A thumbnail history of WCNY-FM (CLASSIC FM)

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WCNY-FM 91.3, as it was to be known until 1985, signed-on during the evening of December 4th, 1971, with a broadcast from the studios of sister station WCNY-TV.  It was a grand, gala affair attended by the WCNY Board of Trustees and a host of local leaders and personalities.

You might be surprised to know that WCNY-FM was automated at the time.  Huge reels of audio tape held the music of about 1200 LPs and voice announcements, meticulously produced to trigger the next piece of programming.  The  broadcast day was 18-hours long.  The station signed-on at 7am and shut down at 1am the next morning.  There was a mix of programs that included classical music, some E-Z listening, talk, public affairs, and jazz with Leo Rayhill.  An NPR (National Public Radio) affiliate from the start, WCNY-FM added the news program “All things Considered” soon after sign-on.  Another staple, Bill Knowlton’s “Bluegrass Ramble” found its home here on Sunday evening in January, 1973.  In 1975, Don Dolloff hosted the first live morning show on the  station, “A World of Music” from 7‘til 11am,  Joan Salesman had a daily magazine format program, “Viewpoint”, from 11 ‘til 12:30, weekends were populated with many ethnic programs, and through the summers of 1977, ’78, and ’79, WCNY-FM was the home of Syracuse Chiefs baseball.

Summer, 1979, was a watershed moment for WCNY-FM because commercial classical station WONO changed its format.  Well-known figure in the Syracuse arts community, Henry Fogel had left the station two years before, and now, one sunny summer day, the new owners called WCNY to say they would gladly donate their 11-thousand LP library and Syracuse Symphony Orchestra archives, if WCNY would only come pick it all up... now.  And so it happened that WCNY-FM 91.3 became 80% classical and very much the station we all know today.

The Read-Out Service for the blind and visually handicapped signed-on in February, 1982.  Now it’s 24/7, but then the service was only provided 4 hours per day, 5 days per week, essentially to read-out the local newspaper.

WCNY-FM was part of the NPR 24-hour classical service offered starting in 1982, farming out production to the many affiliates.  You could have heard WCNY-FM Program Director Don Dolloff 8-hours per week on that national hook-up.  Don’s finger prints are everywhere at the station, because he has been PD since 1976 and currently holds the title of Station Manager.

In 1985, WUNY-FM was added to broadcast to Utica and the Mohawk Valley.  In 1986, classical music came to the North Country, when WJNY-FM signed-on in Watertown.  With the addition of Utica and finally Watertown, the umbrella name of CLASSIC FM was adopted, and so it is today.

Along the way, there have been several rebuild projects, the most recent in 2004, where the studios, LP/CD library, and offices have been reconfigured to suit the needs of the day.  Looking ahead, PD Don Dolloff notes, “With the advent of HD radio,history is still being written.”

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