WOLY (AM)

WOLY is an AM radio station licensed to Olean, New York. The station is owned by Seven Mountains Media and operates on 1450 kHz. It currently runs a classic hits format branded as "Big Oly 107.1."

The station was issued an initial Construction Permit, with the sequentially issued call letters WHDL, in December 1928 to George F. Bissell in Tupper Lake, New York.[2] In 1934 the station moved to Olean[3] as the oldest station in Cattaraugus County, signing on there on December 11, 1934.[1] It was affiliated with ABC since its days as the Blue Network through the early 2010s. Former congressman James F. Hastings managed WHDL from 1952 to 1966. The station was historically an oldies outlet known as "14 Karat Gold" since at least the 1980s, a format that was dropped in 2013 in favor of a 24-hour ESPN Radio feed, branded as "The Huddle" (a backronym of the station's long-established call sign).

On August 8, 2016, WHDL changed their format from ESPN sports to top 40/CHR, branded as "Hot 107.1" (simulcast on FM translator W296DB Olean, NY). The format change takes advantage of FCC regulations allowing an AM station to be broadcast on FM translators far removed from their city of license.[4]

On July 26, 2019, the station changed its call sign to WOLY, taking on a new call sign for the first time in its 90-year history. On July 29, 2019, WOLY changed their format from top 40/CHR to classic hits, branded as "Big Oly 107.1," returning the station to a format of older music. (The concept is loosely based on that of another Seven Mountains station, WLUI, which goes by "Big Lewie" in deference to its home city of Lewistown, Pennsylvania.) WPIG disc jockeys will serve double duty for the new format (including returning morning host Gary Nease, who served as morning host during the 14 Karat Gold era), which is expected to compete with the station's predominant classic hits outlet, WGWE; with WXMT, another classic hits newcomer that changed later in 2019 after a change in ownership; and indirectly with rimshot classic hits outlet WHTT-FM, which also registered measurable listenership.[5][6]