held the call sign wbea at 104.7 fm from 1993 until 2001 see welj . wbea city southold new york broadcast area eastern long island southern connecticut branding 101.7 the beach slogan today s hottest music frequency 101.7 mhz first air date 1981 as wbaz format top 40 mainstream erp 6 000 watts haat 86.4 meters 283 ft class a facility id 52060 transmitter coordinates 40 52 10.00 n 72 34 37.00 w 40.8694444 n 72.5769444 w 40.8694444 ; 72.5769444 callsign meaning w beach w beat former name former callsigns wbaz 1980 2001 wcso 2001 1 owner lauren and roger stone lrs radio llc sister stations wbaz wehm & wehn webcast listen live player or listen live direct stream url to copy paste only website www.beach1017.com wbea 101.7 fm 101.7 the beach is a top 40 mainstream radio station licensed to southold new york and serving the east end of long island plus southern connecticut . the station is owned by lauren and roger stone through licensee lrs radio llc and broadcasts from a tower west of hampton bays . unlike many stations on long island s east end wbea s signal is one of the less impeded as there is only one adjacent channel wfan fm in new york city to hamper its coverage to the north and west . the station s signal to the north also gives it a rimshot status into the new haven connecticut area where it has shown in the ratings in the past . it broadcasts from studios in water mill new york shared by wbaz and wehm & wehn . history edit amagansett studios wbea signed on in 1981 as wbaz the second fm station on long island east of riverhead . the station was founded by broadcasting consultant joe sullivan jr. doing business as peconic bay broadcasting company . wbaz would for many years feature an adult contemporary format known as lighting up the bays or z light on the bays which for most of its existence was satellite fed through transtar s now westwood one special blend format . sullivan later sold wbaz to mel kahn in the late 90 s along with then sister station wlie fm . when kahn sold wbaz and sister wbsq to aaa entertainment in 2000 the group would soon undergo a realignment given that aaa s wbea and kahn s wbsq were competitors with different varieties of the hot adult contemporary format . with wbea then at 104.7 mhz outperforming wbsq with a poorer signal the decision was made to move wbaz to wbsq s 102.5 mhz location while moving wbea to wbaz s 101.7 mhz frequency . wbaz and wbsq would simulcast for most of may 2001 with the 101.7 frequency gaining the temporary wcso calls in the process . after this period the wbea format was simulcasted on 101.7 and 104.7 with 101.7 gaining the wbea calls and beach radio format that june . at that time 104.7 would enter a deal with the mohegan sun casino and become a cross sound rimshot into new london connecticut . after the frequency switch wbea would soon shift in more of a chr direction putting it in competition with the high rated wbli and connecticut rimshot wkci . the station initially did well with its new approach however a change in market dynamic after arbitron made the east end of long island a rated market doomed the surprisingly low rated beach radio format . at the end of 2004 wbea would flip to a hip hop format as blaze 101.7 the first such station on long island . after aaa entertainment sold their stations to long island radio broadcasting a division of cherry creek radio took control of the stations later that year the station would evolve to rhythmic contemporary and would take on the new name the beat then reverting to the beach during the summer of 2007 . on may 22 2008 and after spending four years as a rhythmic wbea returned to a top 40 chr direction thus once again putting the station back in competition with wbli and wkci and as a result left wdre now wpty as the market s lone rhythmic outlet . references edit call sign history . cdbs public access database . fcc media bureau . retrieved april 18 2013 . external links edit 101.7 the beach official website query the fcc s fm station database for wbea radio locator information on wbea query nielsen audio s fm station database for wbea v t e radio stations in the nassau suffolk long island market by am frequency nassau county 1100 1240 1520 suffolk county western & central 540 740 1370 1440 1580 eastern 1390 1570 by fm frequency nassau county 88.1 88.5 1 plainview 88.5 1 syosset 88.7 90.3 92.7 98.3 101.5 103.5 105.5 suffolk county western & central 88.1 88.9 89.3 90.1 91.3 91.9 93.3 94.3 94.9 97.5 102.3 103.1 104.5 105.7 106.1 eastern 88.3 88.7 2 89.9 90.7 90.9 91.3 91.7 92.1 92.9 93.3 93.9 94.5 94.7 95.3 96.1 96.5 96.9 east hampton 96.9 manorville 98.5 100.3 bridgehampton 100.3 westhampton 100.7 101.7 102.5 103.9 104.5 104.7 105.3 105.7 106.5 107.1 107.5 by callsign w215bt w217af w227an w227cl w233ai w235bb w243bf w245ba w262as w264aj w268an w283ba w283ck w289ad w289ax w293bt w298bn walk walk fm wapp lp wbab wbaz wbea wbli wbon wbzo wcwp wdba lp weer 2 wegb wegq wehm wehn welj wfrs wftu wgbb wgss whfm whli whpc wjjf wjvc wkjy wktu wkwz 1 wlie wlim wlir fm wlix lp wlng wnyg wnyh wpob 1 wppb wpty wqbu fm wrcn fm wrhu wriv wrli wshr wsuf wthe wusb wwsk wxba plus most new york city and some connecticut radio stations defunct wbau weeg wgli wlir wlng 1600 wsvv lp new york radio markets albany schenectady troy binghamton buffalo niagara falls elmira corning hudson valley nassau suffolk long island new york city olean plattsburgh poughkeepsie rochester syracuse utica rome watertown other new york radio regions ithaca jamestown dunkirk north country saratoga nyc metro markets long island hudson valley partial poughkeepsie middlesex somerset union monmouth ocean morristown bridgeport danbury new haven stamford norwalk see also list of radio stations in new york 1 under a shared time agreement . 2 station is silent . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wbea & oldid 673051910 categories radio stations in new yorkcontemporary hit radio stations in the united statesmedia in suffolk county new yorkhidden categories official website different in wikidata and wikipedia navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 25 july 2015 at 18 58 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about 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