NorthEast Radio Watch 3/6/2023: A Pole Rises on the Border

In this week’s issue… Stunt format arouses Kingston attention – New Hudson Valley morning show – Audacy cuts more HD subchannels – WBLQ moves to new studios

By SCOTT FYBUSH

Jump to: ME – NH – VT – MA – RI – CT – NY – NJ – PA – Canada

*When radio owners Jon Pole and Andrew Dickson expanded from their base in CANADA to acquire WLYK (102.7 Cape Vincent), a class A signal that covers the Kingston market from just across the St. Lawrence River, they faced a challenge: on a radio dial full of formats from big owners Bell, Corus and Rogers, plus local college radio and lots of signals from across the border, how do you stand out?

When Rogers ended its long-running lease on the 102.7 signal at 1 PM on March 1, shutting off the “Kiss” top-40 format it had been programming, Pole and Dickson answered that question by launching “102.7 the Pole,” promising a format of nonstop rhythmic hits, rap and rock of the sort that would be played in gentlemen’s clubs.

Wait – what??

It’s a stunt, of course, but “Music for the Grind” is a particularly clever one, first launched in Denver a few years back by consultant Paige Nienaber and executed especially well by the creative team at Pole and Dickson’s Canadian stations.

(It also needed a US engineer to handle moving the WLYK connections out of Community Broadcasters’ Watertown studios and out to the transmitter site in Cape Vincent, and that turned out to be us here at Fybush Media. They didn’t tell us we’d be paid entirely in dollar bills…)

What’s actually next for 102.7 now that it’s picked up local attention with the stunt? We’re waiting to hear, too, as it goes up against Bell’s country and AC formats, Corus’ classic rock and hot AC, and Rogers’ remaining lineup of country and rock.