As promised, next to the WOKO/WJOY tower on Joy Drive in South Burlington, we find the Hall Communications studios. In addition to the two stations that transmit from here, these are also the studios for WKOL (105.1 Plattsburgh, N.Y.)—formerly the ultra-cool AAA WEXP-FM, “Experience 105.1”. Apparently the market couldn't support two cool AAA stations, so WNCS survived (good thing) and WEXP turned into another boring oldies station. Not unlike WOKO's displacement of country rimshot WLFE-FM ten years before, WEXP's shift to oldies as WKOL spelled the end of the format on the weaker WMNM (92.1 Port Henry, N.Y.) signal—it's now Clear Channel “smooth jazz” outlet WJVT.
(Notice how this market has so many stations licensed to New York, but oriented towards a Vermont audience? It's no accident: the economic prospects have been much brighter on the east side of Lake Champlain for the past two decades, particularly since the closure of Plattsburgh Air Force Base meant the departure of Clinton County's largest employer, and shattered the economy of the New York side for a decade.)
Copyright 2002, Garrett A. Wollman. All rights reserved. Photograph taken 2002-09-28.