Classic hits radio station in North Adams–Pittsfield, Massachusetts
WUPE-FM (100.1 FM) is a Classic Hits radio station owned by Townsquare Media. Licensed to North Adams, Massachusetts, United States, WUPE-FM serves Pittsfield.[2]
History
The station went on the air July 12, 1964[3] as WMNB-FM, owned by the Hardman family along with WMNB (1230 AM) and the North Adams Transcript.[4] The Hardmans sold Northern Berkshire Broadcasting to Donald A. Thurston in 1966;[5] the company became Berkshire Broadcasting after the purchase of WSBS in Great Barrington in 1968.[6] By 1973, WMNB-FM had a beautiful music format, separately-programmed from the AM station[7] (though even at WMNB-FM's inception the two stations did not duplicate more than thirty percent of their programming[4]). The callsign was modified to simply WMNB on January 30, 1988,[8] after the AM station was renamed WNAW. During the mid-1990s, WMNB's format incorporated smooth jazz and soft adult contemporary programming;[9] as a whole, however, it remained one of the few remaining beautiful music stations.[10]
From 2000-2003, Gennady Katsov was editor in chief.[11][12]
Vox Communications purchased Berkshire Broadcasting in November 2003,[13] with the sale closing in May 2004.[14] The next month, WMNB began simulcasting an oldies genre with another Vox station, WUPE (95.9).[15] The station took the WUPE-FM callsign two years later, as part of a larger shuffle resulting in WBEC-FM moving from 105.5 (now WWEI) to 95.9.[16] WUPE-FM's programming also began to be heard on an AM station in Pittsfield on 1110 AM.[17] Vox transferred most of its stations to Gamma Broadcasting in late 2012.[18] In August 2013, Gamma reached a deal to sell its Berkshire County radio stations, including WUPE-FM, to Reed Miami Holdings;[19] the sale was canceled on December 30, 2013.[20]
WUPE-FM's tower, along with an adjacent cell tower, collapsed on March 29, 2014 as a result of high winds, forcing the station off the air. The station stated that it would resume broadcasting with a temporary antenna by April 1. WUPE's simulcast on 1110 AM in Pittsfield and its web stream were not affected by the tower collapse.[21]
In October 2016, Gamma Broadcasting agreed to sell its stations to Galaxy Communications;[22] the sale fell through, and in 2017 the stations were acquired by Townsquare Media.[23]
