WHFS gone from Washington/Baltimore airwaves. - P2P-Zone

thinker · 13-01-05, 10:56 AM

Longtime Washington/Baltimore market alternative station WHFS now no longer broadcasts...in English. Infinity Broadcasting decided to pull the plug on the station amid management mishaps and declining ratings, switching the format to Spanish-language yesterday.

"HFS" had been a stalwart for many, many years as far as being at the forefront of things and being a freer station than most, though that began fading in the late '80s through to the present. Originally a classical etc. station (see article), HFS started at 102.3 on your FM dial and after switching to a progressive and alternative rock format was home to such on-air personalities as "Cerphe" and "Weasel," both of whom now work at WARW 94.7 FM, the leading classic rock station in the area. In the early '80s HFS moved to 99.1 FM, where it stayed until yesterday (technically it's still there, but in call letters only). HFS had enjoyed a publicity boost in the '90s due to usual corporate promotion, as well as its annual HFStival concert, which had grown to become a nationally known event amongst those in the rock scene.

The format change was a topic on stations all over the region this morning; the seemingly universal reaction from DJs and listeners was one of sorrow at having lost an institution. It also made the front page of The Washington Post (article below). The talk will likely continue through the day, and this afternoon one can only assume that "Cerphe" Colwood will discuss things a fair bit on his drivetime program on WARW, which airs from 2-7 p.m.

My personal experience with HFS was scant, during some of the station's last years just due to the time I grew up. I encountered the station in the early '90s, and listened as I tried to see just what was worth listening to at that time and through high school. HFS, though devolving into pop-rock slowly but surely, was more palatable to me than WWDC and other stations who were either stuck in hair bands or other things I didn't like. Although often I have all but given up on modern music and radio, I had been listening to the Sports Junkies (well-known sports personalities in the area who briefly had a nationally syndicated show as well) lately and doing the occasional scan for anything that might resemble music. HFS had made a long Thanksgiving weekend of it this past year with a Revenge of the '80s and '90s weekend (though there were a few late '70s tracks in there too, I believe), which I very much enjoyed and seemed to be the station's last hurrah. If there was one thing I regretted it was not making it to an HFStival during the mid-late '90s even if the station wasn't what it once was.

Suffice it to say, it's very unfortunate that HFS has ended up just being another casualty of devolution brought on by the corporate media culture. While the call letters WHFS are currently occupied by "El Zol," Infinity would be smart to let the letters go if they feel the new station has a future, and instead adopt WZRW (ZRW for Zol Radio Washington), a call sign that has not been used since 1997, which itself was for a brief period by a station in Mississippi. In this way, the possibility would be there to reignite the HFS tradition somehow if anyone with the funding was so inclined, and by reignite the tradition I don't mean continue the way it was going, but with a shift back to true alternative radio including the best progressive and alternative from all eras. Sounds like a pie in the sky idea in modern Washington, but it would be nice. Even if something like that never happens, it would also be nice to not have the call sign WHFS dragged through this current nightmare as something decidedly fourth-rate. Enough has been done already.

As I type, WARW has changed its lunch show for today, dedicating it to the memory of HFS and what it once stood for.

Here are a few links I've thrown together rather quickly.

Page dedicated to the HFS of old.
http://www.dcrtv.org/hfs.html

Page on HFS nostalgia while visiting the area.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/tgif/co...es/001482.html

Infinity Radio station information for WHFS, which they haven't changed. You should get a kick out of one line in particular.
http://www.infinityradio.com/station...st&station=199

The WHFS website, which no longer really exists.
http://www.whfs.com
Instead of Siempre de Fiesta, it should be Siempre de Siesta since they didn't have the forethought to make a real website for the results of this hijack.

thinker · 13-01-05, 11:12 AM

Note: In my opinion, "siempre de fiesta" would be better translated as "always festive" instead of "always partying," as in the article below, which is c&p'd from the Washington Post website since it may require a login.

