chamberlain and others. In 1980, with Russ Long as GM, the station switched to a Top 40/Rock hybrid format much deeper than the format on the frequency today. WFMV was sold to Clearview Broadcasting in 1981. By 1984 though WFMV evolved into more of a Hot Adult Contemporary format. Ratings were always mediocre to below average. At the time advertising tended to be from the Stroudsburg and Pocono area. With Stroudsburg-based WSBG switching to a similar format in 1984, WFMV lost more advertising but survived. In the summer of 1988 due to environmental issues and the drought the station was force to leave the air from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily for several summer months. Eventually that problem was resolved. By then the station became more of a gold based adult contemporary format.

On- Air staff members included Rockin' T Tom Rocco, Paul Maason, Kevin Roe, Corey Hansen, Chris Maget, Mark West, Gerrie Burke, Paul LaFever, Chris DeBello, Jo-Ann (Holden) George and Sean O'Casey

In the Spring of 1990 WFMV dropped this format in favor of an oldies format playing the hits of 1964 to 1984 with a few pre 64 oldies mixed in along with a few late 80's songs mixed in. They became known as "Classic Hits 106". In the Fall of 1990 the station moved to more of an oldies format playing the music of 1955 to about 1983. Ratings were very low and the station at this point began to lose money. In the Fall of 1992 the owners hired a new general manager, Rick Musselman who decided several weeks later to fill a hole in the market.

Since May of 1988, Sussex and Warren County had no country music station but could get New York City-based WYNY 97.1. later that year WYNY moved its unit to 103.5. Since then because of 103.7 WNNJ FM's close proximity to 103.5 WYNY simply could not reach most of the listening area. Country music fans were without any way to receive country music in the area. So on October 24 at 8 p.m. WFMV Classic Hits 106 ended with 99 Luftballons by Nena. After that they ran American Country Countdown (which they had been running since 1991 at this time slot on Sundays as an oldies station). At midnight the station became "WHCY Hot Country 106.3". WHCY stood for Hot Country which are still their call letters today. The country format immediately made FM 106.3 profitable and the station received mediocre to above average ratings over the years.

Initially the station was live morning and afternoon drives during the week and middays on Saturdays and Sundays. The rest of the time they ran Jones Satellite Country music programming. In the Spring of 1994 they dropped satellite programming for a live local presentation. At this point the airstaff included Bob O., Rich Wilson, Christa Robinson, Doctor J, Tony Lawrence, Matt Black, Tom Rocco, Biii E Dow, Doug Hall, Dave The Rave, Johnny Randolph, and others. Paul LeFevre continued to do voiceovers on the station.

In March of 1996 the station was sold to Nassau Broadcasting. A few people including Bob O exited but most of the staff stayed on and the Country format continued. More on air changes were made in 1997 with the addition of Rod Bauman as middays and program director. Matt Black, Doctor J, and Tony Lawrence would exit at this point. Chris Debello and Simon Knight would also arrive on staff.

Ratings had always had huge rises and falls over the years on this station. While ratings were always decent there was concern of the long term viability of the country format. There was a mostly automated country music station on 107.1 FM which was called WRNJ FM. They signed on with a country format shortly after WHCY adopted the format back in 1992. They pulled low ratings but still this was taking from WHCY. In the Summer of 1997 WLEV on 96.1 FM in the nearby Lehigh Valley became known as Cat Country with the WCTO calls. WLEV's calls moved to the other AC station in that market on 100.7 FM. An FM country station in the Lehigh Valley was speculated to adversely affect WHCY. Nassau toyed with the idea of adopting a rock format for the station in the Fall of 1997. After deciding against this. They then considered an all news format for WHCY later that fall of 1997 but decided against that option as well. At the end of the year it was decided that WHCY would keep the country format but would use more syndicated shows and automation part of the day to cut costs.

In 1998 the station became automated part-time and live part-time with satellite programming in evenings. The station would later that year replace Rich Wilson with former WYNY airstaff member Frank Bruno for mornings along with long time air staff member Joann George... but the format contnued for a couple more years.

The country format continued with moderate success. But on August 25, 2000, Nassau shut the station down after a lot of planning. The WHCY call letters stayed but a straight ahead Contemporary Hit Radio format would replace the country format. The Hot Country airstaff was spread to other Nassau radio stations while the new airstaff moved there from several other Nassau stations. The station became known as "Max 106.3" Today's Hit Music. The station featured Chaz and initially Kara in the Morning. Joanne George would return to the station in that slot with Chaz in the fall of 2001. The station was automated on overnights only initially. Other staffers included Matt Sneed, Mark Myles, Trish Davis, Jason Barsky, Kenny Hoyt of Channel X and others.

Initially the station played a blend of Rock, Adult Contemporary Crossovers, Dance music, R & B, and a limited amount of Rap. Ratings became slightly more consistent. Nassau then sold the station along with 3 other stations and 2 local marketing agreement deals to Clear Channel in exchange for cash plus WODE and WEEX in the Lehigh Valley in the winter of 2001. Matt Sneed would stay with Nassau and go to WPST. Jason Barsky would stay with Clear Channel and go to Harrisburg.

Under Clear channel the station changed only slightly initially. In 2002 the station began to lean younger and play more Rap and R & B product. At that point the airstaff gradually changed and the station gradually began automating more timeslots during the day. "Borasio" moved into the afternoon slot and Mark Myles exited. In January of 2003, they began simulcasting the Z 100's Elvis Duran and the Morning Zoo and made a few more airstaff changes. Until the Summer of 2004 Max 106.3 was playing a large amount of rap along with a lot of alternative rock and R & B material. One of the large contributors to the alternative rock portion of the programming during 2003 was the Channel X program, originally created and hosted by "Borasio", a host named "Uncle Kenny" (Hoyt-singer for a local metal band named Crushpile with no known former radio experience) was recruited. This name, however, was used only once and "Kenny" was the on-air name to be used during the short-lived period of the program (Jan 2003-Sept 2003). The original time slot for the program was 10pm to midnight. Due to high demand, the program was extended to 9pm. Within the 9 months of the programs existence, it peaked at an astounding 37 percent market share(Arbitron 2003). Many contribute the shows success to both the musical content(which could range from modern day rock such as Linkin Park to old thrash bands like Anthrax and Slayer, and the antics of the host). Kenny's approach was far different from the cardboard cut-out standard of today's commercial radio. The entire 3 hour show was done live with no preparation, additional writers or hosts. Although ficticious "record label executives" had been known to drop by the station for "exclusive interviews". Bizarre on-air coments, stories, blank-outs, spasms, sound effects and more were not uncommon for the program. Despite the success of this program and others, since 2002 advertising was becoming a tough sell because the format leaned too young.

As a result Max 106.3 dropped all the rap and R & B product, the Channel X program, added more pop rock from the 1990's, and moved to a rock-slanted CHR format. Some classify Max 106.3 as a Hot Adult Contemporary station while others call it CHR/Rock or "Rock 40". They use the phrase "90's and Now". The station is heavily automated as well.