WKLI-FM

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WKLI (Magic 100.9) is a Soft Adult Contemporary station, with a Gold AC, Oldies and Adult Standards lean, licensed to Albany, New York and serving the Capital District of New York. The station is owned by Pamal Broadcasting and broadcasts at 6 kilowatts ERP from a location near the boundary of Colonie and Schenectady adjacent to the station's former studios.

In terms of music and execution, WKLI is a rarity of sorts in modern day radio. The music mix, spanning from roughly 1955 to present day artists such as Michael Buble and Norah Jones, is one whose existence on the FM band (and overall in many markets) is becoming quite rare.

In addition, the station airs CBS News on the hour during certain periods of the day. This is a rarity for an FM station in a market as large as Albany.

Defying the laws of demographics, the station has become one of the market's highest rated stations.

[edit] History

The 100.9 frequency signed on in 1968 as WWOM (Wonderful World Of Music), an easy listening station going against up WROW-FM and WHRL. With two somewhat established rivals, the station quickly left the format and went through a variation of formats including several variants of Adult Contemporary (mid-1970s and again starting in 1981), rock music (1977-79), and disco (1979-80) and two other short periods as easy listening. During this period, the station struggled in both ratings and revenue.

In 1984, local businessman Paul Bendatt bought WWOM as a companion to WABY (then on 1400 AM). Two years later, Bendatt relaunched the station as K-Lite 101 with the WKLI calls coming into use. With no FM competition for adult contemporary music, the station quickly became a success and spent several years in the Top 5 stations (12+) in the market with several books as the #1 in some demographics and time periods, a rarity for a lower powered signal in the Albany market. After WROW-FM flipped to WYJB in late 1993, WKLI's ratings underwent a decline as listeners flocked to the far stronger signal of WYJB.

The K-Lite format ended in April 1996 when WKLI and WKBE in Warrensburg, New York joined together and flipped to an Adult Top 40 format as K-100. With the flip, the station became one of the charter affiliates of the syndication attempt of the Scott and Todd show from WPLJ in New York City which the station played as a homecoming of sorts for Todd Pettengill (an alum of rival WFLY). Though K-100 stayed competitive with WFLY and WRVE, changes in the format and the end of syndication of Scott & Todd marked a quick decline for the station which by 1998 was seeing ratings not seen in three decades.

In February 1999, Paul Bendatt sold his stations to Tele-Media, Inc. which relaunched the K-100 format three months later as The Point gaining the new calls of WCPT; the WKLI calls and the old K-Lite name moved down to 94.5 FM). The station struggled to find an audience over the next two years amid staff and management changes as well as corporate problems on Tele-Media's end. Tele-Media sold WCPT and WKBE. to Pamal Broadcasting in August 2001 with the sale closing in late October. While WKBE kept a modified version of the "Point" format which remains to this day, WCPT became pop standards under the Magic name with the WKLI calls returning soon thereafter. Since "Magic" has launched, the station has always been one of the top rated stations in the Albany market, however low revenues led to the evolution of the format to what it is today.

[edit] External links

• Query the FCC's FM station database for WKLI
• WKLI Homepage