Del DeMontreaux and “Your Hometown Countdown”, 103.5 WYNY New York | August 28, 1992

There is a long history of Country music in New York, although a city grade signal hasn’t truly been available for about 10 years. Sure, there is “My Country 96.1” out on Long Island, and for those far enough south of NYC, there’s WXTU on 92.5 out of Philadelphia. But except for what was known as the “Quadcast” Y107 (four separate stations fed the same Country programming on 107.1 rimshotters), it has been since 1996 that New York City, proper, has had a Country station of it’s own.

103.5 WYNY came about in 1988 after a complex series of events where 97.1 WYNY and 103.5 WQHT swapped frequencies. Country had been programmed on 97.1 WYNY for the previous year. Prior to that, Country music was heard on 1050 WHN since 1973, ending only at the launch of All-Sports WFAN

You probably already know the history.

Del DeMontreaux was a well known and very popular personality, having done two tours at WHN, and what many don’t know is that for a time, he was the Booth Announcer at Shea Stadium for the New York Mets baseball team.

Johnny Michaels (WWYZ) helped write and produce this countdown, but it was Del who did most of the legwork and the hosting of New York’s only locally produced Country Music Countdown.

Courtesy of Big Apple Airchecks.