WPDH Battle of the Best: How Voting Works & How to Win

What is the WPDH Battle of the Best and who runs it?

WPDH 101.5 is a radio station broadcasting to the Hudson Valley region of New York, and the Battle of the Best is the station's winter listener vote for locally-owned restaurants. The whole promotion runs on wpdh.com, the broadcaster's own web address, so the voting form, the rules copy and the winners announcement all sit under the same roof as the station's music programming. No outside balloting company appears anywhere in the setup.

A food ballot with a community frame

The station positions the contest as a salute to independent eateries rather than a wide-open popularity survey. Every category is food or drink, and the contenders are locally owned businesses instead of national chains. That scope keeps the ballot tight: supporters choose among places they eat at week to week, not among a long directory of unrelated local services.

The vote also lives inside the station's normal output rather than on a standalone microsite. The same domain carries the DJ lineup, a merch store, local weather, a community calendar and anniversary coverage, and the Battle of the Best results sit inside that mix like any other post the station publishes.

The essentials

Because the ballot belongs to the station's own domain, checking it is straightforward: the address that carried the 2026 contest will carry whatever the station posts next, and past winners lists stay put alongside it.

When has the Battle of the Best run, and what dates are fixed?

Confirmed editions of the Battle of the Best ran in 2018, 2025 and 2026. The 2018 round left its own ballot address on wpdh.com, and the 2025 results went up on February 28 of that year. The 2026 edition followed the same winter shape: voting opened on Saturday, January 16, closed on Sunday, February 1, and the winners list appeared on February 9, 2026 in an article carrying Boris's byline.

The station frames the cadence in its own words: "Every year WPDH salutes the best locally-owned restaurants in the Hudson Valley." On that pattern a further round would land in winter 2027, although the station has not yet posted any announcement for it.

Gaps remain around the edges of the schedule. WPDH has not printed any preliminary or round-by-round structure for the promotion alongside its ballot; confirm on the live ballot each cycle. The station's pages also describe no prize attached to a winning title, and no separate nomination step appears ahead of the voting window.

How does a listener cast a vote in the Battle of the Best?

The mechanic follows the station's own announcement, which told listeners: "Starting Saturday, January 16, you can visit WPDH.com or the WPDH mobile app" to reach the Battle of the Best ballot. A supporter picks a favorite in each category there, and the daily rule is equally explicit: "You can select a choice once in each category per day." Every new day restores that allowance, which is why the same announcement adds, "so be sure to come back and support your favorites" through the February 1 close.

Neither instruction names a sign-in or registration step, so taking part amounts to visiting the ballot and marking selections. The results page for the 2026 edition shows category labels including Best Pizza, Best Cup of Coffee, Best Wings, Best Ice Cream, Best Bagel, Best Taco, Best Sandwich and Best Burger; the complete slate prints on the live ballot itself. Right now the 2026 address displays the winners list, and the voting form returns at the station's vote-now location whenever the next window opens.

What the daily rule means in practice

Because every category accepts a fresh selection each day, a committed supporter contributes repeatedly across the whole window rather than once. That cadence is the defining feature of this ballot for anyone backing a particular Hudson Valley restaurant, and it shapes every stage of a campaign, from the first reminder a business sends to the last push before the closing Sunday.

How does this ballot compare with other New York best-of contests?

New York carries a crowded field of reader-voted best-of programs, and several sit on this site beside the Battle of the Best: Best of Hudson Valley from the magazine of the same name, Best of Westchester, Best of Brooklyn, The City's Best for New York City, plus separate ballots covering Queens and one covering the Bronx. Each shares the best-of format yet answers to its own publisher and covers its own slice of the state, whether a borough-level readership or a magazine edition devoted to a single region.

Three traits set the WPDH ballot apart from that pack. It comes from a radio station rather than a print or online publisher, so the promotion ties into on-air talk instead of a magazine issue. Its subject matter is narrow, food and drink at locally-owned restaurants only, where most survey-style contests span many service categories at once. And its window is short, running mid-January into the start of February, rather than a months-long summer run.

For a restaurant owner weighing where to campaign, the practical difference is audience overlap. An eatery in the Hudson Valley could plausibly surface in both the magazine's reader survey and the station's ballot, since Best of Hudson Valley Magazine courts the same region. The radio route reaches people through on-air mentions and website visits rather than a printed issue, and the voting habit it asks for differs too: a compact stretch of daily returns instead of a single ballot filled out once.

What helps a favorite restaurant gather more Battle of the Best votes?

This ballot rewards rhythm over reach. Since each category takes a fresh selection every day, a restaurant that reminds its regulars each morning, in person, by email or on social feeds, collects far more selections across the window than one that posts a single plea in January. Covering every title helps too: a supporter who marks the burger box as well as the intended category still strengthens the same overall campaign.

Timing matters at both ends of the window. Selections made in the opening days can be repeated for weeks afterward, while a push left until the final Sunday leaves no room for a second attempt, so campaigns that map their reminders against the whole January span get the most out of the format.

WPDH's published copy sets no position on third-party vote services, so nothing on the station's side addresses outside help either way. General methods for widening a contest's support base, from timing reminders to mobilizing staff and loyal customers, are gathered in this guide to earning more votes online.