WDDH

WDDH
City	Saint Marys, Pennsylvania
Broadcast area	Saint Marys, Pennsylvania Ridgway, Pennsylvania Emporium, Pennsylvania and the western Twin Tiers and Dubois, PA
Branding	"97.5 The Hound"
Slogan	Today's Best Country & Yesterday's Favorites
Frequency	97.5 (MHz)
Format	Country
ERP	19,500 watts
Class	B
Callsign meaning	Dennis D. Heindl
Owner	Laurel Media Inc.
Webcast	http://houndcountry.com/pages/listen-live
Website	http://www.houndcountry.com

WDDH is an American radio station, licensed to Saint Marys, Pennsylvania. The station operates at the assigned frequency of 97.5 MHz and an equivalent radiated power of 50,000 watts. Its studios and offices are located in Ridgway Township, near the summit of Bootjack Mountain, about 3 miles south of downtown Ridgway and about 2 miles west of its city of license. Its transmitter site is located in Lamont, about 2.5 miles south of Kane, Pennsylvania. The station also uses a booster, WDDH-FM1 with 250 Watts at 171 feet AGL along South Highland Street in DuBois, about 20 miles south of the Ridgway studios.

History: Beginnings as WKYN-FM

The station first went on the air on April 22, 1986 as WKYN, and was founded by suburban Pittsburgh radio personality Bob Stevens, who had been looking to buy or build a radio station of his own in Western Pennsylvania. That opportunity presented itself in 1985, when he successfully applied for the license to operate at 97.5 FM, originally licensed to Ridgway.

For the first three years, the studios and transmitter were located at the transmitter site in a remote, wooded area of Jones Township near Rasselas, Pennsylvania, with business and sales offices in downtown St Marys. Signals were radiated by a 4-bay, ERI "Rototiller" antenna atop a newly erected 535 foot tower. On several occasions, air staff were stranded at the studio/transmitter facility due to heavy snow accumulation and ice storms. In 1989, Stevens purchased a defunct drive-in theater south of St Marys, and consolidated both the studios and offices there.

As the station grew, Stevens determined that the station would reach a significantly larger audience if the transmitter site was relocated to the west. Much of the original signal coverage area fell on a largely unpopulated area of north-central Pennsylvania known as "God's Country", and was spotty in several better-populated communities to the west. A new transmitter site south of Kane was found and construction was started. The STL path from the Fairview studios to the new transmitter site was not possible due to obstruction by Bootjack Mountain. Stevens renovated a vacant, former restaurant at the top of Bootjack Mountain to house the offices and studios, where they remain today at 14902 Bootjack Road. The old tower and transmitter plant in Jones Township were left standing, and purchased by a cellular phone service provider.

Programming

WKYN, billed as "97 KYN", signed on with an Adult CHR format. Stevens stuck with this formula for seven years, until the opportunity presented itself in 1993 to acquire WCCZ (now WPCL) in Spangler. WCCZ operated on the adjacent frequency of 97.3 and could be heard clearly in the more populous area of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Stevens purchased WCCZ and changed the call letters to WXVE, turning it into a translator to extend WKYN's signal into the Johnstown market. At the time of the acquisition, WKYN became WKVE (an allusion to Pittsburgh's legendary AOR station WDVE) and the station changed format from Adult CHR to AOR, as there was no album rock formatted station in Johnstown at that time.

In 1996, Stevens had the opportunity to buy a radio station closer to his hometown in Western Pennsylvania, purchasing WHJB (now WKHB) and WBCW (now WKFB) in Greensburg and Jeannette, respectively. WKYN was sold to Cam Communications, reverting to Adult CHR as "97.5 The Peak". Call letters were changed to WPKK. In 2001, Cam Communications sold WPKK to Laurel Media, Inc of Ridgway, a company owned by Dennis Heindl, who previously owned WLMI in Kane and held a construction permit for an FM station in Reynoldsville (now WDSN.) DDH are the initials of Dennis D. Heindl. A lifelong country music lover, Heindl converted the station format to Country.

Three years later, ownership was transferred from Laurel Media Inc. to Intrepid Broadcasting owned by Michael Stapleford.

In the Summer of 2008, ownership reverted to Laurel Media Inc. and Dennis D. Heindl. Heindl has kept the Country Format and has added ABC News and is host of the Award Winning Program "Talk Of The Town." Lou Dobbs has apperared as Heindl's guest on "Talk Of The Town." WDDH is known as "The Hound" and its logo is recognizable. The Hound carries Pittsburgh Pirate Baseball. Heindl is a part owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Hound covers 15 Counties in Northwest Pennsylvania and has a faithful listening audience, being rated #1 in Elk County by Arbitron in 2008. Despite not actually existing in the Olean, New York media market (which includes Bradford, Kane and Coudersport in Pennsylvania), it still registers in the Arbitron books there, higher than some of the local stations. The Hound carries local sports in its listening area including but not limited to Wrestling. High School Football is extremely well received in the listening area. Local news is a priority and although WDDH has a large listening area it is local to much of the listening area.

WDDH Today

WDDH continues to serve more than a million listeners in North Western Pennsylvania and western New York with a contemporary country format. Programming on the station includes Big D and Bubba in mornings, JJ Michaels middays, Jason Allan in the afternoon, Rick Porter on Saturday afternoons, a weekend show with syndicated host Rick Jackson, a polka program with various hosts and a public affairs program hosted by Heindl entitled "Talk of the Town," .

