Will Stanley, co-owner of the Hudson Valley-focused radio station WKZE-FM, passed away on June 22 at the age of 73. The cause of death was not announced.
Stanley began his radio career in New Hampshire in 1979 and was manager of WRSI-FM in Northampton, Massachusetts, from 1997 until 2004. Stanley and his wife Barbara acquired WKZE in April 2005, and one year later moved its broadcast studio from Sharon, Connecticut, to Red Hook in Dutchess County.
Located at 98.1 on the FM dial, WKZE offers a diverse range of eclectic music genres, including folk, bluegrass, world music, reggae, blues and classic rock; the station also only allows local businesses to advertise and has refused commercials from national marketing campaigns.
During the height of the pandemic in 2020, the station launched a GoFundMe crowdfunding drive to help keep it in financial health, but only raised $2,270 from a $10,000 goal.
In an interview with Main Street Magazine published in January, Stanley stressed that radio success comes from having an emotional affinity with the programming being broadcast.
“We are musicians at heart,” said Stanley about the WKZE team. “We hire people for the station who are truly engaged in music, and we make them into radio people. It makes a big difference.”
