New FM station debuts with classic rock menu By DAVE DUDAJEK Observer-Dispatch A new radio station signed on the air at noon yesterday and will offer a 24-hour-a- day menu of classic rock, according to owner Ed Levine. WKLL — 94.9 FM — has been in the planning stages since 1985, when Levine and his wife, Pamela, originally applied for the frequency. Levine, 33, is a 1978 graduate of Syracuse University and helped start Syracuse radio station WAQX (95X) that same year. Classic 94.9, Levine said, hopes to accomplish four goals. First, classic rock will be its calling card. Headliners in clude The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd and others. Second, Levine said WKLL will offer 45 minutes of continu ous rock every hour, every day. It also in tends to go all day without repeating a song. Finally, to ensure quality sound repro duction, all music will be broadcast from compact discs (CDs). Station personnel will blend old and new personalities on the local radio scene. General manager is Michael Stapleford, formerly of WKGW LEVINE (104-FM). Patrick Ryan, from WBEC in Pittsfield, Mass., will be program direc tor. Rick Reynolds of Utica is local sales manager. On-air personalities include Linda Rae, formerly of WNYZ, later WLZW (98.7- FM), and Kevin Swiss, from WOUR (96.9- FM). The 50-kilowatt station is broadcasting from a studio at 1013 Herkimer Road. Its transmitter is at Dutch Hill Road, just south of the Thruway, near Ilion. Levine said he expects the signal to carry about 35 miles, although it could be stronger east and west because of the terrain. Levine is currently program director for WJFK radio in Washington, D.C. He and Robert Raide of Penn Yan filed application for the new station last September under the name Raivine Corp.; Although the corporation is currently owned by Levine, Raide has the option to acquire 75 percent of the stock and hag filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to do so. [ Original plans to have the station oh the air by last December were delayed by an FCC backlog. At the time, Levine said he hoped to be broadcasting by April. But the snags were ironed out faster thafi. anticipated, he said, "and we didn’t have to wait that long.” : A phone line to handle requests, con test responses and other listener conf- ments has been established at 735-9490/ WKLL’s business line is 798-4092.