WHAZ (AM)

WHAZ is a Christian radio station licensed to Troy, New York and serves New York's Capital District. The station is owned by the locally based Capital Media and broadcasts on 1330 kHz at 1 kilowatt daytime, 49 watts nighttime from a transmitter located on Van Schaick Island in the neighboring city of Cohoes. WHAZ's programming is also simulcasted on four FM stations on the fringes of the market.

WHAZ
CityTroy, New York
Broadcast areaEastern New York and Southern Vermont
Frequency1330 kHz
SloganAlive Radio
Programming
FormatChristian radio
Ownership
OwnerCapital Media
History
First air date1922
Call sign meaningWith Holiness And Zeal (backronym; originally randomly assigned by the FCC)
Technical information
Facility ID8674
ClassD
Power1,000 watts day
49 watts night
Transmitter coordinates42°46′35.00″N 73°41′10.00″W
Repeater(s)See § Simulcasts
Links
WebcastListen Live
Websitealiveradionetwork.com/alive_radio_whaz_am.html

History

WHAZ is recognized as being one of the oldest radio stations in New York State and claims to be the Capital District's second-oldest station. It first signed on in the summer of 1922 using 790 kHz in a time-share agreement with WGY. The station was operated by the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. At the behest of General Electric, which desired to operate its flagship station WGY with an unlimited schedule, WHAZ was eventually authorized to switch to 1300 kHz. The NARBA frequency shift of 1941 moved WHAZ to 1330 kHz, daytime-only operations (minus one night a week) in an historic three-way timeshare with another timeshare in New York City, The Jewish Daily Forward's WEVD (1330 AM) and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society's WBBR (1330 AM).

With the launch of WRPI FM on November 1, 1957, and most of the school's programming on the AM band being transmitted via carrier-current WRPI AM 640 by that time, WHAZ's future became expendable, only being operated on a rather minimal basis...and programming Classical music. The station was eventually sold in 1967 to new owners who decided to program the station with a Christian religious format, which holds to this day. In 1973, WHAZ nearly added an FM variant of its programming on 107.7 MHz, however the death of the station's then-owner led to those plans being scrapped by his children in favor of country music with the station becoming WGNA, now the regular #1 station in the market. WHAZ was sold again to the predecessor of current owner Capital Media in 1978.

The Camps spent several years trying to increase WHAZ's power. Its daytime signal only provides Grade B coverage of the market's second-largest city, Schenectady, and its nighttime signal is mostly limited to Rensselaer County. However, all of their requests were turned down, since the FCC was unwilling to risk causing interference with the New York stations (WEVD's successor, WNYM (1330 AM), had by 1983 purchased the airtime of WBBR's successor WPOW (1330 AM), deleting WPOW's license and allowing WNYM to operate on a full-time basis).

Beginning in the 1990s, WHAZ expanded to FM through the acquisitions of four stations, including WMYY 97.3 (licensed to Schoharie, New York and serving the Capital Region and Mohawk Valley), WBAR-FM 94.7 (licensed to Lake Luzerne, New York and serving the Saratoga Springs and Glens Falls areas), and WMNV 104.1 (licensed to Rupert, Vermont and rimshots Manchester and Rutland). In 2005, WZEC (licensed to Hoosick Falls, New York) was acquired and converted into a classic Christian Contemporary format for the Bennington, Vermont area under the WHAZ-FM callsign, and later converted to an outright simulcast of WHAZ.

Simulcasts
Call sign Frequency City of license Facility ID ERP
W		 Height
m (ft)		 Class Transmitter coordinates First air date Former callsigns
WBAR-FM94.7 FMLake Luzerne, New York86781,250220 m (720 ft)A43°18′46.00″N 73°50′7.00″W1990WZBR (9/21-11/1/1990)
WHAZ-FM97.5 FMHoosick Falls, New York6765420361 m (1,184 ft)A42°51′49″N 73°13′59″WJuly 4, 1991 (as WNGN)
WMNV104.1 FMRupert, Vermont205964,30061 m (200 ft)A43°16′1.00″N 73°15′21.00″W1989WRQL (1989-1990)
WMYY97.3 FMSchoharie, New York8677800273 m (896 ft)A42°37′51.00″N 74°16′1.00″W1988
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See also

Other stations
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