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WSPK (104.7 FM broadcasting, "K104.7") is a contemporary hit radio station licensed to Poughkeepsie, New York. Its studios are located on NY 52 Business in the town of Fishkill (with a Beacon address). It is owned by Pamal Broadcasting and transmits from a tower atop Beacon Mountain in Fishkill.
WSPK's main coverage area is centered on the Mid-Hudson Valley, with secondary targeting into the eastern Catskills; Northern Westchester County; the Danbury, Connecticut, area; Sussex County, New Jersey; and Pike County, Pennsylvania. For many years, the station's top-of-hour ID mentioned its coverage of parts of five states (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts) and "an itty-bitty piece of Vermont". WSPK reaches the Bronx and, until the launch of stations at adjacent frequencies in the early 1990s, Albany as well. In recent years illegal pirate broadcasters have begun broadcasting on 104.7 in the Bronx and Brooklyn which interfere with K-104's signal in Southern Westchester and the Bronx where the station used to be listenable all the time.
In its early years, the station played classical music and for a time was a part of a regional network operated by station WQXR. In 1950, WHVA was sold to the Rural Radio Network, which later was renamed the "Northeast Radio Network". The call sign was changed to WRRH. In June 1953, WRRH was sold to Dutchess Broadcasting Corporation, owners of WKIP. This would make the second time the station was co-owned with WKIP. The call letters were changed to WKIP-FM and the station adopted a full-time simulcast of WKIP's full service format.
In 1968 WKIP-FM added stereo capabilities and split off from its AM sister station with a Top 40 format.
In 1970 WKIP-FM was sold to Beacon Broadcasting, owner of WBNR, and took on new call letters: WSPK (Stereo Poughkeepsie). With new owners came a 60% simulcast with WBNR that created a varied middle of the road/classical/beautiful music format which was commonplace on many FM stations at the time. The new owners also chose an unusual identifier for an FM frequency: 10-47 (said on-air as "ten-forty-seven").
By 1972, the station changed to a country music format to counter the newly relaunched WPDH. Country did not last long on the frequency and in the fall of 1974, WSPK adopted a Top 40 format under the moniker "10-47, More Music!", which ran from the fall of 1974 to early 1977. During this period, WSPK simulcast the WBNR morning show hosted by Rick Liotta. The station also simulcast with WBNR on the weekends, breaking away for network newscasts on the half-hour and when WBNR ran Yankees baseball, WSPK played pre-recorded oldies tapes voiced by Liotta. The national radio show American Top 40 with Casey Kasem also debuted during this time; WKNY in Kingston would become the regional affiliate, however, through the 1980s as WPLJ took AT40 following its July 1983 switch to Top 40. At the time the 95.5 MHz reached much of the mid-Hudson Valley thanks to FM via cablevision.
In the spring of 1977, WSPK again went after WPDH which had flipped from country to automated album-oriented rock (AOR) a year earlier with instant ratings success. WSPK's AOR format concentrated on quieter tracks than PDH's approach and struggled as WPDH refined its rock format. In 1978, SPK went to an unusual CHR/oldies hybrid called "Gold N' Stereo" combining music by Sugarhill Gang, Neil Diamond, The Who, Abba, Free, Prince, and the Monkees. The station itself evolved to a more pure CHR "hit music" format from 1980 through 1981.
By the early 1990s, K-104 evolved to a more adult-leaning approach as the CHR format went into a short-term decline. The decline was mainly due to country music's resurgence immediately following the Gulf War. With this, the numbers weakened even though there was no real competition for its target audience. In 1996, owner Beacon Broadcasting sold their remaining stations Enterprise Media of Binghamton. Under this new ownership, Mark Bolger left the station, and Stew Schantz handled the K-104 morning drive. Their ownership was short lived, as they in turn sold WBNR and WSPK to Pamal Broadcasting in 1998. Upon Pamal's take over, Schantz resigned from the station. He later went on to do behind-the-scenes work in Utica, Albany and Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Schantz died in June 2010. The sale to Pamal ended K-104's running of weekend shows such as Open House Party with John Garabedian, Classic Dance Tracks with Stevie T, as well as the K-104 Hometown Countdown.
After Schantz's departure, Brian Krysz took on the program director's responsibilities and hired Kent Bonham ("Woodman") to handle the K-104 morning drive. Krysz programmed the station until May 1999, when Scotty Mac (formerly nights in 1991) took over. The changes led to a re-imaged CHR approach which leaned towards dance music. The station's ratings improved, regaining top position in many key demographics, as well as the 12+ bragging rights. Though in recent years weak competition has come in the form of WPKF and the station is a perennial #1, K-104 is still a dominant force in the Hudson Valley radio markets. K-104 also has the distinction as being the oldest FM 24/7 top 40 station in continuous operation in the United States, as this station pioneered such format on the FM radio dial. Other radio stations in the country including WPLJ, WHTZ (Z-100), KISS 108 (WXKS-FM) Boston and KIIS-FM Los Angeles, would later evolve and emulate into similar 24/7 radio formats. The late Stew Schantz is considered a pioneer in establishing this type of radio format, as he is listed as one of the notable program directors and disk jockeys in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (alongside Alan Freed, Dick Clark, Casey Kasem and many others, local and national). Jarrett "Skywalker" Galeno joined K-104 in 2000, from WBLI. Holding down assistant program director responsibilities, he also hosts afternoon drive.
Kent "Woodman" Bonham originally hosted the K-104 morning show from 1998 to 2006. Upon his exit, Chris Marino took the helm from 2006 until 2009 when Kent "Woodman" Bonham returned. Woodman has continued to host mornings ever since. The current morning line-up features co-host Jill, long-time morning news voice and K-104 personality, Bill Beale, and a diverse cast of characters.
K-104 is known for its use of voice-over veteran Mark Driscoll as the station's voice from 1994 to the end of 1997 and from 1999 through today. Before Driscoll, Mitch Craig was the voice guy.
K-104 is the Top 40 radio station in the United States whose terrestrial radio is broadcast over more states than any other Top 40 station in the country and currently can be heard in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.
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