interesting effect on WBPM. Clear Channel was also purchasing the Straus Media stations in the market and legally was one station over the limit in the market. However, ownership regulations at the time did allow them to control additional stations. As Clear Channel was known for doing at the time, WBPM (and WCKL in Catskill) were sold to Concord Media, a "shell" company that owned stations Clear Channel controlled via local marketing agreements (LMA). "Rhythm"'s ratings struggled further and by late 2001 the format was declared unsalvageable. On Thanksgiving weekend of that year, WBPM flipped to a satellite-fed oldies format as Cool 94.3. Existing in a glutted market for the format, this had no effect on the ratings even after established oldies outlet WCZX evolved out of the format to a '70s/'80s approach (and later to full-out adult contemporary). Cumulus Ownership In late 2002, the FCC ordered that Clear Channel divest itself of associations to all "shell" companies, at which point Concord Media was disbanded. On February 28, 2003, Concord sold WBPM to Cumulus Media who took over the station the next day. With the takeover, the oldies format was relaunched as an all-local format with several former WCZX jocks on the air. This format, combined with New York Yankees baseball, propelled the station to its highest numbers since the B-94 days. However, this success was short-lived in the wake of aging demographics of the oldies format. On October 3, the station went into a weekend of Christmas music stunting (suspended during Yankee games and a New York Giants football game). At 9:43 AM on October 6, the station was relaunched as Kicks 94.3, playing country music. The WKXP call letters started being used on the station a week prior. Unfortunately for Cumulus, country was not successful on the 94.3 frequency. The ratings plummeted from the one full book as oldies under Cumulus. The reasons for this can be debated; everything from poor management to signal and promotions versus WRWD to the probability that the Hudson Valley can truly support only one country station. One theory even cites the potential of a "top of the dial" bias for country music in the Hudson Valley given that WRWD, WGNA-FM in Albany, and the former Y-107 in Westchester County were all next to each other in the 107 MHz range and that any country not near that range has not succeeded. The