WKXP
| City | Kingston, New York |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Mid-Hudson Valley |
| Branding | 94.3/97.3 The Wolf |
| Slogan | "This is Hudson Valley Country" |
| Frequency | 94.3 MHz |
| First air date | 1965 (as WGHQ-FM) |
| Format | Country music |
| ERP | 2,250 watts |
| HAAT | 166 meters |
| Class | A |
| Facility ID | 27395 |
| Callsign meaning | W KiX (Kicks) Poughkeepsie (old slogan) or a variation on Kingston-Poughkeepsie |
| Former callsigns | WGHQ-FM (1965-75) WBPM (1975-2003) |
| Owner |
Townsquare Media (Townsquare Media Poughkeepsie Licenses, LLC) |
| Sister stations | WALL, WCZX, WEOK, WKNY, WPDA, WPDH, WRRV, WZAD |
| Webcast |
Listen Live or Listen Live-iHeart |
| Website | hudsonvalleycountry.com |
WKXP (94.3 FM, "The Wolf") is a country music station licensed to Kingston, New York and serving the Hudson Valley of New York state. The station is owned by Townsquare Media and broadcasts at 2.25 kilowatts ERP from a tower in Kingston.
Since March 2006, WKXP's programming has been simulcasted on 97.3 WZAD Wurtsboro, New York, a move done in an attempt to revive the station's flagging ratings against heritage powerhouse WRWD-FM.
The frequency signed on in 1965 as WGHQ-FM, sister to the Thayer family-owned WGHQ. For its first decade, it simulcasted the AM's programming by day and aired automated easy listening during hours when the AM was not on the air. In 1975, WGHQ-FM split off from the AM, changed to an automated Top 40 format, and changed its calls to WBPM (for World's Best Popular Music) . Several years after this switch, family patriarch Harry Thayer transferred the station to his stepson Walter Maxwell and wife Jean.
By 1985, the station moved to totally local programming under the name B-94 and became a Kingston-centric alternative to the market-dominant WSPK. This arrangement worked for much of the next decade; however, around 1995, the station began to target Poughkeepsie, and adjusted its format to a Rhythmic Top 40 approach. Unlike most stations with such an approach, the rotation was peppered with obscure dance tracks and odd 80s gold; this rotation (mixed with the same jingles the station had used for the decade prior) led it to become a cult station among dance music fans. As the 1990s came to a close, the Maxwells were looking to get out of the radio business (as evidenced by how B-94 had few music adds, and was not replacing air staff, among other things). In early 1999, the Maxwells sold WBPM and WGHQ to Roberts Radio (owners of WRWD and WBWZ) and by that May, it was announced that WBPM would flip to the "Jammin' Oldies" format that was the rage at the time as Rhythm 94-3, with the flip taking place on June 10 of that year.
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