WGNY (AM)
| City | Newburgh, New York |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Newburgh-Middletown area |
| Branding | Fox 1220 ESPN |
| Frequency | 1220 kHz (also on HD Radio) |
| Translator(s) | 97.3 W247AW (Poughkeepsie) |
| First air date | February 25, 1933 |
| Format | Sports |
| Power | 10,000 watts day 180 watts night |
| Class | D |
| Facility ID | 63942 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 41°31′53.00″N 74°06′48.00″W / 41.5313889°N 74.1133333°W |
| Affiliations | ESPN Radio |
| Owner | Sunrise Broadcasting Corporation |
| Website | WGNY Online |
WGNY (1220 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a sports format, with programming from ESPN Radio. Licensed to Newburgh, New York, the station serves the Newburgh-Middletown area and is currently owned by Sunrise Broadcasting Corporation.
WGNY signed on as the Hudson Valley's first radio station on February 25, 1933, owned by wealthy real estate developer Robert Wilson Goelet. Goelet built his estate, Glenmere mansion, in the town of Chester, New York in 1911; in 1932, he decided to create a radio station that would broadcast from its grounds. (Goelet wanted the call letters WCNY, for "Chester New York", but as they were already taken, he settled for WGNY.)
In 1937, WGNY moved its operations to 161 Broadway in Newburgh; the following year, Goelet sold out to Merritt C. Speidel and the WGNY Broadcasting Company. Originally at 100 watts, WGNY upped its power to 250 watts in 1940 (and eventually 10,000 watts in the 1970s). Billing itself as "The Only Radio Station Between Albany and New York City", WGNY would have Orange County, New York to itself until Middletown's WALL signed on in 1942. (During the 1940s and 50s WGNY would have satellite studios in Middletown and Poughkeepsie.)
In 1952, WGNY switched news affiliations from the United Press to the AP, while Speidel retired and was replaced as president by George W. Bingham. In 1953, a third station in Orange County signed on -- WDLC in Port Jervis, New York—but WGNY's listening dominance in the county was near-total, capturing over half the audience as late as the mid-1950s.
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