102.7 The Pole (WLYK-FM) went live in Kingston on Tuesday afternoon, a stunt format inspired by strip club DJ bangers, ushering in the new ownership of Border Broadcasting.
Licenced to Cape Vincent, New York, Jon Pole and Andrew Dickson, the co-founders of My Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), acquired Border Broadcasting in December. The dial position was previously held by Rogers Sports & Media’s KiSS 102.7 with Rogers holding a 20% stake in Border Broadcasting.
“Is this for real?” one of the station’s imaging packages asks? I pondered the same thing while reassuring myself April Fool’s Day was still at least a month away.
You can blame (or credit) radio veteran Rob Mise for the trial format, who is assisting with the ownership transition.
“We wanted to have some fun with it,” Mise told Broadcast Dialogue. “The reaction that I’m getting the most is ‘finally someone is having fun with radio.’ We take ourselves too seriously, so this is clearly a chance to step out a bit.”
Spanning Pop, Hip Hop and Rock, 102.7 The Pole’s livestream – “Music for the grind” – features a playlist running the gamut from The Weeknd, 50 Cent, Flo Rida, Lady Gaga, Nikki Minaj and Beyonce to Pearl Jam, INXS, The Police and Def Leppard.
Mise stresses that they don’t have a timeline to introduce a more permanent format, which right now is being anchored by a range of radio talent under the guise of stripper names like morning show duo “Desstiny and Chestiny.”
“We’re going to play it by ear,” said Mise. “It’s fun to do. And as we retire down the road, it’s going to be a real good story for us to tell.”
“We want people to be entertained and excited about the frequency,” he added. “I think Kingston needs something like this…we look forward to serving the market there, so there’s lots of competition. We’re going to try to do our best and shake things up.”
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