wpdh

With the help of WPDH Morning Show personalities Mark Cooper and John Tobin, Dutchess County Sheriff Adrian "Butch" Anderson and Undersheriff Kirk Imperati will give away Thanksgiving turkeys at noon Wednesday at the Sheriff's Office, 150 North Hamilton St., Poughkeepsie.

The turkeys were donated by Anderson, Imperati, and Sam Reichelt and Jack Najarian of the Gun Depot in Pleasant Valley.

Six WPDH callers will be awarded the turkeys, as well as four local families in need of the donation.

"This is a great opportunity to give a little back to the community," Anderson said in a prepared statement.

Imperati said in the same statement, "We really want to thank Sam and Jack, as well as Coop and Tobin for helping make Thanksgiving a little easier this year."

Another turkey giveaway is planned for the Christmas Season.
WPDH
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WPDH
City of license Poughkeepsie, New York
Broadcast area Hudson Valley and Catskills
Frequency 101.5 MHz
First air date 1962
Format Mainstream rock
Power 4,400 watts
ERP 50,000 watts
HAAT 469 meters
Class B
Callsign meaning W Poughkeepsie Dutchess Hudson (River/Valley)
Owner Cumulus Media
Webcast Listen Live
Website www.wpdh.com

WPDH is a mainstream rock radio station licensed to Poughkeepsie, New York and serving New York's Hudson Valley and Catskills. The station is owned by Cumulus Media and broadcasts on 101.5 MHz at 50 kilowatts ERP from a tower site on Illinois Mountain in Highland, New York. Since 1976, the station has had a rock format which has gone through several evolutions.

Though WPDH is one of only four Class B FM stations between New York City and Albany (WSPK, WHUD, and WFGB the three others), WPDH has two satellite stations which bring the signal to other areas.

106.1 WPDA Jeffersonville, New York (has simulcasted WPDH since its 1993 sign-on)
106.3 WFAF Mount Kisco, New York (has simulcasted WPDH since 2004)
Contents
1 History
2 Formatic evolution
3 Weekday airstaff
3.1 Current air staff
3.1.1 Past DJ's (aka the WPDH Airforce)
4 Notable alumni
5 External links



[edit] History
WPDH signed on as WEOK-FM in 1962 as the sister to WEOK and Poughkeepsie's second FM station after WKIP-FM (today's WSPK). The main purpose of the station at the outset was to provide Muzak programming to area offices and businesses via its subcarrier; as a result the on-air programming was limited to simulcasts of the AM's middle of the road format and block programming between the AM's signoff and 10:00 p.m.

In 1972, WEOK AM and FM were sold to the Dyson family (also owners of Dyson Racing) and with the sale came key changes to the FM side. The station moved from a site in Milton (now used by WVKR) to the current Illinois Mountain site, upgrading to a full Class B and adding stereo capabilities in the process, and at the end of these upgrades relaunched as country music formatted WPDH. At the time, this format was largely unproven and given the newness of FM at the time struggled to the point of being beaten by New York City signal WHN after that station flipped to country. At this time, the hole for an album-oriented rock (AOR) station in the Hudson Valley (where WPLJ and WNEW-FM were had multiples of WPDH's ratings with marginal signals) was seen and in 1976 WPDH abandoned country for rock which lasts to this day.

WPDH is know for their charity work, including the "famous" Roof-A-Thon, DJ's set up on the top of 7-11 in Wappingers for the weekend where they held a tell-a-thon to raise money for local charities. The "Road Warriers" stand out on Rt 9 and collect any donations that passerbys give.


[edit] Formatic evolution
In its three decades in rock radio, there have been several variations of WPDH's format. At the outset, it was a typical AOR for the period with a slight lean towards Top 40 and the occasional jazz track though as that format evolved the station tightened its focus. The splintering of rock in the 1980s and early 1990s had varying effects on WPDH, they were quick to integrate heavy metal into the playlist in moderation but were less open to early alternative rock. Nevertheless, the station remained successful and by the 1990s was alternating the #1 spot in the market with WSPK though the station's reluctance to incorporate much alternative into the playlist had an effect on its future.

In 1994, WPDH owners Crystal Radio Group (the Dyson family spinoff headed by now-family head Rob Dyson) purchased Middletown-based WKOJ and WALL from Orange & Rockland Utilities. With this purchase came an opportunity to both solve the new rock dilemma and to strengthen WPDH by taking out its only direct competition. WPDH spent the latter part of 1994 and early 1995 evolving to Classic rock while WKOJ flipped to alternative WRRV in April 1995.

WPDH's ratings went through some instability in the early years as classic rock, however being with no competition they became the regular #2 to WSPK's #1 by the turn of the 21st Century. It was at this time, amid consolidation, in which Rob Dyson sold the Crystal Radio Group to Aurora Communications in 2001 which, in turn was bought out by Cumulus Media in 2002. Amid an extended drop in ratings, WPDH was relaunched as a mainstream rock station over Labor Day Weekend in 2003 and has stabilized at the top of the ratings in both Dutchess and Orange counties.