WDCD (AM)

WDCD
City	Albany, New York
Broadcast area	Capital District and Southeastern Adirondacks
Branding	New Light 96.7
Slogan	The Best in Christian Talk Radio
Frequency	1540 kHz
First air date	August 10, 1948 (as WPTR)
Format	Christian radio
Power	50,000 watts
Class	B
Facility ID	833
Transmitter coordinates	42°44′1″N 73°51′49″W / 42.73361°N 73.86361°W / 42.73361; -73.86361 (WDCD)
Callsign meaning	Donald CrawforD (founder/CEO of previous owner)
Former callsigns	WPTR (1948-1995) WDCD (1995-1999) WPTR (1999-2004)
Owner	DJRA Broadcasting, LLC
Sister stations	WDCD-FM
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	WDCD

WDCD is a news/talk radio station licensed to Albany, New York, USA and serving New York's Capital District, Adirondacks, and much of western New England. The station is owned by DJRA Broadcasting, and broadcasts on 1540 kHz at 50 kilowatts from a three-tower directional antenna array adjacent to the station's studios in Colonie, New York.^[1] The station went off the air in April 2012 and returned to the air on March 27, 2013 simulcasting Christian talk-formatted WDCD-FM 96.7.^[2] On July 10, 2013, The NEW 1540 AM was announced with a news/talk format including Laura Ingraham, Bob Dutko, Neil Boron, Jerry Doyle and Andrea Tantaros.

History

WDCD signed on August 10, 1948 as WPTR, with 10,000 watts of power from its current location in Colonie. The call letters were requested as such to reflect the original licensee, Patroon Broadcasting Company, which was owned by Schine Chain Theatres.^[3] The studios were located in the Hotel Ten Brock in Troy. In 1953, the station gained the ABC Radio affiliation from exiting WXKW, and primarily programmed a mix of popular and country music along with news & sports. It was during this period that 1540 increased power to 50,000 watts full-time to combat nighttime interference from co-channel stations KXEL in Waterloo, Iowa and ZNS-1 in Nassau, Bahamas (although the official explanation to the Federal Communications Commission [FCC] was the "poor ground conductivity" at the transmitter site).

WPTR also had a partnership with a local FM station (W47A/WBCA, the first independent FM radio station in the United States) to produce pre-recorded programming in WBCA's state-of-the-art Schenectady studios.

On September 16, 1953, American Airlines Flight 723 flew between the northeast and center towers of the station's 3 tower array. The plane was cleared for a contact approach to Albany Airport's Runway 10. On final approach, while still miles west of the airport, the Convair descended too low, and, at an altitude of 308 feet (94 m), struck two of the set of three 365-foot (111 m)-tall radio masts arrayed northeast to southwest. The right wing struck the center tower of the three, then the left wing struck the northeast tower. Seven feet of the outer panel of the right wing including the right aileron and control mechanism from the center hinge outboard together with 15 feet of the left outer wing panel and aileron separated from the aircraft.

Ground impact occurred 1,590 feet (480 m) beyond the northeast tower. At this point, the aircraft had rolled to a partially inverted attitude. The nose and left wing struck the ground first. The rest of the airplane fell to earth in short order and caught fire. The aircraft narrowly missed hitting a trailer park on the Albany-Schenectady road. All 28 occupants on board (25 passengers, 2 pilots, and a flight attendant) were killed. The aircraft crashed just north of Central Avenue (NY Route 5).^[4] To date, this is the worst aviation accident in the Albany area.

By 1957, the studios were located in the Hendrick Hudson Hotel in Troy In an effort to become more competitive with the more established stations in the region, a new "Top 40" format was introduced to Capital District listeners. WTRY also had top 40 programs at the time, but did not devote the entire broadcast day to it. Popular hosts on WPTR included Boom Boom Brannigan, Charlie Brown, and Bob Badger. Brannigan would stay with the station until 1974. The popular rock-and-roll format had a loyal following among listeners both locally, and throughout the northeastern United States, as well as a good portion of eastern and Maritime Canada. In fact, WPTR had a stronger skywave signal in the western Boston suburbs than Boston's own top 40 station, WMEX. By the early 1960s, WTRY had switched to top 40 music programming full-time, and a ratings war of sorts began between the two stations that lasted well into the 1970s. For much of its top 40 heyday, WPTR was the number-one rated station in the Capital District. In 1960, the studios were moved to the more prominent 1860 Central Avenue location in Colonie, where they remained until a fire severely damaged the interior of the building in 1964. A new 10,000-square-foot (930 m²) broadcast facility was constructed at the transmitter site, and programming originated from what became known as the 'Gold studios' until 2005 when the building was demolished. Programming now originates from new digital facilities inside the transmitter building.

