DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. — Tune to 1230 kHz in Westchester County, and you’ll hear a Cumulus Media Sports Talker using a facility licensed for 1,000 watts from 1 tower located between the Sprain Brook Parkway and Interstate 87.
Its signal also reaches Rockland County, N.Y., and Bergen County, N.J.
Come May 24, it will become the third AM station in the nation to abandon its analog signal.
WFAS-AM 1230, licensed to White Plains, N.Y., is now authorized to transmit digitally. And, with its adoption of HD Radio, the station will cease its analog broadcasts.
In a message to listeners appearing on its website, Cumulus explains that once WFAS has switched to an all-digital operation, it will take an HD Radio-equipped device to receive the over-the-air signal. That said, online streaming won’t be impacted.
“WFAS will no longer be available on analog-only AM radios,” the station explains. “Broadcasting in digital will eliminate annoying static and interference, improve the sound quality to equal FM radio and streaming and extend the range for clear reception.”
Ahead of the analog signal’s demise, WFAS has shifted its programming from Sports Talk to News/Talk — a nod that the former owner of WABC-AM 770 believes it can compete, to albeit a limited extent, with an all-digital signal covering some of the New York Tri-State Area’s more affluent consumers.
Programming from Cumulus-owned Westwood One is being cleared on WFAS, which along with Class A WNBM-FM 103.9 are the company’s lone remaining New York-market stations and are reportedly still on the market without an acceptable buyer.
Cumulus representatives did not immediately respond to RBR+TVBR’s request for comment.
While WFAS promises improved over-the-air reception, it is one of seven co-channel stations within 150 miles of its Ardsley, N.Y. transmitter. Thus, it must still ensure that it does interfere with such stations as WEEX-AM in Easton, Pa.; WHUC-AM in Hudson, N.Y.; WNEZ-AM in Manchester, Conn.; or WBLQ-AM in Westerly, R.I.
The shift to HD Radio-only transmissions at WFAS follows a move by WMGG-AM 1470, in the Tampa market, which puts a Class B digital signal over metropolitan Hillsborough County, Clearwater and St. Petersburg. This began in January 2021.
The first station to go all-digital is Hubbard Broadcasting’s experimental WWFD-AM “The Gamut,” at 820 kHz in Frederick, Md.
— Dominick Stern, with editing by Adam Jacobson in Boca Raton, Fla.