WHFS Changes Its Tune to Spanish
Alternative Rock Pioneer Targets Latino Audience

By Teresa Wiltz and Paul Farhi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, January 13, 2005; Page A01

WHFS-FM, the Washington area radio station that was a pioneering purveyor of alternative rock to generations of young music fans, did a programming U-turn yesterday by ditching the genre for a Spanish-language, pop-music format that transforms it into the largest Spanish-language station on the local dial.

In an instant, the station abandoned the likes of the White Stripes, Green Day and Jet for middle-of-the-road superstars such as Marc Anthony, Juan Luis Guerra and Victor Manuelle.

The switch reflects both changing demographics and a corporate war of attrition involving Washington's two major radio station owners, Infinity Broadcasting, which owns WHFS, and Clear Channel Communications, which owns WHFS's chief competitor, DC-101.

Despite its self-proclaimed "legendary" status, WHFS (at 99.1 on the dial) has long trailed DC-101 in the race to win the ears of rock listeners in the Washington-Baltimore area. At the same time, Spanish-language radio is the fastest-growing format in the country, while alternative rock radio is a withering niche.

At noon yesterday, the station behind the HFStival, a popular annual concert, broadcast the late Jeff Buckley's 1995 hit, "Last Goodbye." And then came something that WHFS listeners hadn't heard before in the station's 36-year history as the arbiter of cutting-edge rock:

"WHFS transmitiendo desde la ciudad capital de America:

"Esta! Es! Tu! Nueva! Radio!"

"Transmitting from America's Capital City: This! Is! Your! New! Radio!"

Lanham-based WHFS is now "El Zol," where they're "siempre de fiesta" -- always partying. (Zol plays off sol, the Spanish word for sun, and is a station brand of the Spanish Broadcasting System Inc. which owns other "Zol" stations.)

Although radio insiders have discussed the likelihood of WHFS changing formats for many months, the switch came as a shock to former employees and fans who grew up listening to the radio station that, since the late 1960s, had gained a reputation as the place to go for new music. Radio stations often switch formats and often without promoting the change in advance.

WHFS was among a handful of stations that developed the album-oriented format: The music was alternative and free-form, featuring such groups as Led Zeppelin, the Who and Yes, but with the occasional bluegrass or other unexpected ditty. Disc jockeys weren't confined to the strictures of a corporate-mandated playlist. They played what they wanted.

Out of this freewheeling approach came the station's music festival, which grew from an offbeat spring event to a nationally recognized bacchanalia that last year drew 65,000 people to RFK Stadium.

"Certainly this will have major ramifications for new music in Washington, D.C.," said Seth Hurwitz, owner of the city's 9:30 club and producer of last year's HFStival, with featured 36 acts. "They were always the forerunner for presenting new music," said Hurwitz, who began his career in 1976 as a disc jockey at the station. "They were a vital fabric of Washington's culture."

WHFS began as a classical music station, then switched to pop music in the early-to-mid-1960s before turning to rock about 1968. The moves were orchestrated by Jake Einstein, who began as an advertising salesman and became one of the station's owners in the mid-1960s.

Einstein's son, Damian, a longtime on-air personality on WHFS, said yesterday that the station's reputation as a maverick programmer began to decline more than a decade ago, at the beginning of a rapid consolidation of ownership in the industry.

"They really weren't interested in the music anymore," said Einstein, who was one of WHFS's best-known personalities and who is now the program director at WRNR-FM, a small alternative rock station in Annapolis. "There really wasn't that much creativity there. Having been there for so long and having done so many things there, of course it's sad. But I guess you gotta do what you gotta do."

Doing what they've got to do includes wooing the Latino radio market, the fastest growing in the business. The audience of Spanish-language stations has grown 37 percent since 1998 and currently accounts for about 9 percent of all listeners. (Some radio experts believe that this understates the actual audience, as it does not take into account the large numbers of undocumented Latinos for whom the radio is a vital source of information.) In 2003, Latin album sales increased 16 percent, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

In the Washington area, the Hispanic population has grown more than 25 percent in the last four years, Infinity says. "El Zol's" playlist is aimed at the region's largely Central American population, featuring Caribbean and Central American dance music, mostly salsa, merengue and bachata.