With FM stations becoming increasingly popular with younger listeners, WPTR's ratings entered a steady decline in the mid-1970s, and in 1980 the station's owner, Rust Communications (which also owned WFLY, an FM station that had adopted a top 40 format a year earlier) finally submitted and flipped WPTR to country music in 1980 with veteran jock J.W. Wagner at the helm during morning drive. The station regained some popularity, and when ownership did some improvements (including adding AM Stereo), the station stayed relatively successful. However, competition from FM rival WGNA led WPTR to leave the format in 1988, subsequently trying different talk, sports, and news formats with meager results each time. In 1995, Albany Broadcasting sold WPTR to Crawford Broadcasting, with the sale closing that September.

WDCD logo until 2011

Upon taking over, Crawford changed the call sign to WDCD, in honor of founder Don Crawford. (Albany Broadcasting reclaimed the WPTR calls the following March, on the former WCDA.) The format was changed to contemporary Christian music and related Christian programming. In 2000, the company brought its secular "Legends" adult standards music format to the station, along with the classic WPTR call letters and Boom Boom Brannigan as morning host; WDCD's religious programming was continued at 96.7 FM, which had simulcast AM 1540 since May 1996. The "Legends" format was a ratings success (putting WPTR back in the top 10 for the first time in 15 years), but a financial pitfall. The situation was greatly complicated when WKLI-FM entered the nostalgia format in November 2001. In 2004, WPTR and WDCD swapped formats and call letters, returning AM 1540 to Christian programming. (Several months later, WPTR at the 96.7 FM frequency dropped "Legends" for contemporary Christian music, but flipped to oldies, reviving the "Legends" identity, in 2011 due to faltering ratings as a result of the arrival of the satellite K-LOVE and Air 1 networks in the Albany market; later that year, the station flipped again to a simulcast of WDCD.)

WDCD began broadcasting in HD digital radio in 2006, the second AM station in the area to do so. Recently, WDCD had not been broadcasting in HD Radio, and also signed off between 9-10 every night. WDCD temporarily left the air on April 1, 2012 to make plans for a new format.^[5]

References

↑ "WDCD Facility Record". United States Federal Communications Commission, audio division.
↑ silent station lists fcc
↑ "WPTR, Owned by Theatre Chain, Starts in Albany" (PDF). Broadcasting. August 9, 1948. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
↑ Record 19530916-0 at Aviation Safety Net
↑ "Notification of Suspension of Operations / Request for Silent STA". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved March 9, 2012.

External links

Official website

Query the FCC's AM station database for WDCD

Radio-Locator Information on WDCD

Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for WDCD

Radio stations in the Albany / Schenectady / Troy market

by FM frequency	88.3 89.1 89.7 89.9 90.3 90.7 90.7 90.7 90.9 91.1 91.5 92.3 92.9 93.1 93.5 93.7 94.5 94.7 94.9 95.5 95.9 96.3 96.7 97.3 97.5 97.7 97.9 98.3 98.5 98.5 99.1 99.5 99.9 100.3 100.9 101.3 101.7 101.9 102.3 102.7 103.1 103.5 103.9 104.5 104.7 104.9 105.7 106.1 106.5 107.1 107.7

by AM frequency	590 810¹ 900 930 980 1160 1190 1230 1240 1300 1330 1340 1400 1440 1460 1490 1540 1570

