WSYR-FM: Difference between revisions

| logo_size = 150px

| affiliations = {{ubl|[[Fox News Radio]]<br />|[[Compass Media Networks]]<br />|[[Premiere Networks]]<br />|[[Westwood One]]}}

| format = [[Talk radio|News/talk]]

| subchannels = {{ubl|HD2: [[Urban adult contemporary]] ([[WHEN (AM)|WHEN]] simulcast)<br />|HD3: [[Contemporary worship music|Christian worship]] "[[Air1]]"}}

| former_callsigns = {{ubl|WMBO-FM (1949–1970)<br />|WRLX (1970–1981)<br />|WPCX (1981–1997)<br />|WHCD (1997–2001)<br />|WPHR (2001–2005)<br />|WPHR-FM (2005–2011)}}

The original WSYR-FM began operating on July 19, 1946, and the [[call sign]] was originally found on 94.5&nbsp;MHz.<ref name="start date">{{cite news |title=Syracuse's Infant FM Radio Industry Rapidly Growing into Lusty Giant |location=Syracuse, New York |date=December 7, 1947 |page=69 |url=https://basic.newspapers.com/clip/63871737 |work=The Post-Standard |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=24 October 24, 2020 |language=en}}</ref> That station originally simulcast 570 WSYR. In the 1970s, WSYR-FM carried a largely [[broadcast automation|automated]] [[soft rock]] format. In the 1980s, it switched to [[adult contemporary music]] with live [[disc jockey|DJ]]s. To give it a separate identity from its AM sister station, the FM station switched its call letters to [[WYYY]], calling itself "Y94.".

The current WSYR-FM had been licensed for most of its time on air to the city of [[Auburn, New York]]. It [[sign-on|signed on]] the air on May 20, 1949, as '''WMBO-FM'''.<ref name="by2009">{{cite book|title=Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 2009|year=2009|page=D-371|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/2009/Radio-BC-YB-2009.pdf|access-date=March 23, 2020}}</ref> It became '''WRLX''' on February 13, 1970.<ref name="fcc-cards">{{cite web |title=WRLX (WSYR-FM) history cards |url=http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getimportletter_exh.cgi?import_letter_id=82962 |website=CDBS Public Access |publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]] |access-date=March 23, 2020 |format=PDF}}</ref> The station was not [[broadcast automation|automated]] as most [[beautiful music]] stations of that era. It used turntables and tape cartridge machines, providing a mostly instrumental format, with one slogan being "Relax with WRLX.". (The [[WRLX]] call sign is now used by a station in [[Riviera Beach, Florida]], also owned by iHeartMedia.)

In 1981, the station changed its call sign and re-branded as '''WPCX''' "Pix 106" and featured Bob Paris in the morning. Paris had been the morning drive personality for WSEN-FM in the 1970s when it featured a country music format. In 1997, the station flipped to [[smooth jazz]] as '''WHCD'''. By 2000, it switched to [[urban contemporary]]. After three years, it evolved into an [[urban adult contemporary]] direction, focusing on targeting the [[African-American]] community. For the first three years as urban AC, there was no competitor until [[WCIS-FM|WOLF-FM]] flipped to the [[MOViN]] format.

On August 28, 2009, at 5 pm, Power 106.9 dropped the Urban AC format for [[country music]], branding itself as "Young Country 106.9.". This was despite the fact that station owner Clear Channel Communications already had a country music outlet in the Syracuse area, the market leader 104.7 [[WBBS]] in [[Fulton, Oswego County, New York|Fulton]], a more mainstream country station. The move was ostensibly an effort to hedge its bets against competition from [[WCIS-FM|WOLF-FM]] in [[DeRuyter, New York|DeRuyter]], which Clear Channel sold in March 2009 and changed to country music at the same time as WPHR did. As it turned out, the country format on WPHR was a weekend-long [[stunting (broadcasting)|stunt]]. The station switched back to its regular format that Monday morning (August 31).<ref>[http://www.fybush.com/NERW/2009/090831/nerw.html#ny WPHR is reportedly back to its former "Power" urban format as of 8 AM.], ''Scott Fybush NorthEast Radio Watch'', August 31, 2009.</ref> The station, after the stunt, moved to its current location in Solvay, which gives it greater coverage over the city of Syracuse but far less over the Finger Lakes. Coverage was very large in the Central New York area down into Pennsylvania and up into Canada in the 1970s when the station was WRLX. It also ran a [[Subcarrier multiplexing|subcarrier]] music program similar to the old style [[Muzak]] of those days.

In December 2010, five domains suggesting that 106.9 would be changing to a simulcast of [[WSYR (AM)|WSYR]] were registered and parked at [[GoDaddy]]. Later discovered, none of those domains were registered/owned by the station or used. WSYR was already simulcasting on WPHR's [[HD Radio]] [[digital subchannel]].<ref>[http://radioinsight.com/2010/am-to-fm-talk-move-in-syracuse/ AM to FM talk move in Syracuse] {{Dead link|date=February 2022}}</ref><ref>Naughton, Peter (2010-12-December 20, 2010). [http://www.cnyradio.com/2010/12/20/wsyr-to-begin-fm-simulcast/ WSYR to begin FM simulcast?] ''cnyradio.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-21.</ref> Concurrently with the discovery, [[WHEN (AM)|WHEN]] adopted an identical format and branding as "Power 620.". The "Power 106.9" website was rebranded as "Power620.com" at the same time. As of December 27, Clear Channel hashad filed to swap call signs with '''WSYR-FM''' in [[Gifford, Florida]].<ref>Naughton, Peter (2010-12-December 27, 2010). [http://www.cnyradio.com/2010/12/28/cc-aloha-file-to-swap-wsyr-fm-wphr-fm-calls/ CC & Aloha File to Swap WSYR-FM / WPHR-FM Calls]. ''cnyradio.com''. Retrieved 2010-12-27.</ref> The format change took effect Sunday evening, January 2, 2011.

For a time, the FM side gained priority in on-air advertising and on the web site banner. At the outset, the simulcast was branded "Newsradio 106.9 WSYR.".<ref>[http://radioinsight.com/2011/am-to-fm-talk-move-in-syracuse/ "Urban AC Goes To AM, Talk Coming To FM in Syracuse"] from Radioinsight (January 2, 2011)</ref> However, the AM side remained the primary station, and over the next two years most references to the FM side were cut back, to the extent that the station now refers to itself as "Newsradio 570 WSYR, Nownow on 106.9 FM.".

*{{FM station data|25018|WSYR-FM}}