WHVW

Infobox Radio station
name = WHVW


city = Hyde Park, New York
area = Mid-Hudson Valley
branding =
slogan = "The Heart and Soul of American music."
airdate = July 4, 1963
frequency = 950 kHz
format = Americana, blues, country, pre-1965 music
power = 500 watts (day) 57 watts (night)
class = D
callsign_meaning = W Hudson Valley W
former_callsigns = WHVW (1963-76)
WWWI (1976-78)
WHPN (1978-82)
owner = J.P. Ferraro
webcast =
website = http://www.whvw.net
affiliations =

WHVW (950 AM) is a radio station licensed to Hyde Park, New York that is noted for its eclectic format based on old-fashioned blues, jazz, country and Americana music. In a time of corporate ownership of broadcast outlets, it is also one of only two Hudson Valley radio stations(along with Warwick's WTBQ) that are independently owned. WHVW broadcasts on 950 kHz with 500 watts daytime and 57 watts nighttime from a tower located off Route 9G in the Town of Hyde Park. Studios are located on Main Street in Poughkeepsie, New York.

History

WHVW signed on the air on July 4, 1963 as a daytime-only station broadcasting from a tower just north of the Poughkeepsie/Hyde Park line. Launching with a Top 40 format that superserved the Poughkeepsie area, the station became instantly popular and within a few years was the #1 station in Poughkeepsie with shares at one point totaling more than all other stations combined. In 1966, WHVW would add FM service on 97.7 MHz (today's WCZX).

WHVW would remain in the Top 40 format until 1976 when new ownership saw the Top 40 format, still getting good ratings, as having passed its time and flipped the station to all-news (via NBC's News and Information Service) as WHPN, continuing the format after NBC folded the service in 1977. This move reduced the station's audience considerably and in 1978 the format changed again to adult contemporary with the new calls of WWWI coming in. Positioning itself as a more musical alternative to WKIP, the station struggled to find an audience as the station bled money.

In 1982, WWWI's owners filed for bankruptcy and the future of the station was in doubt. While the sale of WJJB (the former WHVW-FM) helped matters, ownership nearly donated WWWI to a Christian group that would later become the genesis of Sound of Life Radio. Instead, the station was sold and upon sale flipped to standards with the WHVW calls returning to the air. For the next decade, WHVW would flip between various oldies and adult standards formats, often changing its format as a result of a higher powered, better funded station coming into competition. WHVW would add a minuscule amount of nighttime power in the mid 1980s, while moving its studios to Market Street in Poughkeepsie. In 1989 the station moved back to the original "Broadcast House" on Route 9G in Hyde Park, NY.

A similar financial crisis in 1992 led to WHVW's sale to current owner Joseph-Paul (J. P.) Ferraro, a former pirate radio broadcaster. Noted by some as an eccentric, Ferraro would change the format to something that would share his musical tastes with the community.

"Pirate Joe"

When Ferraro closed on the station, he would reinstate a series of WHVW jingles not heard on the air in 20 years to the air while installing himself as an on-air personality hosting two shows under two personas; an afternoon show entitled "The Pirate Joe Country Music Radio Show and Old Blues and R&B Extravaganzo" and an evening classical music show done under the more sedate J.P. Ferraro. The "Pirate Joe" nickname comes from Ferraro's involvement in operating a pirate radio station in Yonkers, New York with a young Allan Weiner in the early 1970s. [http://www.diymedia.net/feature/micro/f110699.htm]

WHVW's musical library is one of the most obscure in the United States, being based mostly on pre-1965 music that was originally issued on 78 rpm records; this music rarely gets airplay anywhere except on some low-powered college or community stations. Non-music programming on WHVW includes some weekend religious and ethnic programs, a weekly talk show done with the Poughkeepsie Chamber of Commerce, a high school sports program, and a weekly program hosted by Poughkeepsie Journal columnist and former WEOK morning host Larry Hughes.

The mystique of WHVW's unique format has led to there being something of a cult following of the station. Though not a factor in its own market and not having been rated in many years, WHVW has been profiled by many publications throughout the northeast including a 2001 piece by "The New York Times".

External links

* [http://www.whvw.net WHVW official website]
*AMQ|WHVW
*AML|WHVW
*AMARB|WHVW
* [http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2005/12/adventures_in_a_1.html WFMU "Beware of The Blog" profile on WHVW (includes audio clips)]