NOAA Weather Radio frequency	162.550

Digital radio	810 980 89.1-1 89.1-2 90.3-1 90.3-2 98.3-1 98.3-2 99.5-1 99.5-2 102.3-1 102.3-2 103.1-1 103.1-2 105.7-1 105.7-2 106.5-1 106.5-2 107.7-1 107.7-2

by callsign	W226AC W235AY W256BU W260CH W284BZ W291BY WABY WAIX WAJZ WAMC WAMC-FM WBAR-FM WBPM WCDB WCKM-FM WCQL WCSS WCTW WDCD WDCD-FM WENT WEQX WEXT WFFG-FM WFLY WFNY WGDJ WGNA-FM WGXC WGY¹ WGY-FM WHAZ WHAZ-FM WHUC WHVP WINU WIZR WJIV WJKE WKBE WKKF WKLI-FM WLJH WMHT-FM WMYY WNYQ WOFX WOPG WOPG-FM WPGL WPTR WPYX WQBJ WQBK-FM WQSH WRIP WROW WRPI WRUC WRVE WSDE WTMM-FM WTRY-FM WVCR-FM WVTL WXL34 WYAI WYJB WYKV WZCR

Defunct stations	WCKL WGFM WHRL WRSA WROW-FM WTRI WXKW

New York radio markets Albany–Schenectady–Troy Binghamton Buffalo–Niagara Falls Elmira–Corning Hudson Valley Nassau–Suffolk (Long Island) New York City Olean Plattsburgh Poughkeepsie Rochester Syracuse Utica–Rome Watertown Other New York radio regions Ithaca Jamestown–Dunkirk North Country Saratoga See also List of radio stations in New York Albany television Saratoga radio ¹ = Clear-channel stations with extended nighttime coverage.

Radio stations in the Saratoga Springs / Glens Falls market

by FM frequency	88.3 89.1 89.7/90.7 89.9 90.3 91.1 91.5 91.9 92.3 92.7 93.5 93.7 94.1 94.7 95.1 95.5 95.9 96.7 97.1 97.3 97.5 98.1 98.3 98.5 99.5 100.3 100.9 101.3 101.7 102.3 102.7 103.1 103.5 103.9 103.9 104.3 104.5 104.9 104.9 105.3 105.7 106.5 107.1 107.7

by AM frequency	590 810 900 980 1160 1230 1300 1330 1340 1400 1410 1450 1460 1540

By callsign	WABY WAIX WAMC WANC WBAR-FM WBLN-LP WCKM-FM WCQL WDCD WDCD-FM WENU WEQX WFFG-FM WFLY WGDJ WGFR WGNA-FM WGY WGY-FM WHAZ WHAZ-FM WINU WJEN WJJR WJKE WKBE WKKF WKLI-FM WMHT-FM WMML WNGN WNYQ WNYV WOFX WOPG WPYX WQBJ WQBK-FM WQSH WROW WRPI WRVE WSLU WSPN WLJH/WSSK WTMM-FM WTRY-FM WVCR-FM WVTQ WWSC WXLG WYAI WYJB

New York radio markets Albany–Schenectady–Troy Binghamton Buffalo–Niagara Falls Elmira–Corning Hudson Valley Nassau–Suffolk (Long Island) New York City Olean Plattsburgh Poughkeepsie Rochester Syracuse Utica–Rome Watertown Other New York radio regions Ithaca Jamestown–Dunkirk North Country Saratoga See also List of radio stations in New York

Crawford Broadcasting

AM Radio Stations	KBRT KCBC KLDC KLTT KLVZ KLZ KSTL KKPZ WDCD WDCX WEXL WRDT WXJC WYDE

FM Radio Stations	WDAC WDCD-FM WDCX-FM WDJC-FM WLGZ-FM WMUZ WPWX WSRB WXJC-FM WYCA WYDE-FM WYRB

Daytime-Only radio stations in New York

Stations	WBBF - Buffalo WCGR - Canandaigua WCJW - Warsaw WDCD - Albany WHLI - Hempstead WJIP - Ellenville WLNL - Horseheads WNYG - Medford WRCK - Remsen WSCP - Sandy Creek-Pulaski WSFW - Seneca Falls WTBQ - Warwick WTHE - Mineola WTOR - Youngstown WTWK - Plattsburgh WUFO - Amherst WWLE - Cornwall

Defunct	WPUT - Brewster WXKW - Watervliet

See also: Clear channel radio stations and Why AM Radio Stations Must Reduce Power, Change Operations, or Cease Operations at Night

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