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WDDH (97.5FM) is an Americanradio station, licensed toSaint Marys, Pennsylvania. The station operates at an equivalent radiated power of 50,000watts. Its studios and offices are located in Ridgway Township, near the summit of Bootjack Mountain, about 3 miles south of downtown Ridgway and about 2 miles west of its city of license. Its transmitter site is located in Lamont, about 2.5 miles south ofKane, Pennsylvania. The station also uses a booster, WDDH-FM1 with 250 watts at 171 feet AGL along South Highland Street inDuBois, about 20 miles south of the Ridgway studios.

The station first went on the air on April 22, 1986 as WKYN, and was founded by suburban Pittsburgh radio personality Bob Stevens, who had been looking to buy or build a radio station of his own in Western Pennsylvania. That opportunity presented itself in 1985, when he successfully applied for the license to operate at 97.5 FM, originally licensed to Ridgway.

For the first three years, the studios and transmitter were located at the transmitter site in a remote, wooded area of Jones Township near Rasselas, Pennsylvania, with business and sales offices in downtownSt Marys. Signals were radiated by a 4-bay, ERI "Rototiller" antenna atop a newly erected 535 foot tower. On several occasions, air staff were stranded at the studio/transmitter facility due to heavy snow accumulation and ice storms. In 1989, Stevens purchased a defunct drive-in theater south of St Marys, and consolidated both the studios and offices there.

As the station grew, Stevens determined that the station would reach a significantly larger audience if the transmitter site was relocated to the west. Much of the original signal coverage area fell on a largely unpopulated area of north-central Pennsylvania known as "God's Country", and was spotty in several better-populated communities to the west. A new transmitter site south ofKane was found and construction was started. TheSTL path from the Fairview studios to the new transmitter site was not possible due to obstruction by Bootjack Mountain. Stevens renovated a vacant, former restaurant at the top of Bootjack Mountain to house the offices and studios, where they remain today at 14902 Bootjack Road. The old tower and transmitter plant in Jones Township were left standing, and purchased by a cellular phone service provider.

WKYN, billed as "97 KYN", signed on with an Adult CHR format. Stevens stuck with this formula for seven years, until the opportunity presented itself in 1993 to acquire WCCZ (nowWPCL) inSpangler. WCCZ operated on the adjacent frequency of 97.3 and could be heard clearly in the more populous area of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Stevens purchased WCCZ and changed the call letters to WXVE, turning it into a translator to extend WKYN's signal into the Johnstown market. At the time of the acquisition, WKYN became WKVE (an allusion to Pittsburgh's legendary AOR stationWDVE) and the station changed format from Adult CHR toAOR, as there was no album rock formatted station in Johnstown at that time.

In 1996, Stevens had the opportunity to buy a radio station closer to his hometown in Western Pennsylvania, purchasing WHJB (nowWKHB) and WBCW (nowWKFB) in Greensburg and Jeannette, respectively. WKYN was sold to Cam Communications, reverting to Adult CHR as "97.5 The Peak". Call letters were changed to WPKK. In 2001, Cam Communications sold WPKK to Laurel Media, Inc of Ridgway, a company owned by Dennis Heindl, who previously ownedWLMI in Kane and held a construction permit for an FM station in Reynoldsville (nowWDSN.) DDH are the initials of Dennis D. Heindl. A lifelong country music lover, Heindl converted the station format to Country.

In 1999, ownership was transferred from Laurel Media Inc. to Intrepid Broadcasting owned by Michael Stapleford.

In the Summer of 2008, ownership reverted to Laurel Media Inc. and Dennis D. Heindl. Heindl has kept the Country Format and has added ABC News and is host of the Award Winning Program "Talk Of The Town." Lou Dobbs has appeared as Heindl's guest on "Talk Of The Town." WDDH is known as "The Hound" and its logo is recognizable. The Hound carries Pittsburgh Pirate Baseball. Heindl is a part owner of thePittsburgh Pirates. The Hound covers 15 Counties in Northwest Pennsylvania and has a faithful listening audience, being rated #1 in Elk County by Arbitron in 2008. Despite not actually existing in theOlean, New York media market (which includes Bradford, Kane and Coudersport in Pennsylvania), it still registers in the Arbitron books there, higher than some of the local stations. The Hound carries local sports in its listening area including but not limited to Wrestling. High School Football is extremely well received in the listening area. Local news is a priority and although WDDH has a large listening area it is local to much of the listening area.

WDDH continues to serve more than a million listeners in North Western Pennsylvania and southwestern New York with a classic country format.

The station airs programmingvoicetracked by local personalities throughout the day, as well as thesyndicatedBig D & Bubba program in the morning. On Sunday mornings, they air religious programming, which is followed by "The Hound's Polka Party," hosted by afternoon host JJ Michaels (a successor to theDon Williams Polka Review that played in the time slot until Williams's death), and "Talk Of The Town," apublic affairs program hosted by owner Denny Heindl. They also airPittsburgh Pirates games during baseball season.

On January 1, 2023, WDDH shifted to a pureclassic country format, eliminating most of its current hits from the station's playlist. WDDH had long included substantially more classic cuts than most mainstreamcountry radio stations even before the format change.

• Facility details for Facility ID 6683 (WDDH) in theFCC Licensing and Management System
• WDDH inNielsen Audio's FM station database

41°37′05″N78°48′14″W / 41.618°N 78.804°W /41.618; -78.804

• Radio stations in Pennsylvania
• Classic country radio stations in the United States
• Radio stations established in 1986
• 1986 establishments in Pennsylvania
• St. Marys, Pennsylvania

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