In the far north of Upstate New York, across Lake Champlain from the Burlington, Vt., metropolitan area, lies a unique Class C AM radio station that offers a wide mix of obscure Oldies as Plattsburgh’s “Hometown Radio” station.
Will that eclectic blend of classic hits and vintage 1970s Top 40 jingles soon disappear?
The station is heading to a new owner.
With 1kw during daylight hours and 940 watts at night from 1 tower on Route 9 just south of town, WIRY-AM 1340 serves Plattsburgh, along with the surrounding towns of Peru, Keeseville and Dannemora, N.Y.
It airs network news at the top of the hour and a blend of onetime Top 40 hits that could send more than one listener to their Shazam app. In the 2pm hour on Oct. 16, songs included the 1979 U.K. Top 10 “I Shoulda Loved Ya” by Narada Michael Walden; Tavares’ “More Than A Woman”; the 1958 Johnny Horton release “Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor”; the March 1967 Lesley Gore single “California Nights”; and the Easy Listening chart-topper exactly 46 years ago today: Art Garfunkel’s “All I Know.”
The songs are interspersed with long-ago jingles from WIRY’s time as a Top 40 station, serving a region influenced throughout the 1960s and 1970s by WKBW-AM 1520 in Buffalo, WABC-AM 770 in New York, WLS-AM 890 in Chicago and CKGM-AM 980 in Montreal.
Could this all come to an end soon?
As listeners can hear via pre-recorded on-air announcements, WIRY is being sold by Bill Santa-led Hometown Radio Inc.
The buyer is a similarly named entity comprised of shareholders Mark Henry, Joey Trombley, David Andrews and David Favro: Hometown Communications LLC.
Not involved in this transaction is WIRY-FM 100.7, a station owned by Radioactive LLC, the entity controlled by legendary radio industry leader Randy Michaels under his given name, Ben Homel. An LMA that sees a simulcast of WIRY-AM on the FM signal is to remain in place, and has been in place since March 2016.
For fans of WIRY, this signals that no immediate changes will be made — except, perhaps, more on-air advertising, as only national spots tied to the top-of-the-hour newscast were heard in the 3pm hour on Oct. 16.
Henry, Trombley, Andrews and Favro are presently operating WIRY via a local marketing agreement (LMA). Andrews (pictured, at left, at WIRY’s still-in-use vintage studio board) happens to be the WIRY News Director. He’ll be GM under the new ownership.
Favro is the Clinton County Sheriff, Trombley is associated with Kavanaugh Realty, and Henry is a Republican Clinton County Legislator.
The Hometown Communications quartet are getting the license, property and all tangible assets associated with WIRY.
The purchase price for WIRY: $287,500.
A $2,000 escrow payment is being held; the remainder is due in cash at closing.
The buyers are also assuming a lease for a 2014 Toyota Corolla with an outstanding payment of roughly $6,000 owed to Toyota Motor Co.
Ironically, Santa acquired WIRY, formerly on Cornelia Street, in 1995 as an add-on business to his Pontiac dealership.
For longtime residents of Upstate New York, Bill Santa Pontiac is a name as well-known as Walgreens — the business that now stands on Route 3 where Santa’s auto dealership once could be found.
In an interview with Strictly Business, Santa’s acquisition of WIRY was explained. From 1975, he rented WIRY’s backyard for $100 a month from owner Don Pelkey with no rent increase. In 1995, he put the lot on the market. With the threat of higher rent over new owners or the termination of a lease, he thought, “Where the heck am I going to put all my cars?”
He struck a deal with Pelkey to buy the lot — and WIRY.
“I told him, ‘Don, I don’t want to be a radio station owner.’ And he said, ‘Bill, it’s sales just like the car business. You’ll be able to do that,’” Santa told Strictly Business.
Santa looks back on that transaction as the best thing he’s ever done, the business magazine noted.
“Whenever the car business would get bad or I’d get upset about something, I’d walk over to my happy place,” Santa said. “It was different and it was fun. I enjoyed it.”
Now a snowbird in Florida, Hometown Radio will live on, with new stewards committed to bringing Plattsburgh the platters that matter, on 60-year-old turntables that still spin the vintage vinyl that makes WIRY a living museum to a business celebrating its centennial.
Helping them do it: Longtime radio personality Bob Pooler. Although he retired in 2017 after 45 years in the market, he’s back as the morning host.
