City | Briarcliff Manor, New York |
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Broadcast area | Westchester County, New York New York City |
Branding | 107.1 The Peak |
Slogan | "World Class Rock for New York's Backyard" |
Frequency | 107.1 MHz |
First air date | April 8, 1960 |
Format | Adult album alternative |
ERP | 1,900 watts |
HAAT | 180 meters (590 ft) |
Class | A |
Facility ID | 50056 |
Transmitter coordinates | 41°4′49.55″N 73°48′24.4256″W / 41.0804306°N 73.806784889°W |
Callsign meaning | Similar to WSPK (adopted during K-104/K-107 simulcast) or WXPeak |
Former callsigns | WRNW (1960–1982) WZFM (1982–1991) WXPS (1991–1994) WRGX (1994–1997) WWXY (1997–1998) WYNY (1998–2003) |
Owner |
Pamal Broadcasting (6 Johnson Road Licenses, Inc.) |
Sister stations | WBNR, WBPM, WGHQ, WHUD, WLNA, WSPK |
Webcast | Listen live |
Website | 1071thepeak.com |
WXPK (107.1 FM), branded as 107.1 The Peak, is an American adult album alternative music formatted radio station in White Plains, New York. The station is owned by Pamal Broadcasting and transmits from a tower in the Westchester County Correctional Facility with an effective radiated power of 1,900 watts.
On April 8, 1960, WRNW got its start at 454 Main Street in Mount Kisco playing a mixture of light classical and easy listening music, and it went stereo in 1964. Founder and broadcast engineer Richard Burden was instrumental in the development FM stereo broadcasting. By 1967, the station had moved to the second floor at 78 Lexington Avenue, and in June of that year, program director Don Bayley adopted an album rock format making WRNW one of the very first FM stations in the New York City area to play rock music. (New York's WOR-FM went rock in 1966, but was hampered by an AFTRA strike; WNEW-FM started their "Progressive Rock" format in October, 1967.) In 1969, the station was sold to Lake Champlain Broadcasting Company, which shared owners with 105.9 WHBI in Newark. WRNW then played big band music during the day and sold block time from 10pm–2am weekdays and all day weekends to clients shared with WHBI. According to WRNW's founder, the letters "RNW" stood for "Radio of Northern Westchester."
In 1971, WRNW changed to an easy listening format, and then to Top 40. In 1972, the station transitioned to a progressive rock format. On Monday, July 9, 1973, WRNW inaugurated transmissions from its new Briarcliff Manor studio on the second floor of a small house at 55 Woodside Avenue. The new transmitter was in Irvington, blanketing White Plains, Yonkers and lower Westchester. It was there, in 1976 that Howard Stern obtained his first paying radio job as a DJ and program director.Meg Griffin, later of WNEW-FM, WPIX, WXRK, WFUV, and Sirius Satellite Radio, was also music director of the station during the mid-70s. Ted Utz also began his professional career at the station in 1976 and went on to program and manage pioneering stations like WMMR in Philadelphia and WNEW FM. Earle Bailey (WLIR, WNEW-FM, WMMR Philadelphia, Sirius XM Radio's Deep Tracks) manned a shift at the station during the progressive rock era as did Doug Berman, now producer of National Public Radio programs Car Talk and Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!.