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|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Capital District |
| Frequency | 92.3MHz |
| Branding | FLY 92.3 |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Format | Contemporary hit radio |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| History | |
First air date | August 18, 1948 (76 years ago) (1948-08-18) |
Call sign meaning | Frank Lloyd York (station founder) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 832 |
| Class | B |
| ERP | 17,000 watts |
| HAAT | 259 meters (850 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 42°38′16.2″N73°59′53.4″W / 42.637833°N 73.998167°W /42.637833; -73.998167 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live |
| Website | www |
WFLY (92.3FM,FLY 92.3) is acontemporary hit radio station licensed toTroy, New York, and serving theCapital District.[2] The station is owned byPamal Broadcasting and is considered the company'sflagship station. The radio studios and offices are at 6 Johnson Road inLatham.
WFLY has aneffective radiated power (ERP) of 17,000 watts. Thetransmitter is located on theHelderberg Escarpment antenna farm on Pinnacle Road inNew Scotland, New York.[3] WFLY is the oldest FM radiocall sign currently in the Capital District, in use since 1948.
On August 18, 1948, WFLY firstsigned on as the radio station ofThe Troy Times Record newspaper.[4] Its publisher was Frank Laurence York, from whose initials the station gets its call letters The station was originally experimental and intended to use an FM signal to broadcast aradio-facsimile image of that day's paper to subscribers with the equipment to receive it.[5] When that technology proved unsuccessful, the station began to be programmed with classical music, news from the paper's staff and local interest programs. Upon sign on, it had an effective radiated power of 5,400 watts.
Beginning in 1949, it was a member of theRural Radio Network, a service for farming families in remote sections of New York State.[6] The station received network programming via an over the air relay ofWVCV inCherry Valley, New York. The Rural Radio Network later dropped much of its farm content and switched to mostly classical music, which was originated atWQXR in New York City. This was received via over air relay fromWKIP-FM onMount Beacon. This affiliation lasted until 1960, when the Rural Radio Network folded. The classical music continued on WFLY as locally produced programming.
By the late 1960s, the FM audience was changing, and theTroy Record had a difficult time funding a classical music station. In 1970, the station switched to aTop 40/oldies format with live disc jockeys. At that point, it was known as "The Big 92". DJs on "The Big 92" included Craig Stevens, Gary Mitchell, Rex Gregory, Dale Lane, Bob Harris, Bob Roberts, Johnny Lance and Chris Calvert. It was the first commercial FM station in the Albany market playing contemporary hits.
While it did well with the new format, protests over the format flip among classical music listeners were numerous. In late 1971, theTroy Record sold WFLY to Functional Broadcasting. The programming was changed to aneasy listening/classical hybrid. The partial return of classical was not successful, given the sign-on ofWMHT-FM as a full-time classical station. By this time, there were already two other easy listening outlets in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy market.
Functional lost money on WFLY, and sold the station in early 1975, to theRochester, New York–based Rust Communications Group. After the sale, the station changed programming to anautomatedalbum-oriented rock format, billing itself as "sophisticated rock". WFLY went withadult contemporary in 1977, and then reverted to Top 40 in 1979, asFLY 92 FM.
In 1983, the station was sold to Five States Tower Company.[7] It was owned by Rob Dyson, who also ownedWPDH andWEOK inPoughkeepsie. In 1987, it was subsequently sold to Jim Morrell'sAlbany Broadcasting. The second go-around of Top 40 was successful, as WFLY forced AM powerhousesWTRY andWPTR into other formats.
Under program directorTodd Pettengill (then a little known DJ fromWBUG inAmsterdam, New York), the station found success playing Top 40 hits with an enthusiastic DJ staff. In the following years, most rivals eventually failed, though three stations (WGFM/WGY-FM (99 GFM, laterElectric 99 WGY FM) from 1982 to 1990,WKLI-FM (K100) from 1996 to 1999, andWKKF (102.3 Kiss FM) since 2000) have survived for an extended period in the Top 40 format.
In 2005, WFLY rebranded asFLY 92.3 and tweaked its format to be moremodern rock-leaning to separate itself from co-ownedWAJZ, which had taken on a morerhythmic format. However, over time, the station has reverted to a more mainstream CHR format.
WFLY has aired acontemporary hit radio format since 1979, the second longest-running commercial format in Capital District FM radio. (WGNA-FM'scountry music format has been in place since 1973). As tastes in contemporary music change, WFLY has also been through several playlist evolutions through the years. However, the station has stayed true to a CHR format for decades.