The station will target radio's "money demographic": Adults ages 25 to 54. Washington has five other radio stations aimed at Spanish speakers: WBZS-FM, WPLC-FM and WKDL-AM, all owned by Mega Broadcasting; WILC-AM, owned by ZGS Broadcasting; and WACA-AM, owned by Entrevision.

Spanish-language radio programs have scored some notable successes in recent years. In New York, "La Mega" (WSKQ-FM) has a morning show that frequently trumps Howard Stern in the quarterly Arbitron ratings, according to Seth Rosen, media director for Reynardus and Moya, a New York-based advertising agency that caters to the Latino market.

The Viacom media conglomerate owns Infinity Broadcasting, which in turn also owns Washington area stations WPGC-FM and AM, WARW-FM and WJFK-FM. Recently, it has been flipping some of its weaker-performing stations across the country to a Spanish-language format, reflecting an industry trend. The switches have been prompted by Infinity's alliance with the Spanish Broadcasting System Inc., the nation's largest Latino-controlled radio broadcasting company. Infinity owns an equity interest in the Florida-based company, which served as a consultant on the WHFS reformatting.

"We did extensive research about the Washington, D.C., market," said Infinity spokeswoman Karen Mateo. "We realized there was a void there for approximately 10 percent of the market."

The switch leaves the futures of WHFS's on-air personalities and other employees in question. Although Infinity has not announced personnel changes, insiders speculate that the station's most popular personalities, the Sports Junkies, will probably be reassigned to WJFK-FM.

No decision has been made about the future of HFStival, Mateo said.

Despite the arrival last year of Lisa Worden, a highly touted programming director, WHFS's progress in the ratings has been slow. The station ranked 20th overall in the most recent Arbitron audience survey, and ninth among its key target audience -- listeners 18 to 34. WHFS's demise as a rock station will likely benefit its chief rival, DC-101, but could also help more pop-oriented music stations such as Z104-FM and Hot 99.5, said Jim Farley, a veteran of Washington radio who is a vice president of WTOP, the all-news station. WTOP's owner, Bonneville International, also owns Z104; Clear Channel owns Hot 99.5, as well as DC-101.

"HFS is an institution around here, but the station has been struggling for a while," said Joe Howard, Washington bureau chief for Radio & Records, a research and analysis firm that also produces an industry magazine.

"I think Infinity saw this as an opportunity to attack an underserved market."

Staff writer Sean Daly contributed to this report.

multi · 13-01-05, 12:29 PM

i didnt think there were any rock stations left in the US that hadn't been killed off by those clearchannel butchers

that must of been the last one...

JackSpratts · 13-01-05, 02:43 PM

i went to school in washington. we had our own closed circuit am and very powerful over the air fm stations, but since the fm was affiliated with (boring) npr, we all listened to whfs, especially while under the influence. saluting the dawn with weasel was standard fare after ah, “studying” all night long. i left town in the late seventies and listened only when passing through d.c. so i'd moved on, but it's the end of an era that started in the late sixties and was all but over by 1975 or '80, with a few remarkable exceptions, like wbcn in boston and hfs. you're right multi, if it wasn't the last one to go it was close to it and like ksan, whcn in hartford (sister station to bcn and where i worked), wnew and all the rest, it will be missed and mourned. course there's always the internet but what's progressive american rock radio without stoned dj's and commercials for waterbeds and headshops? well, as a matter of fact, radioparadise.

- js.

thinker · 13-01-05, 08:14 PM

Good to see someone here knew of the old HFS. My dad would always tell me of the old stations like HFS and WMOD, WMAL-FM, WAVA, etc. Washington radio's mostly blah these days, but so is the rest of mega-market media-cartel-controlled airwaves. Even though the station wasn't what it used to be during the final years, it was nice that someone was still trying to make somewhat of an effort.

Gutrguy · 13-01-05, 10:55 PM

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I guess this means that there isnt going to be another HFSTival or Xmas Nutcracker, or any of that cool shit that they did.

I have been to a few HFSTivals, one was as a 'fan' the other times i worked at RFK Stadium selling shit...hot pretzles, icy's, funnel cakes...and still got to see the entire show on the main stage for free. Truly a huge loss to the DelMarVa (DC Included) area. Looks like DC 101 or 98 Rock are gonna have to step up and really make a run for the top of the hill.

