Re: Albany Dial History

[Donna Halper <dlh@donnahalper.com>]

Jay wrote--
>Is there any online source that discusses the history of the
>Albany radio market?  Since I moved to the Capital Region from Danbury,
Connecticut
>less than two years ago, I only recall the two AM giants from my younger
>DX days:  WPTR ca. 1973-74, and a bit of WGY (who BTW always got
>creamed by CKLW in our neck of the woods).


Well, WGY certainly was among the first in the tri-cities market.  I am
sure there were some little stations owned by electric shops and department
stores in the early 20s that did not survive (I can look them up if I have
to...), by 1937, there were only 2 stations licensed to Albany itself--
WABY, which went on the air in 1934 with 250 watts at 1370 kHz, and WOKO,
which began in 1924, and was now at 1430 kHz with 1000 watts.  In 1937, WGY
had 50,000 watts at 790 kHz, far more than it had when it went on the air
around 1922... and it was the only station in Schenectady in 1937.  Troy
had one too-- one of the longest surviving college stations in fact-- owned
by Rensselaer Polytech, WHAZ had also been on the air since 1922, and now
had 1000 watts at 1300 on your AM dial...  So those were some of the
earliest surviving stations... 

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