WOFX (AM)

WOFX

City of license	Troy, New York
Broadcast area	Capital District, Adirondacks, Berkshires
Branding	Fox Sports 980
Slogan	The Capital Region's Sports Station
Frequency	980 kHz
First air date	April 15, 1940
Format	Sports radio
Power	5,000 watts unlimited
Class	B
Facility ID	37233
Callsign meaning	W OFX= Reversal of FOX
Former callsigns	WTRY (1940-2000)
Affiliations	Fox Sports Radio
Owner	Clear Channel Communications
Sister stations	WGY, WGY-FM, WRVE, WKKF, WPYX, WTRY-FM
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	foxsports980.com

WOFX, known as Fox Sports 980, is an AM radio station broadcasting on 980 kHz licensed to Troy, New York. The station is owned by Clear Channel Communications and runs a sports radio format and is the Fox Sports Radio affiliate for the Capital District, Adirondacks, and Berkshires.

History

From the station's signon in 1940 until 2000, the station was known as WTRY which made an early splash by taking the CBS affiliation from WOKO. When WROW took the CBS affiliation in 1954, they briefly were the ABC affiliate before WPTR took that affiliation several years later. In the early 1960s, the station took a Top 40 format (which gained a simulcast on 106.5 MHz, now classic rock WPYX, briefly in the early 1970s), which they maintained in some form until the early 1980s when it went through a long-term evolution which resulted in the station becoming oldies in 1986. In 1992, WTRY gained a simulcast on 98.3 FM which they lost in 1994, then regained in a mutual arrangement two years later in which the FM became primary and the AM secondary with the AM splitting for alternate programming at points. WTRY went through several ownership changes: in 1965, the station was acquired by Kopps-Monahan Communications, Inc. In 1972, WTRY-AM and WTRY-FM (today's WPYX) were sold to Scott Broadcasting Company of Pennsylvania. In 1985, television personality Merv Griffin through his company Merv Griffin Enterprises brought the stations and then sold to Capstar Broadcasting (which was controlled by billionaire mogul Tom Hicks) in 1994. In 1999, Capstar merged with another Hicks-owned company Chancellor Media Corporation to form AMFM Inc.

After the merger of AMFM Inc. and Clear Channel in 2000, the WTRY stations were permanently split with the AM flipping to sports and becoming WOFX while the oldies format stayed on the FM side. In its 60 years as WTRY, it gave birth or adopted three other stations at varying times: WTRI-FM 102.7 (in the early 1950s, went silent), WTRI-TV (1954–1959; now WNYT), and WTRY-FM 106.5 (now WPYX).

On September 20, 2010, with the flip of WHRL to a simulcast of talk radio WGY, WOFX's programming can now be heard on WGY-FM's HD2 channel.

Programming

In addition to Fox Sports network programming, the station is home to The Jim Rome Show in middays. The First Team on Fox is from 6:00 AM to 9:00 AM, then Big Board Sports from 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. (hosted by WNYT sportscaster Rodger Wyland). The Drive on Fox is from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM. One other local program, the auto racing show Racing with Heart with Kim Hart, airs Sunday evenings at 9:00 p.m during the racing season. Previously, WOFX aired Imus in the Morning, a program which predated the sports format, however the show was taken off the schedule at the end of 2006 and replaced by Fox Sports Radio's Steve Czaban.

In addition to sports talk, the station clears a sizeable amount of play by play on both the local and national levels. WOFX currently is home to Boston Red Sox baseball, University at Albany football and men's basketball, some Syracuse University basketball games not heard on WGY, plus Westwood One's coverage of the National Football League and the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship among other events. Previously, WOFX has held the rights to the New York Giants (which were moved to sister WPYX), New York Jets football (currently on WTMM-FM), New York Mets baseball, as well as Albany Devils (previously the Albany River Rats) hockey (currently on WTMM-FM). WOFX is also the Albany market home to the syndicated Cigar Dave show, currently airing Sunday mornings from 8:00-10:00 a.m.

In the rare case of play by play conflicts, the latter games are usually heard on sister WTRY-FM, a procedure that has become more solidly done in the wake of the mild success of UAlbany football and the success of the Mets in the 2006 season.

External links

• Query the FCC's AM station database for WOFX
• Radio-Locator Information on WOFX
• Query Arbitron's AM station database for WOFX