WAJZ

Infobox Radio station
name = WAJZ


city = Voorheesville, New York
area = Capital Region
branding = "Jamz 96.3"
slogan = "#1 for Hip-Hop and Today's Hits"
airdate = 1991
frequency = 96.3 MHz
format = Rhythmic Contemporary
power = 470 watts
erp = 6 kW
class = A
callsign_meaning = W Albany JamZ
former_callsigns = WCDA (1991-96)
WPTR (1996-99)
owner = Pamal Broadcasting
licensee = 6 Johnson Road Licenses, Inc.
sister_stations = WFLY, WKLI, WROW, WYJB, WZMR
website = [http://www.jamz963.com/ www.jamz963.com]
affiliations =

WAJZ is a Rhythmic Contemporary station serving the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area. The station is owned by Pamal Broadcasting and operates at 96.3 MHz with an ERP of 6 kW and is licensed to Voorheesville, New York. The station is one of the few Class A FM signals based on the Helderberg Mountains antenna farm used by higher powered FM's and most TV stations in the market.

History

The station signed on in 1991 as WCDA running a mostly-satellite Adult Contemporary format as "CD96.3". Being a new frequency and in the mist of a glut of the format, the station then changed to country, still mostly satellite, in April 1993 in an attempt to go after dominant country station WGNA-FM.

In March 1996, Albany Broadcasting (forerunner to today's Pamal Broadcasting) purchased WCDA, put the WPTR calls the company retained from their sale of 1540 AM, and relaunched the station under a classic-heavy country approach. After 18 months of struggling ratings, the station relaunched on November 3, 1997 as new country "Power Country 96.3" after a weekend of Halloween-related stunting. The relaunch had no effect on its ratings as the station languished at the bottom of the ratings even with rights to Siena College men's basketball and New York Yankees baseball.

On December 23, 1998, WPTR changed its format to Urban Contemporary, the first such station in the market, as "Jamz 96.3" with the WAJZ calls following several weeks later. For its first half-decade, the station maintained very good numbers but increased competition from rivals WVCR-FM (Siena College) and WKKF-FM forced the station to reevaluate its stance. In September 2005, it started shifting its direction towards a Rhythmic Contemporary approach.

As of July 2008, the on-air line up consists of Program Director, Russ Allen, the JAMZ 96.3 Morning Show with Big Ray and Intern Sarah, Special K in middays, JD Redman in afternoons, The Night Show with Scott Penk and D-Rock, and Linda Love overnights. Weekends include D-Rock, Intern Sarah, DJ Rookie and K*Money. Syndicated shows include Full Throttle with Fatman Scoop, the Weekend Top 30 with Hollywood Hamilton, the Baka Boyz, and teen advice show Dawson McAllister Live.

External links

*fmq|WAJZ
*fml|WAJZ
* [http://www.jamz963.com/ Official JAMZ 96.3 Website]