NY Radio: Coffee Break Leads To Brit's Second Radio Station

Ricky Lee is GM and PM Drive Host At Star Radio

Star Radio WSSV 1160 AM in Saratoga Spring, NY is adding an FM simulcast on W227DW 93.3 FM.

According to The Saratogian, the locally owned and operated station features a who’s-who of local broadcasting on-air talent that will prove immediately recognizable to most listeners.

The line-up includes John Meany, Walt Adams, Jerry Crouth, Tony Izzo and Chris Witting.  They'll be presenting a steady mix of music, local news and relevant information to listeners living in the Saratoga region.

The music focuses hits on classic hits from the 1970’s through the ’90s, with current hits interspersed.

The station’s target audience is 35 and above.

Co-owner and afternoon host Ricki Lee says, “These radio stations were originally owned by Empire Broadcasting. Empire ran for many years the 101.3 frequency called The Jockey. They decided to exit the radio market about 18 months ago. They sold their radio assets, we picked up what was WAIX, we rebadged it as WSSV (1160 AM) which will be Star Radio."

“Our plan was to create a super, locally focused Saratoga Springs radio station. That is what we set out to do. We acquired the radio licenses which included 1160 AM and an unbuilt construction permit for 93.3 FM.

“We took over programming it, finding it a great niche to do classic hits with a sprinkle of newer tunes from the1960’s up to 2010; nothing more modern than that. It’s scary to think that even that was 10 years ago.”

The Music Mix

Lee is British and last year the FCC agreed to allow Ricky "Lee" Shorthose and his wife Hanna Kaleta’s Border Media to buy WRGR 102.1 FM in Tupper Lake, NY.

“So here is how Saratoga happened. This is the fun part. We lived in Brooklyn, and we were driving to the Adirondacks to our radio station, taking six hours to do that drive.

WSSV 1160 AM (5 Kw)

“For those who travel the Northway on a regular basis, you’ll know that when you get on the Northway in New York and you leave, there is nothing. Then all of a sudden, you kind of get to Malta where they’ve built the new hospital and the hotels start to appear-I said one day to my wife, this was a few years ago, “What is this?”, because as soon as you pass like Exit 15, there is nothing until you get to like Plattsburgh.

“I said we need to venture into here. I’m a big coffee fan; I love decent coffee.We found on the map Kru Coffee, just off the Northway, beautiful coffee. So we started to explore Saratoga. At the time, we were looking for somewhere to move out of the City, to potentially raise a family and to be closer to the radio station in the Adirondacks.

“We explored Saratoga and decided to move here. In months, the opportunity arose that Empire was taking down their AM station, keeping it silent for a while, so we started the negotiations of buying that frequency.

“Fourteen months later we got that deal done, it was over the line and here we are, ready to launch with super local talent and we’ve taken on the Star Radio Branding because it’s a homage to what was the Star, the radio station here many years ago.