WJZZ is a radio station at 88.1 MHz in Montgomery, New York.

WJZZ
Frequency88.1 MHz
BrandingPulse 87
Programming
FormatDance/EDM
Ownership
OwnerHudson Valley Public Radio, Inc.
History
Former call signs
  • WGMY (2006–2009)
  • WNYX (2009–2014)
  • WQCD (2014)
Call sign meaning
Jazz
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID89510
ClassA
ERP
  • 1,150 watts
  • 60 watts (APP)
HAAT35 meters (115 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
Translator(s)
  • W258CU 99.5 (Redwood, NY)
  • W201DO 88.1 (Milford, PA)
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.pulse87ny.com

The station, organized as a 501(c)(3), went off the air in September 2018, due to lack of funding;[2] the station briefly broadcast again on August 22, 2019, to keep its license.

History

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Call sign

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The call letters WJZZ originally belonged to an FM station in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It started in 1960 by John E. Metts, of Weston, Connecticut, the Vice President of a Bridgeport news station, WICC.[3] Mr. Metts started the venture in partnership with Dave Brubeck as the program director. The Connecticut WJZZ began as an all-jazz station and was one of the pioneers of the "all-jazz" format. In 1964 it switched to broadcasting the "Top 60" classical performances, compiled in part by Leonard Bernstein. In early 1967, when it began broadcasting in FM stereo, it expanded its lineup to the "Top 100" classical performances while still retaining its original WJZZ call sign. WJZZ dropped the call letters to become WPSB on September 13, 1971; the station changed later to WEZN-FM.

In 1974, the WJZZ call letters landed on Detroit station WCHD-FM. WJZZ (105.9 FM) was a popular classic jazz/jazz fusion station in Detroit and became one of the first U.S. stations ever to use the smooth jazz format. WJZZ was flipped to an urban contemporary format in August 1996, and its call sign changed back to WCHD, then later to WDMK. When Bell Broadcasting dropped the WJZZ call letters from the Detroit station, it parked them at stations it owned elsewhere in the state, first 1250 AM in Bridgeport, Michigan, then 1210 AM in Kingsley.

In June 2001, 107.5 FM in the Atlanta area changed format to smooth jazz and adopted the WJZZ call letters; it is now WAMJ. From 2009 to 2014, the calls were assigned to a radio station in North Salem, New York that is now WPUT.

In the summer of 2024, WJZZ returned to the air, broadcasting the internet stream of EDM-formatted Pulse 87, thus bringing the format and branding back to terrestrial FM in New York state; "Pulse 87" had been last heard on WNYZ-LD until 2009, and now puts the station in competition with Pamal Broadcasting's top 40 (CHR)-formatted WSPK.

Translators

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Call sign Frequency City of license FID ERP (W) HAAT Class Transmitter coordinates FCC info
W201DO 88.1 FM Milford, Pennsylvania 156320 55 −32 m (−105 ft) D 41°20′10.3″N 74°47′43.5″W / 41.336194°N 74.795417°W / 41.336194; -74.795417 LMS
W258CU 99.5 FM Redwood, New York 139344 1 0 m (0 ft) D 40°58′19.3″N 72°20′52.2″W / 40.972028°N 72.347833°W / 40.972028; -72.347833 LMS

References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WJZZ". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "JazzFM - Hudson Valley Public Radio". JazzFM.
  3. ^ "WJZZ An Iconic Detroit Jazz Station". WJZZ An Iconic Detroit Jazz Station. Retrieved April 22, 2024.
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