| WPDH | |
| City: | Poughkeepsie, New York |
| Country: | US |
| Area: | Kiryas Joel–Poughkeepsie–Newburgh metropolitan area |
| Branding: | 101.5 WPDH |
| Format: | Classic rock |
| Owner: | Townsquare Media |
| Licensee: | Townsquare License, LLC |
| Sister Stations: | WCZX, WEOK, WKXP, WPDA, WRRV, WZAD |
| Former Callsigns: | WEOK-FM (1962–1972) |
| Callsign Meaning: | Poughkeepsie Dutchess Hudson |
| Licensing Authority: | FCC |
| Facility Id: | 71514 |
| Class: | B |
| Erp: | 4,400 watts |
| Haat: | 469m (1,539feet) |
| Coordinates: | 41.719°N -73.996°W |
WPDH (101.5 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Poughkeepsie, New York, and serving the Kiryas Joel–Poughkeepsie–Newburgh metropolitan area. The station is owned by Townsquare Media and broadcasts a classic rock radio format. Its studios and offices are on Pendell Road in Poughkeepsie.
WPDH has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 4,400 watts. Its transmitter site is on Illinois Mountain in Highland, New York.[1] WPDH is also simulcast on a class A station, 106.1 WPDA in Jeffersonville, New York. Several translators relay WPDH's digital subchannels.
In 1962, the station signed on as WEOK-FM, sister station to WEOK (1390 AM). The main purpose of the station at the outset was to provide Muzak programming to area offices and stores via its subcarrier. By day, WPDH simulcast the AM's middle of the road (MOR) format, with block programming airing between the AM's sign off 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 transmitter moved from a site in Milton to the Illinois Mountain site. It upgraded to a full Class B signal and added FM stereo capabilities in the process.
At the end of these upgrades, it relaunched as country music formatted WPDH. With poor ratings playing country music, management saw a hole for an album-oriented rock (AOR) station in the Hudson Valley. In 1976 WPDH abandoned country for rock music.
WPDH spent the latter part of 1994 and early 1995 evolving to Classic rock.
Rob Dyson sold the Crystal Radio Group to Aurora Communications in 2001 which, in turn was acquired by Cumulus Media in 2002. Amid an extended drop in ratings, WPDH was relaunched as a mainstream rock station over Labor Day weekend 2003.
In January 2012, Andrew Boris, program director of sister station WRRV, became the new program director of WPDH.[2] No formula changes in the programming were enacted. Boris later began hosting the morning drive time show, in addition to his PD duties.
On August 30, 2013, a deal was announced in which Cumulus would swap its stations in Dubuque, Iowa, and Poughkeepsie (including WPDH) to Townsquare Media in exchange for Peak Broadcasting's Fresno, California stations. The deal was part of Cumulus' acquisition of Dial Global. Townsquare, Peak, and Dial Global are all controlled by Oaktree Capital Management.[3] [4]
The sale to Townsquare was completed on November 14, 2013.[5]
Cumulus Broadcasting began upgrading its stations to HD Radio broadcasting in 2005. One of the first ten stations to be upgraded was WPDH.[6]
WPDH uses its HD2 digital subchannel to rebroadcast co-owned oldies WALL 1340 AM and its HD3 subchannel to rebroadcast Spanish adult hits WEOK 1390 AM.
