WZMR
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| WZMR | |
 |
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| City of license | Altamont, New York |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Capital District |
| Branding | 104.9 The New Edge |
| First air date | 1999 (early 1970's as WIZR-FM Johnstown) |
| Frequency | 104.9 MHz |
| Format | Active rock |
| ERP | 6 kW |
| Class | A |
| Owner | Pamal Broadcasting |
| Website | www.albanyedge.com |
WZMR (104.9 The New Edge) is an Active rock radio station licenced to Altamont and serving New York's Capital District and surrounding areas. The station is owned by Pamal Broadcasting, and broadcasts at 6 kilowatts ERP from the Helderberg Mountains tower farm in New Scotland. WZMR is one of several signals to have moved into the Albany market in recent years, prior to its move in March 1999 it was licenced to Johnstown, New York as the sister to WIZR.
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[edit] The Johnstown Years
WIZR-FM, forerunner to today's WZMR, signed on in the early 1970s largely simulcasting the Middle of the road programming of its parent station. Between 1975 and 1977, both stations flipped to Top 40 though WIZR-FM would flip to pop standards as WMYL in May 1979, one of the earliest stations running the Music Of Your Life format which the station's calls. The prior arrangement of AM and FM simulcasting Top 40 returned for five months starting in September 1983 with the FM once again changing to its own format, Oldies-formatted WSRD ("The Wizard") in February 1984. Over the next decade-and-a-half, WSRD became slightly infamous for various reasons ranging from poor audio quality to an air talent going on on-air tirades (which led the station to go to all-satellite fed programming) to its serving as "Albany" affiliate for the New York Mets even though it put virtually no signal over Albany.
[edit] Moving In
In early 1998, longtime WIZR/WSRD owner Joe Caruso obtained a construction permit to move WZMR to the Albany suburb of Altamont, in turn making the station a full Albany signal. That October, Caruso sold the stations to Albany Broadcasting (today's Pamal Broadcasting) for $2.2 million [1]. Albany Broadcasting closed on the stations in March 1999 and near immediately moved WSRD into the Albany market and gave it the new calls WAAP.
These plans were put aside in favor of a Modern adult contemporary format as "The Point", an attempt to capitalize on the then-recent flips of WXLE to rhythmic oldies, WRVE to a more mainstream format, and the then-stunting WKLI. It was WKLI which spoiled these plans as Albany Broadcasting was sued by CBS Radio, then-owners of the "Point" name, on the behalf of WKLI-owner-in-waiting Tele-Media. In response, the station relaunched as WZMR "Z104.9" with a more rock-based playlist and the "Point" name surfaced on WKLI that May.
[edit] History since 1999
Though WZMR was a musically balanced station and won in listener polls, in terms of promotion and personalities it was beaten by the relaunched WCPT. The newness of the 104.9 signal played a role in the struggles as was presence of New York Yankees baseball, a remenant from the original plans for the frequency which were a partial simulcast of sister talk radio station WROW. Even though the Yankee games did give the station some additional audience, research showed that those listeners were not listening to the music and many music listeners were turned off by the games. Sensing a losing battle, WZMR's format changed to smooth jazz on October 18 of that year though the station did air the last game of the 1999 American League Championship Series and the 1999 World Series before Yankee rights moved to WTMM.
WZMR's smooth jazz format did initially well, though flagging numbers by 2002 led to a relaunch of the station as "LoveFM", a format fusing smooth jazz with R&B, in June 2003. The relaunched format did not improve in the ratings and facing the potential of selling WZMR to acquire a pending move-in station on 105.7 FM flipped the station to a simulcast of country music WFFG in the Glens Falls market in February 2005; the simulcast never acknowledged 104.9 and 104.9 only broke for Albany Conquest af2 arena football games. The current format, "The Edge", began on February 13, 2006 after WQBK-FM flipped to classic rock several weeks earlier.
Two months after running virtually as a jukebox, the station announced that it had attracted the team of Darwin and Cat (real names Brian Darwin and Cat Noel) from nearby WEQX. On April 24th, 2006 The Darwin and Cat Radio Show debuted during morning drive where it has been experiencing steady growth since.
By July the station grew to add a live night jock “Pi” after leaving the JR Gach morning program as a sidekick at rival station WBOE/WOOB (94.5/93.7 The Bone). The station also added “General James” formerly on WBOE/WOOB as well as the former home of the Edge WQBJ/WQBK to do a live mid-day show. He replaced morning co-host Cat Noel who was rumored to have been voice tracking the mid-day shift in addition to her morning show duties.
The station currently is streaming live on the internet at their website albanyedge.com
[edit] External links
In-Town:
88.3 | 89.1 | 89.7 | 90.3 | 90.7/94.9 | 90.9 | 91.5 | 92.3 | 93.7 | 94.5 | 95.5 | 96.3 | 96.7
98.3 | 99.5 | 100.9 | 102.3 | 103.1 | 103.9 | 104.5 | 104.9 | 105.7 | 106.5 | 107.7
Outside the Metro
Saratoga Springs/Glens Falls and Vermont: 91.9 | 94.7 | 95.9 | 97.5 | 98.5 | 100.3
101.3 | 101.7 | 102.7 | 107.1
Mohawk Valley: 97.3 | 97.7 | 101.9 | 103.5
Columbia/Greene Counties: 93.5 | 97.9 | 98.5