At the beach (Ocean City MD) there are 3 'rock' stations. 93.5 The Beach, 95.9 96 Rock, 106.9 X1069...and for anyone who knows the area, Seacrets has a decent station that broadcasts from the 'bar'. Clear Channel has a death grip on 95% of the stations around here. the Seacrets station is independent, the only other broadcasting company in this area is 'Great Scott Broadcasting' so there really isnt much choice

jcmd62 · 30-01-05, 06:40 PM

I don't think any of you understand what a huge loss HFS is. More than 30 years of unfaltering support of progressive/new wave Rock n Roll. Never intimidated by the more popular stations like DC 101 and 98 Rock with the likes of Howard Stern and the "Greaseman" who played whatever they were PAID to play and make popular. After leaving its original format and moving to 99.1, HFS never changed. HFS was OUR radio station in College Park and it was ALWAYS there at 99.1. Whenever the other stations were full of commercials or the DJ's just wouldn't STFU, you could almost always find commercial free blocks of REM , The Cure, etc.. jamming on HFS. It was always that one station you knew you could flip to and not be instantly repulsed by some DJ that talks through the first 2 minutes and last 5 minutes of every song or forced to endure 20 minutes of commercials between each song.

To everyone at the former WHFS, thanx so much for the musical memories. I don't think todays youth realize just how important a roll Radio Stations played in some of us old timers lives. My days spent at the "Attic/Paragon" and the "Cellar" would not have been as memorable without you and all the great concerts and events you guys made possible throughout my time at the U of MD. Your unwavering path and determination to be different in a business that was very unforgiving to change or to those that proposed it, will always be a testament to your success. Peace WHFS...A sad loss for the Metro area airwaves indeed.

Gutrguy · 31-01-05, 12:00 AM

JC, seems that WHFS is back but on 105.7 (or maybe its 105.9) now, its also got a webcast.

thinker · 31-01-05, 03:32 PM

Well, it isn't a full-time thing on 105.7. They have some weekend and evening time, but the remainder is still dedicated to talk shows, unless something has changed in the past week. The web radio station basically seems to play much of the '90s and today stuff that the actual station was playing, though I have heard some '80s thrown as well in the couple of times I've checked it out.

It does please me, though, that the call letters WHFS are no longer used on "El Zol."

thinker · 04-02-05, 12:29 AM

Actually, neither GG or I knew this, since we were both treferring to the HFS segments on 105.7, but the way he worded it he was actually absolutely right...

WHFS is back...in a way.

In the wake of the outcry over the demise of WHFS, some former personalities of the station were plugged into evening and weekend spots on Baltimore's Live 105.7, WXYV, a mostly talk station. The segments were called "HFS on Live 105.7," and surfaced January 21. One week later, the call letters were changed on 105.7 to WHFS and on 99.1 (the previous WHFS, now "El Zol") to WZLL. The new WHFS is bringing former evening personalities Big O and Dukes to a trial run in the midday slot (others are also being tried out in the slot) opposite their former airmates, the (Sports) Junkies, who were 99.1's morning drive show but have since returned to Washington-based 106.7 WJFK in the midday slot. As it stands now, WHFS at 105.7 is sort of a music/talk mix, with Stern in the morning, various personalities doing trial runs at midday, Don and Mike in the afternoon, Tim Virgin (who was at 99.1) doing music in the evening, and Tom Leykis latenights. The weekends are music full-time. Interestingly, the frequency for the new WHFS is the same as WKTK, Baltimore's prog-rock outlet during the '70s. As far as DC goes, the market is still really left out, since 105.7 doesn't have an exceptional signal (much like 99.1's before a new shiny strong signal magically appeared for El Zol last week), and its orientation leaves southerly-situated listeners basically out of range.

At the same time the HFS segments were being let out on 105.7, http://www.whfs.com was converted into an AOL radio station playing basically the material that WHFS had been playing before its demise at 99.1, with some '80s goods thrown in sometimes.

