WWFK is a radio station broadcasting a classic rockradio format. Licensed to Dannemora, New York, it serves the Champlain Valley, including the Plattsburgh-Burlington radio market. The station is owned and operated by, '''Great Eastern Radio, LLC. The transmitter is located off Route 374 in Dannemora. WPLA has been known for frequent changes in format and management throughout its existence; Radioactive has outsourced operations of the station to other companies and organizations that typically only run the station for a year at a time. The station now simulcasts its programming from new sister station, 107.1 FMWRFK, Barre, VT, and is now broadcasting a Classic Rock format and will soon be acquired by, Great Eastern Radio, LLC.
History
A construction permit for the station, then allocated to Saranac Lake, New York, was granted to Radioactive on June 6, 2005, after having won it at auction in November 2004. The allocation was later moved to Dannemora. Initially assigned the call signWDYC on February 15, 2008. The station first signed on that June as WELX, as a simulcast of 102.9 WCLX in nearby Westport, New York. At the time, WCLX had an album oriented rock format. The WNMR call letters were introduced on April 6, 2009; within a week, the WCLX simulcast was discontinued, and the station temporarily went silent. WNMR returned to the air that fall, under a local marketing agreement with Convergence Entertainment and Communications. It carried a talk radio format, with most programming on WNMR syndicated, including The Dan Patrick Show, The Michael Smerconish Show, The Dave Ramsey Show, some programming from Bloomberg Radio, Free Talk Live, the Midnight Trucking Radio Network, lifestyle talk programming on weekends, and some Sporting News Radio content on Sundays. A local program, Corm and the Coach, aired in morning drive time and was co-hosted by Steve Cormier and Tom Brennan. The pair had previously been heard on WCPV until 2008. Convergence had planned a television simulcast of the show on WGMU. WNMR also carried hourly newscasts from ABC News Radio. However, the station struggled due to poor advertising revenues, leading Corm and the Coach to go on hiatus after the April 7, 2010 broadcast. Five days later, it was announced that Convergence had put WNMR's operations up for sale. On May 1, the station once again left the air. After Convergence formed a new broadcast subsidiary, CEC Media Group, the station resumed broadcasting in late June with an all-sports format. Most programming came from Sporting News Radio, save for a local afternoon show hosted by Rich DeLancey. Later, Mike O'Meara's one-hour talk show was added. However, automation problems forced WNMR off the air once more on March 11, 2011. Convergence ended its association with the station in July 2012; Convergence's owner, Jeff Loper, said that the company "had issues with finding people to run the thing successfully." WNMR went back on air for a short amount of time as "107.1 The Fixx" with a rhythmic contemporary format. Due to disagreements with the owner, the station went off air. "The Fixx" continued as an Internet radio station. While WNMR was off the air, 107.1 WRFK, a classic hits station in Barre, could be heard in the Champlain Valley. By August 2014, the station was back on the air and stunting with polka music. A teaser ad stated that 107.1 would be the new home for "The Barrel". WNMR subsequently broadcast a country music format as "Kickin' Country 107.1". The station changed its call sign to WBKM on March 15, 2016. The change came after Radioactive leased the station to Music Guild International, a Vermont corporation, which programmed an adult album alternative format, after having operated WBKM as an Internet radio station since 2008. The station changed its call sign again on September 16, 2017, to WWWF. During this period, the station had an adult hits format branded "What The FM", playing a variety of pop hits from classic rock, contemporary rock music, oldies and dance music. On September 1, 2018, the call sign was changed to WPLA. On October 15, 2018, WPLA changed its format from adult hits to active rock, branded as "107.1 WPLA, Plattsburgh Rocks". On May 25, 2020, the station changed its format to classic hits and its nickname to "107.1 Lake FM". On June 26, 2020, WPLA for the second time in less than a month has changed its format yet again from Classic Hits as, 107.1 Lake-FM, back to Classic Rock simulcasting brand new sister station, WRFK also on 107.1 in Barre, Vermont, branded as, 107.1 FRANK-FM, with the slogan, "EVERYTHING THAT ROCKS!". New, WWFK call letters are pending. This brings the new owners’ Frank-FM format into the Burlington, Vermont/Plattsburgh, New York markets. It is being sold to With both stations being on 107.1, the signals can be synced with one another so that there is no interference between the two.
