decided to switch to a Spanish language format since it seemed that the Spanish population was growing in the Hudson Valley. In September 2002, WEOK/WALL flipped to El Ritmo ("The Rhythm"), a Spanish Contemporary format Program Director Nick Robbins and the first of its sort in upstate New York. The new format was seen with a critical eye as some saw that Cumulus was ahead of their time, some saw that it would have done better on an FM frequency, and some others saw the move Cumulus as ignoring the far larger African-American population. Nevertheless, the hit-or-miss nature of El Ritmo's audience, concentrated in the cities of the area, led to the station getting little, if any, ratings and being a hard sell towards advertisers given that the overall Hispanic market share of the Hudson Valley is minuscule at best. Though with some community support, the lack of support and lack of clients led Cumulus to flip WEOK and WALL in March 2005 to Radio Disney, the format it had nearly taken three years earlier. After almost five years as Radio Disney, WEOK and WALL changed formats in February 2010 to The True Oldies Channel. The two stations have been simulcasting programming since September 1999 going through three prior formats. On August 30, 2013, a deal was announced in which Cumulus would swap its stations in Dubuque, Iowa and Poughkeepsie (including WEOK) to Townsquare Media in exchange for Peak Broadcasting's Fresno, California stations. The deal was part of Cumulus' acquisition of Dial Global; Townsquare, Peak, and Dial Global are all controlled by Oaktree Capital Management. The sale to Townsquare was completed on November 14, 2013. On January 8, 2015 WEOK changed their format to regional Mexican, branded as "Fierro". On October 30, 2015 WEOK changed their format to Spanish adult hits, branded as "Juan AM". Notable alumni Jay Reynolds (currently of ESPN Radio) was former anchor of WEOK's 5 O'Clock News Mike Breen, voice of the NY Knicks, also worked as a local newsman Mark Mahoney, 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner, editorial writing. Afternoon and midday news anchor/reporter 1986-87 Lane Bajardi, currently News Anchor at 1010 WINS, was formally News Director and anchor. Translators References External links EOK Radio stations established in 1949 1949 establishments in New York (state) Townsquare Media radio stations