There will be a party at Baltimore's Hard Rock Cafe at noon on Saturday, February 5 to celebrate the semi-resurrection of WHFS.

13-01-05, 10:56 AM	#1
thinker Ex-Singular Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Earth Posts: 4,677	WHFS gone from Washington/Baltimore airwaves. Longtime Washington/Baltimore market alternative station WHFS now no longer broadcasts...in English. Infinity Broadcasting decided to pull the plug on the station amid management mishaps and declining ratings, switching the format to Spanish-language yesterday. "HFS" had been a stalwart for many, many years as far as being at the forefront of things and being a freer station than most, though that began fading in the late '80s through to the present. Originally a classical etc. station (see article), HFS started at 102.3 on your FM dial and after switching to a progressive and alternative rock format was home to such on-air personalities as "Cerphe" and "Weasel," both of whom now work at WARW 94.7 FM, the leading classic rock station in the area. In the early '80s HFS moved to 99.1 FM, where it stayed until yesterday (technically it's still there, but in call letters only). HFS had enjoyed a publicity boost in the '90s due to usual corporate promotion, as well as its annual HFStival concert, which had grown to become a nationally known event amongst those in the rock scene. The format change was a topic on stations all over the region this morning; the seemingly universal reaction from DJs and listeners was one of sorrow at having lost an institution. It also made the front page of The Washington Post (article below). The talk will likely continue through the day, and this afternoon one can only assume that "Cerphe" Colwood will discuss things a fair bit on his drivetime program on WARW, which airs from 2-7 p.m. My personal experience with HFS was scant, during some of the station's last years just due to the time I grew up. I encountered the station in the early '90s, and listened as I tried to see just what was worth listening to at that time and through high school. HFS, though devolving into pop-rock slowly but surely, was more palatable to me than WWDC and other stations who were either stuck in hair bands or other things I didn't like. Although often I have all but given up on modern music and radio, I had been listening to the Sports Junkies (well-known sports personalities in the area who briefly had a nationally syndicated show as well) lately and doing the occasional scan for anything that might resemble music. HFS had made a long Thanksgiving weekend of it this past year with a Revenge of the '80s and '90s weekend (though there were a few late '70s tracks in there too, I believe), which I very much enjoyed and seemed to be the station's last hurrah. If there was one thing I regretted it was not making it to an HFStival during the mid-late '90s even if the station wasn't what it once was. Suffice it to say, it's very unfortunate that HFS has ended up just being another casualty of devolution brought on by the corporate media culture. While the call letters WHFS are currently occupied by "El Zol," Infinity would be smart to let the letters go if they feel the new station has a future, and instead adopt WZRW (ZRW for Zol Radio Washington), a call sign that has not been used since 1997, which itself was for a brief period by a station in Mississippi. In this way, the possibility would be there to reignite the HFS tradition somehow if anyone with the funding was so inclined, and by reignite the tradition I don't mean continue the way it was going, but with a shift back to true alternative radio including the best progressive and alternative from all eras. Sounds like a pie in the sky idea in modern Washington, but it would be nice. Even if something like that never happens, it would also be nice to not have the call sign WHFS dragged through this current nightmare as something decidedly fourth-rate. Enough has been done already. As I type, WARW has changed its lunch show for today, dedicating it to the memory of HFS and what it once stood for. Here are a few links I've thrown together rather quickly. Page dedicated to the HFS of old. http://www.dcrtv.org/hfs.html Page on HFS nostalgia while visiting the area. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/tgif/co...es/001482.html Infinity Radio station information for WHFS, which they haven't changed. You should get a kick out of one line in particular. http://www.infinityradio.com/station...st&station=199 The WHFS website, which no longer really exists. http://www.whfs.com Instead of Siempre de Fiesta, it should be Siempre de Siesta since they didn't have the forethought to make a real website for the results of this hijack.

