WSYR-FM

WSYR-FM is a news/talk radio station serving Syracuse and central New York. The iHeartMedia-owned outlet broadcasts at 106.9 MHz with an ERP of 9 kW and is licensed to Solvay, New York. It is currently a simulcast of WSYR (570 AM).

History

The original WSYR-FM, on 94.5 MHz, has since been rebranded as WYYY. It remains WSYR's sister station and carries an adult contemporary music format. For several years, the WSYR-FM call signs had been parked on the current WPHR-FM (FM 94.7) in Gifford, Florida.

The current WSYR-FM, which signed in 1981 as WPCX, has been licensed for most of its time on air to the city of Auburn, New York. Through most of its first decade, 106.9 was operating with a format of country music. Then by 1997, the station began targeting the area as Smooth Jazz WHCD. By 2000 it would flip to Urban Contemporary, in an attempt to complement their Rhythmic-leaning Top 40 sister station WWHT (who later shifted to Rhythmic Top 40 full-time by November 2011) and to fill the void left open by WRDS, who lasted one year in the format. After three years they would evolve into an urban AC direction, focusing on targeting the African-American community and in the process allowing WWHT to expand their Rhythmic-heavy playlist with the R&B/Hip-Hop product. For the first three years as an urban AC, there was no competitor until WOLF-FM flipped to the MOViN format.