On May 28, 2022, Bill O’Shaughnessy died at the age of 84. An iconic broadcast station owner in New York, O’Shaughnessy was a champion of local radio, and in the last decade reaching focused his Whitney Global Media on reaching underserved communities.
In July 2023, RBR+TVBR confirmed that Hope Media Group, the religious broadcast entity created with the merger of the parent of KSBJ in Houston with Way Media, would be acquiring WVIP-FM 93.5 from Whitney. That left a Class D AM licensed to the Westchester County city of New Rochelle.
Whitney parent Hudson-Westchester Radio Inc. has now decided to donate WVOX-AM 1460 and its FM translator.
This will formally mark the end of a 55-year-old radio broadcast operation, once closing of the WVIP and WVOX transactions transpires.
The recipient of WVOX is the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC). A letter was signed on August 16 by Hudson-Westchester Radio President David O’Shaughnessy, Bill’s son.
Accepting the donation of WVOX-AM and W252DX at 98.3 MHz in White Plains are MMTC President Robert Branson and Chang Media Group President and Owner Jeff Chang.
Chang’s involvement is key, as he will be assigned the properties from the MMTC immediately upon closing.
W252DX uses a tower leased from Cumulus Media, and this agreement is being transferred to the MMTC. It has a miniscule 15-watt directional FM signal designed to protect WDAQ-FM in Danbury, Conn.; WKJY-FM in Hempstead, N.Y.; WMGQ-FM in New Brunswick, N.J.; and WSUL-FM in Monticello, N.Y. As such, it is best-heard in Tarrytown, Nyack, Ardsley, and Elmsford, the latter of which has seen an influx of Ecuadorian immigrants in recent years.
Class D WVOX has a 500-watt daytime signal audible across lower Westchester County; the Bronx and Queens; and northern Nassau County, N.Y. It can also be heard in parts of Bergen County, N.J.