13-01-05, 12:29 PM	#3
multi Thanks for being with arse Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The other side of the world Posts: 10,343	i didnt think there were any rock stations left in the US that hadn't been killed off by those clearchannel butchers that must of been the last one... __________________ i beat the internet - the end boss is hard Secret Temple of It

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13-01-05, 11:12 AM	#2
thinker Ex-Singular Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Earth Posts: 4,677	Note: In my opinion, "siempre de fiesta" would be better translated as "always festive" instead of "always partying," as in the article below, which is c&p'd from the Washington Post website since it may require a login. WHFS Changes Its Tune to Spanish Alternative Rock Pioneer Targets Latino Audience By Teresa Wiltz and Paul Farhi Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, January 13, 2005; Page A01 WHFS-FM, the Washington area radio station that was a pioneering purveyor of alternative rock to generations of young music fans, did a programming U-turn yesterday by ditching the genre for a Spanish-language, pop-music format that transforms it into the largest Spanish-language station on the local dial. In an instant, the station abandoned the likes of the White Stripes, Green Day and Jet for middle-of-the-road superstars such as Marc Anthony, Juan Luis Guerra and Victor Manuelle. The switch reflects both changing demographics and a corporate war of attrition involving Washington's two major radio station owners, Infinity Broadcasting, which owns WHFS, and Clear Channel Communications, which owns WHFS's chief competitor, DC-101. Despite its self-proclaimed "legendary" status, WHFS (at 99.1 on the dial) has long trailed DC-101 in the race to win the ears of rock listeners in the Washington-Baltimore area. At the same time, Spanish-language radio is the fastest-growing format in the country, while alternative rock radio is a withering niche. At noon yesterday, the station behind the HFStival, a popular annual concert, broadcast the late Jeff Buckley's 1995 hit, "Last Goodbye." And then came something that WHFS listeners hadn't heard before in the station's 36-year history as the arbiter of cutting-edge rock: "WHFS transmitiendo desde la ciudad capital de America: "Esta! Es! Tu! Nueva! Radio!" "Transmitting from America's Capital City: This! Is! Your! New! Radio!" Lanham-based WHFS is now "El Zol," where they're "siempre de fiesta" -- always partying. (Zol plays off sol, the Spanish word for sun, and is a station brand of the Spanish Broadcasting System Inc. which owns other "Zol" stations.) Although radio insiders have discussed the likelihood of WHFS changing formats for many months, the switch came as a shock to former employees and fans who grew up listening to the radio station that, since the late 1960s, had gained a reputation as the place to go for new music. Radio stations often switch formats and often without promoting the change in advance. WHFS was among a handful of stations that developed the album-oriented format: The music was alternative and free-form, featuring such groups as Led Zeppelin, the Who and Yes, but with the occasional bluegrass or other unexpected ditty. Disc jockeys weren't confined to the strictures of a corporate-mandated playlist. They played what they wanted. Out of this freewheeling approach came the station's music festival, which grew from an offbeat spring event to a nationally recognized bacchanalia that last year drew 65,000 people to RFK Stadium. "Certainly this will have major ramifications for new music in Washington, D.C.," said Seth Hurwitz, owner of the city's 9:30 club and producer of last year's HFStival, with featured 36 acts. "They were always the forerunner for presenting new music," said Hurwitz, who began his career in 1976 as a disc jockey at the station. "They were a vital fabric of Washington's culture." WHFS began as a classical music station, then switched to pop music in the early-to-mid-1960s before turning to rock about 1968. The moves were orchestrated by Jake Einstein, who began as an advertising salesman and became one of the station's owners in the mid-1960s. Einstein's son, Damian, a longtime on-air personality on WHFS, said yesterday that the station's reputation as a maverick programmer began to decline more than a decade ago, at the beginning of a rapid consolidation of ownership in the industry. "They really weren't interested in the music anymore," said Einstein, who was one of WHFS's best-known personalities and who is now the program director at WRNR-FM, a small alternative rock station in Annapolis. "There really wasn't that much creativity there. Having been there for so long and having done so many things there, of course it's sad. But I guess you gotta do what you gotta do." Doing what they've got to do includes wooing the Latino radio market, the fastest growing in the business. The audience of Spanish-language stations has grown 37 percent since 1998 and currently accounts for about 9 percent of all listeners. (Some radio experts believe that this understates the actual audience, as it does not take into account the large numbers of undocumented Latinos for whom the radio is a vital source of information.) In 2003, Latin album sales increased 16 percent, according to Nielsen SoundScan. In the Washington area, the Hispanic population has grown more than 25 percent in the last four years, Infinity says. "El Zol's" playlist is aimed at the region's largely Central American population, featuring Caribbean and Central American dance music, mostly salsa, merengue and bachata. The station will target radio's "money demographic": Adults ages 25 to 54. Washington has five other radio stations aimed at Spanish speakers: WBZS-FM, WPLC-FM and WKDL-AM, all owned by Mega Broadcasting; WILC-AM, owned by ZGS Broadcasting; and WACA-AM, owned by Entrevision. Spanish-language radio programs have scored some notable successes in recent years. In New York, "La Mega" (WSKQ-FM) has a morning show that frequently trumps Howard Stern in the quarterly Arbitron ratings, according to Seth Rosen, media director for Reynardus and Moya, a New York-based advertising agency that caters to the Latino market. The Viacom media conglomerate owns Infinity Broadcasting, which in turn also owns Washington area stations WPGC-FM and AM, WARW-FM and WJFK-FM. Recently, it has been flipping some of its weaker-performing stations across the country to a Spanish-language format, reflecting an industry trend. The switches have been prompted by Infinity's alliance with the Spanish Broadcasting System Inc., the nation's largest Latino-controlled radio broadcasting company. Infinity owns an equity interest in the Florida-based company, which served as a consultant on the WHFS reformatting. "We did extensive research about the Washington, D.C., market," said Infinity spokeswoman Karen Mateo. "We realized there was a void there for approximately 10 percent of the market." The switch leaves the futures of WHFS's on-air personalities and other employees in question. Although Infinity has not announced personnel changes, insiders speculate that the station's most popular personalities, the Sports Junkies, will probably be reassigned to WJFK-FM. No decision has been made about the future of HFStival, Mateo said. Despite the arrival last year of Lisa Worden, a highly touted programming director, WHFS's progress in the ratings has been slow. The station ranked 20th overall in the most recent Arbitron audience survey, and ninth among its key target audience -- listeners 18 to 34. WHFS's demise as a rock station will likely benefit its chief rival, DC-101, but could also help more pop-oriented music stations such as Z104-FM and Hot 99.5, said Jim Farley, a veteran of Washington radio who is a vice president of WTOP, the all-news station. WTOP's owner, Bonneville International, also owns Z104; Clear Channel owns Hot 99.5, as well as DC-101. "HFS is an institution around here, but the station has been struggling for a while," said Joe Howard, Washington bureau chief for Radio & Records, a research and analysis firm that also produces an industry magazine. "I think Infinity saw this as an opportunity to attack an underserved market." Staff writer Sean Daly contributed to this report.