Current Programming

Monday - Friday 12:00 AM - 6:00 AM - The Alan Kabel Show 6:00 AM - 10:00 AM - Big D & Bubba 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM - JJ Michaels 3:00 PM - 8:00 PM - Jason Allan 8:00 PM - 12:00 AM - Today's Best Country & Yesterday's Favorites

Saturday 12:00 AM - 6:00 AM - The Alan Kabel Show 6:00 AM - 7:00 AM - Today's Best Country & Yesterday's Favorites 7:00 AM - 10:00 AM - Rick Jackson's Country Classics 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM - Today's Best Country & Yesterday's Favorites 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM - Rick Porter 6:00 PM - 12:00 AM - Today's Best Country & Yesterday's Favorites

Sunday 12:00 AM - 06:00 AM - The Alan Kabel Show 6:00 AM - 07:30 AM - Today's Best Country & Yesterday's Favorites 7:30 AM - 8:00 AM - Light On The Hill with Pastor Craig Smith 8:00 AM - 8:30 AM - Hallton Church Bible Study 8:30 AM - 9:00 AM - Today's Best Country & Yesterday's Favorites 9:00 AM - 9:45 AM - St. Leo's Church Service 9:45 AM - 10:00 AM - Today's Best Country & Yesterday's Favorites 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM - The Don Williams Polka Review 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM - Talk Of The Town 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM - Today's Best Country & Yesterday's Favorites 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM - Country Countdown With Lon Helton 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM - Today's Best Country & Yesterday's Favorites 9:00 PM - 12:00 AM - Rick Jackson's Country Classics

External links

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Radio stations in Northern Pennsylvania (St. Marys–Emporium–Kane, Pennsylvania area)

Note: This market specifically includes Forest, Elk and Cameron Counties, along with the southern portion of McKean and southwestern portion ofPotter Counties (part of the western Twin Tiers region in Pennsylvania).

By AM frequency	600 900 1250 1260 1300 1310 1400 1420 1540

By FM frequency	88.1 88.5 90.1 91.1 91.7 92.3 92.7 93.1 93.9 94.9 96.7 97.5 98.9 100.1 100.5 100.7 101.3 102.1 102.9 103.1 103.3 103.9 104.1 104.3 105.5 106.5 106.9 107.3

By callsign	WBRR WBYB WCCR-FM WCED WCOG-FM WCOH-FM WCPA WCUC-FM WDDH WDSN WECZ WFRM WHKS WJNG WKBI WKBI-FM WKNB WKQL WLEM WMKX WNAE WOKW WOWQ WPHB WPSX WPXZ-FM WQFX-FM WQKK WQKY WQYX WRQV WRVI WRRN WVTT WWCH WYVL WZDD

Pennsylvania radio markets Allentown–Bethlehem Altoona Bradford–Coudersport Chambersburg–Waynesboro Erie Harrisburg–Lebanon–Carlisle Lancaster Montrose New Castle Philadelphia Pittsburgh Reading Sayre–Towanda–Mansfield–Wellsboro Wilkes-Barre–Scranton Williamsport York Other Pennsylvania radio regions Bedford Indiana Johnstown Lewistown–Mifflintown Meadville–Franklin Punxsutawney–DuBois St. Marys–Emporium–Kane State College Stroudsburg Sunbury–Selinsgrove–Lewisburg Warren See also List of radio stations in Pennsylvania Olean for stations in the Bradford area

Country radio stations in the state of Pennsylvania

Stations	WANB – Waynesburg WBLJ-FM – Shamokin WBYL – Salladasburg WCAT-FM – Carlisle WCFT-FM - Bloomsburg WCTO – Easton WDBF-FM - Mount Union WDDH – Saint Marys WDKC – Covington WDSY-FM – Pittsburgh WEEO – Shippensburg WFGE – State College WFGI – Charleroi WFGI-FM – Johnstown WFGY – Altoona WFRM – Coudersport WGGI – Benton WGGY – Scranton WGTY – Gettysburg WGYI – Oil City WGYY – Meadville WHGB – Harrisburg WHGL-FM – Canton WHUN – Huntingdon WHVR – Hanover WIBF– Mexico WILQ – Williamsport WIOO – Carlisle WIOV-FM – Ephrata WKNB – Clarendon WKVE – Waynesburg WLCY – Blairsville WOGG – Oliver WOGH – Burgettstown WOGI – Moon Township WOWQ – Du Bois WPGB – Pittsburgh WQBG – Elizabethville WQBR – Avis WQCK – Philipsburg WRBG – Mifflinburg WRBT – Harrisburg WSJR – Dallas WSKE – Everett WTWF – Fairview WVNW – Burnham WWCB - Corry WWCH – Clarion WWGY – Grove City WWSM – Annville-Cleona WXTA – Edinboro WXTU – Philadelphia WZBF - Beaver Springs WZCY-FM – Hershey

Defunct	WKZV – Washington

See also adult contemporary classic hits college country news/talk NPR oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in Pennsylvania

Coordinates: 41°37′05″N 78°48′14″W / 41.618°N 78.804°W / 41.618; -78.804

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