WRRV

WRRV is an alternative rock radio station licensed to Middletown, New York and serving the mid Hudson Valley and Catskills of New York state plus nearby areas in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  The station is owned by Townsquare Media and broadcasts at 6 kilowatts ERP from a tower on the northwest edge of Middletown.   Its studios are in Poughkeepsie, New York. 

WRRV's programming is a simulcast on 96.9 WRRB Arlington, New York which serves the Mid-Hudson Valley and vicinity.  Though on paper WRRV is seen as the primary station, in reality it is a two-frequency station.  To an extent, WRRB is the dominant frequency based on total audience and sales (and the fact that, since 2000, the station has been run out of the longtime studios of sister WPDH on Pendell Road in Poughkeepsie). 

History to 1995
92.7 signed on the air in 1966 as WALL-FM, sister to WALL and originally ran easy listening, then simulcast the popular top 40 format of the AM side.  WALL top 40 alumni include  Howard Hoffman (now behind the scenes at KABC, most notable as WABC's last music jock), Dave Charity, Larry Berger (both future of WPLJ), and future game show announcer Randy West in his first on-air job and Jimmy Howes

Around 1979, the WALL stations were sold to a group headed by New York City disc jockey Bruce Morrow ("Cousin Brucie").  The Middletown, New York Armory became “One Broadcast Plaza,” where Robert F.X. Sillerman and Morrow headquartered the Sillerman-Morrow Group, which purchased, operated and then sold radio and television stations around the country at a handsome profit.  With Morrow making the programming decisions, 92.7 changed format to an adult contemporary/oldies hybrid  as WKGL "92 Karat Gold".  When the Morrow-led group left radio ownership in 1985 and sold WALL/WKGL to Bell Broadcasting, "92 Karat Gold" was replaced by "92rock7", a Top 40/Rock hybrid which leaned heavily on new rock and energetic air personalities around the clock.   "92rock7" was well ahead of a late 1980s "Rock 40" radio industry trend and developed a cult following.  Regardless of this following, Bell Broadcasting fell into financial difficulties from their Sillerman-financed mortgage and sold WKGL and WALL in 1988 to Orange & Rockland Utilities, the locally based gas and electric provider for much of the station's coverage area and today a unit of Con Edison. 

Orange & Rockland, eliminated the on air personalities at the station, in turn giving them a reason switch the station's format.  By 1989, WKGL evolved into "The Orange" (with the new WKOJ calls) with a mainstream rock approach.  WKOJ featured a rock format without hard rock or outrageous personalities.  DJs were mostly limited to reading liner cards and did not talk over any music, production was sparse and the audience skewed toward women, not the traditional male AOR listener.  By 1993, ratings had slipped, and WKOJ fell far behind rival WPDH - which prompted more changes. 

Orange & Rockland had relied heavily on an outside consultant from the beginning of their venture into broadcasting, as station General Managers reported to management in a non-regulated natural gas division.  Faced with several underperforming properties, in mid-1993 the utility hired a successful and experienced broadcaster, Don Schwartz, to oversee its radio properties in New York, New Jersey, Maine and Illinois.  With new management in place in 1994, WKOJ had updated its play list, secured the local rights to Woodstock '94, jettisoned most pre-1975 titles, added Joe Kelly as the station's voice, built a new morning team around Joe Thomas (imported from WRCN, Long Island) and production director Chris Rogers and became "Today's Best Rock."  The station’s new approach yielded an immediate ratings rebound and a strong showing in the 18-34 demographic.  However, O&R was anxious to leave radio ownership amid a management scandal at the parent company.  Ownership deregulation brought lucrative offers to their doorstep.  O&R sold all of their radio holdings in 1995.   Rather than compete with WKOJ, WPDH owner Rob Dyson's Crystal Radio Group bought WALL/WKOJ and positioned the FM station to take audience from K-104 and simultaneously protect WPDH from an active rock competitor. 

1995 to present 
On April 3, 1995 at 10:00 a.m., WKOJ's format gave way to "The Rock Revolution" of WRRV, a format that is still in effect though with the new tagline "The New Rock Alternative".   Andrew Boris (who goes by his last name only on the radio) was the Rock Revolution's first DJ and hosted the morning show from the format change in 1995 until his retirement in early 2012, after which he was replaced by Deuce.  He is still currently the station's program director.   His former co-host Jen Coudrey died of sarcoma in June 2009.   The station has set up the Jennifer Coudrey Scholarship Fund, which helps women pursuing careers in physical therapy. 

Evolutions of WRRV's format

At the outset, WRRV's format actually included more classic rock than the station had featured in WKOJ's final year.   "The Rock Revolution" was an unusual blend of new and classic rock, both heavy metal and new alternative rock.  The station gave listeners conflicting signals, featuring Ozzy Osbourne in produced imaging pieces while playing Green Day and Blues Traveler in heavy rotation.  In late 1995, “Music All Morning with Boris” took over the morning drive slot.  By 1996, the station had dropped "The Rock Revolution" for "Pure Rock Alternative," focused exclusively on new alternative rock and the station took off.  In June 1997, Crystal bought the 96.9 frequency, which had simulcast WDST into Poughkeepsie, and began a simulcast of WRRV.  

In February 1999, WRRV made a quiet but sudden shift to a Modern AC-heavy approach; this move was the opposite of the leaning of other stations in the format in a harder direction akin to active rock.  At the time, the move seemed curious, but many of the stations that moved in the harder direction ended up changing their format entirely.  In time, the station evolved back to a more mainstream alternative sound.  In comparison to the format as a whole, WRRV still leans slightly towards some modern pop.  Since 1996, following an uneven first year, WRRV's ratings have been successful, regardless of approach, and it is among the higher rated of modern rock stations in the US.   The station has been highly successful from a business perspective over that time as well.  The station has withstood brief challenges from 96.1 The X in 1996 and from active rock-formatted 92.9 Rock from 2002 through 2004. 

As with the other Crystal stations, WRRV and WRRB were sold to Aurora Communications in October 2000 which, in turn, was bought out a year later by Cumulus Media.  WRRV is notable in being only one of two stations (WKNY in Kingston the other) from the Aurora purchase to face no major changes by Cumulus. 

On August 30, 2013, a deal was announced in which Cumulus would swap its stations in Dubuque, Iowa and Poughkeepsie, New York (including WRRV) to Townsquare Media in exchange for Peak Broadcasting's Fresno, California stations.  The deal was part of Cumulus' acquisition of Dial Global; Townsquare, Peak, and Dial Global are all controlled by Oaktree Capital Management.  The sale to Townsquare was completed on November 14, 2013. 

References

External links
WRRV website

Category:Modern rock radio stations in the United States
Category:Media in Orange County, New York
Category:Middletown, New York
RRV
Category:Radio stations established in 1966
Category:1966 establishments in New York (state)
Category:Townsquare Media radio stations