13-01-05, 02:43 PM	#4
JackSpratts Join Date: May 2001 Location: New England Posts: 10,017	i went to school in washington. we had our own closed circuit am and very powerful over the air fm stations, but since the fm was affiliated with (boring) npr, we all listened to whfs, especially while under the influence. saluting the dawn with weasel was standard fare after ah, “studying” all night long. i left town in the late seventies and listened only when passing through d.c. so i'd moved on, but it's the end of an era that started in the late sixties and was all but over by 1975 or '80, with a few remarkable exceptions, like wbcn in boston and hfs. you're right multi, if it wasn't the last one to go it was close to it and like ksan, whcn in hartford (sister station to bcn and where i worked), wnew and all the rest, it will be missed and mourned. course there's always the internet but what's progressive american rock radio without stoned dj's and commercials for waterbeds and headshops? well, as a matter of fact, radioparadise. - js.

13-01-05, 08:14 PM	#5
thinker Ex-Singular Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Earth Posts: 4,677	Good to see someone here knew of the old HFS. My dad would always tell me of the old stations like HFS and WMOD, WMAL-FM, WAVA, etc. Washington radio's mostly blah these days, but so is the rest of mega-market media-cartel-controlled airwaves. Even though the station wasn't what it used to be during the final years, it was nice that someone was still trying to make somewhat of an effort.

