WAJZ

WAJZ

City	Voorheesville, New York
Broadcast area	Capital Region
Branding	Jamz 96.3
Slogan	"#1 for Hip-Hop and Today's Hits"
Frequency	96.3 MHz
First air date	1991
Format	Rhythmic Contemporary
ERP	470 watts
HAAT	293 meters
Class	A
Transmitter coordinates	42°38′10.69″N 73°59′57.9264″W / 42.6363028°N 73.999424000°W / 42.6363028; -73.999424000
Callsign meaning	W Albany JamZ
Former callsigns	WCDA (1991-96) WPTR (1996-99)
Owner	Pamal Broadcasting (6 Johnson Road Licenses, Inc.)
Sister stations	WFLY, WKLI, WROW, WYJB, WINU
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	www.jamz963.com

WAJZ is an urban-leaning 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 470 watts 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.

Programming

Former WAJZ logo, 1998–2005

Since the launch of Jamz 96.3 on December 23, 1998, it has become one of the most popular radio stations in the Albany market, initially as an urban contemporary radio station, and evolving to rhythmic contemporary by September 2005 due to WKKF's change in direction. As of 2011, the station tends to lean more urban rather than dance (similar to WQHT in New York City) due to sister mainstream CHR WFLY, and has ranked in the top 5 in several Arbitron books, a rarity for a lower-powered signal in the Albany market.

History

The station signed on May 24, 1991 as WCDA, running a full-service, locally programmed adult contemporary format, calling itself CD96.3. The format ran for three years, featuring live, personality-driven programming that included a full-time news staff. Unfortunately, the market was over-served by adult contemporary stations, and three years later the format was changed to a contemporary country format, initially using programming from Jones Satellite to target dominant country station WGNA-FM. Eventually, WCDA brought back in more locally produced programming. Like most locally owned and operated "single" stations, WCDA found itself competing against ownership groups that had acquired multiple stations. The Albany market, like most radio markets in the nation, saw all of its individually owned stations eventually sold to larger group broadcasters, WCDA among them.

In August 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 rhythmic-leaning WKKF forced the station to reevaluate its stance. In September 2005, it started shifting its direction towards a Rhythmic Contemporary approach (similar to WPKF in Poughkeepsie) due to the station not having competitors when they were an urban station. Since 2011, the station has returned to an Urban Contemporary direction, with most dance product shifting to sister station WFLY; however, the station is still reported as a Rhythmic Contemporary by Mediabase and Nielsen BDS.

External links

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.

Rhythmic Contemporary radio stations in the state of New York

By frequency	89.1 94.7 96.1 96.3 97.1 100.3 103.5 106.7

By callsign	WAJZ WJPZ WKGS WKTU WMVN WPKF WQHT WYUL

By city	Chateaugay Irondequoit Lake Success New York Poughkeepsie Sylvan Beach Syracuse Voorheesville

See also adult contemporary classic hits college country news/talk NPR oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in New York See also Contemporary Hit Radio Rhythmic KISS-FM MOVin Radio Disney

Pamal Broadcasting

AM Radio Stations:	WBNR WENU WGHQ WLNA WMML WROW WSYB

FM Radio Stations:	WAJZ WBPM WDVT WFFG-FM WFLY WHUD WINU WJEN WJJR WKBE WKLI-FM WNYQ WSPK WXPK WYJB WZRT

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