WHDD radio plans to add Kingston’s WGHQ

SHARON — Have no fear, WHDD Robin Hood Radio remains the smallest NPR station in the nation (and, presumably, in the world as well).The station’s claim to diminutive fame stems from the population of the town of Sharon, not from the number of listeners the station reaches. Technically, Robin Hood Radio serves the town of Sharon, explained the station’s co-founder (with Jill Goodman)Marshall Miles. Sharon is its “city of license.” According to the most recent U.S. census, Sharon has a population of 2,968. While Sharon’s population is likely to stay fairly stable in the coming years, WHDD is steadily growing. Miles and Goodman are expanding even further and farther, with an impending deal (it still needs approval from the Federal Communications Commission) to take over the license of WGHQ-AM in Kingston. WGHQ has been the home of Kingston Community Radio, which Miles said was started about 10 years ago to provide local news and coverage for the nearby Hudson River Valley community. As it became clear that WGHQ was failing, a deal was made by which Robin Hood Radio will take on WGHQ’s license and will continue to broadcast Kingston Community Radio (KCR) on weekday mornings from 7 to 9 a.m. The rest of the broadcast schedule will feature the same content that is being aired on WHDD Robin Hood Radio.“The beauty of all this is the rescuing, the saving of a program that was going to be shut down,” Goodman said. KCR will continue to operate its own studio, Miles said. WGHQ is donating its license to Robin Hood Radio, Miles said. “That’s beginning to happen more and more,” he said. “There aren’t enough people who want to take over an AM station.”Goodman and Miles said the additional license and tower gives them extra reach. For example, if a listener is in a car and loses reception of WHDD 91.9 FM he or she can try to tune in 1020 AM, or one of the station’s other broadcasters: WBSL 91.7 FM (which is on the campus of the Berkshire School in Sheffield, Mass.) or WLHV 88.1 FM in Annandale on Hudson, N.Y.