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WUPE-FM
Classic hits radio station in North Adams–Pittsfield, Massachusetts From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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WUPE-FM (100.1 MHz) is a classic hits radio station owned by Townsquare Media. Licensed to North Adams, Massachusetts, United States, WUPE-FM serves Pittsfield.[3]
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The station went on the air July 12, 1964,[4] as WMNB-FM, owned by the Hardman family along with WMNB (1230 AM) and the North Adams Transcript.[5] The Hardmans sold Northern Berkshire Broadcasting to Donald A. Thurston in 1966;[6] the company became Berkshire Broadcasting after the purchase of WSBS in Great Barrington in 1968.[7] By 1973, WMNB-FM had a beautiful music format, separately-programmed from the AM station[8] (though even at WMNB-FM's inception the two stations did not duplicate more than thirty percent of their programming[5]). The callsign was modified to simply WMNB on January 30, 1988,[9] after the AM station was renamed WNAW. During the mid-1990s, WMNB's format incorporated smooth jazz and soft adult contemporary programming;[10] as a whole, however, it remained one of the few remaining beautiful music stations.[11]
Vox Communications purchased Berkshire Broadcasting in November 2003,[12] with the sale closing in May 2004.[13] The next month, WMNB began simulcasting an oldies genre with another Vox station, WUPE (95.9).[14] 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.[15] WUPE-FM's programming also began to be heard on an AM station in Pittsfield on 1110 AM.[16] Vox transferred most of its stations to Gamma Broadcasting in late 2012.[17] In August 2013, Gamma reached a deal to sell its Berkshire County radio stations, including WUPE-FM, to Reed Miami Holdings;[18] the sale was canceled on December 30, 2013.[19]
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.[20]
In October 2016, Gamma Broadcasting agreed to sell its stations to Galaxy Communications;[21] the sale fell through, and in 2017 the stations were acquired by Townsquare Media.[22]
In March 2025, Townsquare moved WUPE-FM's Pittsfield simulcast from 1110 AM, which went off the air and surrendered its license, to the second HD Radio channel of WBEC-FM. WBEC-FM HD2, as had WUPE AM in its final years, serves as the primary station for translator station W277CJ (103.3 FM) in Pittsfield.[23]
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