Did y’all notice that NOW 97.7 stopped playing Top 40 and started playing Country? You probably listen to Spotify, and this radio business is too old-school for you, but I for one do love listening to local radio in my car. The flipping around the stations for catching random songs cannot be beat. However, my kids are the boss of what we listen to (usually) and if it’s not Kidz Bop, it is/was 97.7. The raging debate for a while was if it was pronounced 97 “point” 7, or just plain 977 with no hyphen or dot. Apparently it was the latter!

But then, 97.7 as we know it disappeared. Country songs started coming out of those call letters in the first days of January 2020. This discovery was made in my older car, which has questionable, imprecise radio frequency, so I blamed it on that. Days later, I verified in my newer car, that indeed, country music was coming out of 97.7. Not that I don’t like country music. I like to line dance! But this was our Top 40 go-to spot on the FM dial.

Next, I verified the change with the 97.7 app. Yup. There, too, was the country. And now articles covering country celebrity gossip were in the news feed! As well as Hudson Valley headlines. The 97.7 app was still good for Hudson Valley headlines (as depressing as they could be, like when human remains are found behind a diner), which are now associated with the Hudson Valley Post. (Another not-great story that showed up when I looked at the station’s news: this one about New Paltz drinking water being contaminated.) It’s a less overwhelming place to go for headlines than Google News, though do keep going to your Google News, folks, as that source picks up A Little Beacon Blog headlines as well!

But finally, Wikipedia confirms the change, another step in the long and interesting history of WCZX 97.7. What this change really means for my family is… that I finally get to listen to K104.7 and WALL Radio - a move my son has protested against each time. But now we get to hear the celebrity headlines in the morning, and the mid-morning mashup of ‘90s songs. WALL Radio reads all of the political headlines. I’ll miss PopCrush Nights with Lisa Paige (hadn’t heard Kayla aka “KT” yet) that I would catch during Kid Pickup. Not sure where to find them again. I’ll still keep the 97.7 app on my phone for the quick scroll of local headlines, but I’m glad for the freedom in radio tunes on my dial.

Radio Woodstock broadcasts from, well, Woodstock up in the Catskill Mountains, but they are coming down to Beacon to broadcast live from three different eateries on Thursday as part of their Road Tour of nine cities this summer: Bank Square, BAJA 328, and Max's on Main. The Radio Woodstock DJs have been interviewing business owners about the highlights of what is going on in each town. Set up in a format of 2 to 3 hourlong intervals of meet-and-greets, music will still be played throughout the day in between interviews.

You can listen to Radio Woodstock any time on the actual FM dial at 100.1 WDST or by clicking here to listen on the Internet. How modern!

As you're out and about, see if you notice the radio crew at any of these locations and times with the following organizations and businesses being interviewed. (We may update this list to include more, but this is the lineup information we received as of the publishing of this article):

7-9am Coffee at Bank Square Coffeehouse

Rob Rutigliano of the Rutigliano Group, Paris on the Hudson
Mayor Randy Casale
Megan Mattingly of Dia
Katy Behney of Bank Square Coffee House and Mountain Tops to talk about hiking and kayaking in Beacon

12-2pm BAJA 328 for Lunch

Shah of the Mobile Gas Station across from BAJA 328 to discuss the people of Beacon
Melaine Rottkamp of Dutchess Country Tourism to talk about Fireball Run coming to Beacon on September 28th. Fireball Run is an adventure-travel television series and live action adventurally® competition. It is the real story of 40 teams of adventurers, taking the road less traveled in an epic quest for America's most obscure and historic artifacts. Fireball Run supports the Missing Child Network. Every driving team is assigned a child missing from their home of origin, and they are provided 1,000 missing child flyers to distribute along the 2,000 mile journey. This campaign has aided in the recovery of 44 missing children.
Jeff McHugh of the Beacon Incline Railway Project to Bring it Back
Katie Hellmuth Martin of A Little Beacon Blog (hey, that's me!) on Beacon blogging

4-6pm at Max's on Main for the End of the Day

Mayor Randy Casale
Dan Rigney, President of BeaconArts
Pat Moore, Partner at Antalek and Moore Insurance or Carl Oken of Beacon Elks Club to discuss the Annual Car Show in Beacon
Richie Kaplan of Max's on Main to discuss the Parade of Green

Rick Brownell, current president of the Beacon Chamber of Commerce and owner of Freedom Ford at 420 Fishkill Ave. learned of the opportunity while he was recording one of his frequent radio commercials to air on independently owned Radio Woodstock, a media outlet he is passionate about supporting. "Sometimes when I'm done recording a commercial, the DJs will say to me 'Hey Rick, come up on the air with me and tell everyone what is going on in Beacon.'” Rick made a point to connect more businesses with this opportunity by working through Beacon's Chamber of Commerce.

Radio Woodstock "is proud to be one of the remaining independently owned and locally operated radio stations in the country. Billboard Magazine has named Radio Woodstock 100.1 'Best Station' many times." The station is owned by Gary Chetkof, founder of Mountain Jam. "They are pretty cool people, fun people," Rick says. "Many who work there have kids and live in the area, so their lives are invested in the area."

We at A Little Beacon Blog have been included in the initial lineup of interviews, and will be at BAJA 328 during the 12 to 2pm slot! being that we are used to writing very deliberately and can hit delete buttons to edit run-on sentences, we have begun practicing what amazing points we will try to hit about Beacon (if we make the cut to get on the air!).

Yay, Beacon, and yay, radio!

Having said that, we must go investigate the internet radio lab The Ground, which broadcasts different community shows from the old Beacon High School. Oh man, even the #ClubDraw group has a radio show about "interesting people drawing and listening to dope music" that is broadcast from Quinn's the first Tuesday of the month.

Off to investigate!