times during the following decade. Electric 99 In 1987, WGFM brought in noted radio consultant Mike Joseph, who constructed an updated version of his successful Hot Hits Top 40 format. With the region's long association with General Electric, and many potential listeners employed by G.E., he dubbed the station "Electric 99." The longtime WGFM call letters were switched to WGY-FM. The station repeatedly played only the top 30 songs of the day along with a few cuts from the top selling albums, hosted by lively disc jockeys who promoted the music, ran contests and talked up local high schools and colleges. With its ratings on the decline, WGY-FM changed its format to Oldies in October 1990. This occurred during a period when two other stations in the market were already airing Oldies music. 99.5 The River In late 1993, Dame Media purchased WGY and WGY-FM. Dame took control in March 1994, and immediately ended the oldies format. The call letters were changed to the current WRVE and the station began calling itself "99.5 The River." At the outset, the station was branded as "Rock without the Hard Edge" and was musically programmed as an Adult Album Alternative station, though the station's music evolved to become more mainstream. At launch The River was focused on music and offered no contests or promotions, similar to Orlando's WMMO where DJ's would not talk over songs. When Clear Channel Communications (the forerunner to iHeartMedia) bought Dame Media in 1999, the station's format again moved to a more mainstream direction. In the middle of 2012, the station started adding in more current hits. The slogan became "The ’80s to Now, and Everything in Between". At the beginning of May 2013, WRVE removed some of its current hits and began playing more music from the mid 1990s and early 2000s. In order to keep diversity between its co-owned sister stations, WPYX (Classic Rock) and WKKF (Top 40), WRVE re-branded itself again, this time as "The ’90s to Now". WRVE HD-2 In 2005, WRVE added IBOC digital radio (as did Clear Channel's other Albany stations). On August 17, 2006, WRVE began airing an HD2 channel with an adult album alternative similar to, but more varied than, the original "River" format. This HD2 channel was later replaced with a Smooth Jazz channel which was formerly located on WTRY-FM. On January 14, 2015, WRVE-HD2 changed its format to country