13-01-05, 10:55 PM	#6
Gutrguy Semiblind Join Date: Mar 2001 Posts: 1,857	NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I guess this means that there isnt going to be another HFSTival or Xmas Nutcracker, or any of that cool shit that they did. I have been to a few HFSTivals, one was as a 'fan' the other times i worked at RFK Stadium selling shit...hot pretzles, icy's, funnel cakes...and still got to see the entire show on the main stage for free. Truly a huge loss to the DelMarVa (DC Included) area. Looks like DC 101 or 98 Rock are gonna have to step up and really make a run for the top of the hill. At the beach (Ocean City MD) there are 3 'rock' stations. 93.5 The Beach, 95.9 96 Rock, 106.9 X1069...and for anyone who knows the area, Seacrets has a decent station that broadcasts from the 'bar'. Clear Channel has a death grip on 95% of the stations around here. the Seacrets station is independent, the only other broadcasting company in this area is 'Great Scott Broadcasting' so there really isnt much choice

30-01-05, 06:40 PM	#7
jcmd62 Alpha Male Join Date: May 2001 Location: In Limbo Posts: 2,005	I don't think any of you understand what a huge loss HFS is. More than 30 years of unfaltering support of progressive/new wave Rock n Roll. Never intimidated by the more popular stations like DC 101 and 98 Rock with the likes of Howard Stern and the "Greaseman" who played whatever they were PAID to play and make popular. After leaving its original format and moving to 99.1, HFS never changed. HFS was OUR radio station in College Park and it was ALWAYS there at 99.1. Whenever the other stations were full of commercials or the DJ's just wouldn't STFU, you could almost always find commercial free blocks of REM , The Cure, etc.. jamming on HFS. It was always that one station you knew you could flip to and not be instantly repulsed by some DJ that talks through the first 2 minutes and last 5 minutes of every song or forced to endure 20 minutes of commercials between each song. To everyone at the former WHFS, thanx so much for the musical memories. I don't think todays youth realize just how important a roll Radio Stations played in some of us old timers lives. My days spent at the "Attic/Paragon" and the "Cellar" would not have been as memorable without you and all the great concerts and events you guys made possible throughout my time at the U of MD. Your unwavering path and determination to be different in a business that was very unforgiving to change or to those that proposed it, will always be a testament to your success. Peace WHFS...A sad loss for the Metro area airwaves indeed.

31-01-05, 12:00 AM	#8
Gutrguy Semiblind Join Date: Mar 2001 Posts: 1,857	JC, seems that WHFS is back but on 105.7 (or maybe its 105.9) now, its also got a webcast.

31-01-05, 03:32 PM	#9
thinker Ex-Singular Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Earth Posts: 4,677	Well, it isn't a full-time thing on 105.7. They have some weekend and evening time, but the remainder is still dedicated to talk shows, unless something has changed in the past week. The web radio station basically seems to play much of the '90s and today stuff that the actual station was playing, though I have heard some '80s thrown as well in the couple of times I've checked it out. It does please me, though, that the call letters WHFS are no longer used on "El Zol."

04-02-05, 12:29 AM	#10
thinker Ex-Singular Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Earth Posts: 4,677	Actually, neither GG or I knew this, since we were both treferring to the HFS segments on 105.7, but the way he worded it he was actually absolutely right... WHFS is back...in a way. In the wake of the outcry over the demise of WHFS, some former personalities of the station were plugged into evening and weekend spots on Baltimore's Live 105.7, WXYV, a mostly talk station. The segments were called "HFS on Live 105.7," and surfaced January 21. One week later, the call letters were changed on 105.7 to WHFS and on 99.1 (the previous WHFS, now "El Zol") to WZLL. The new WHFS is bringing former evening personalities Big O and Dukes to a trial run in the midday slot (others are also being tried out in the slot) opposite their former airmates, the (Sports) Junkies, who were 99.1's morning drive show but have since returned to Washington-based 106.7 WJFK in the midday slot. As it stands now, WHFS at 105.7 is sort of a music/talk mix, with Stern in the morning, various personalities doing trial runs at midday, Don and Mike in the afternoon, Tim Virgin (who was at 99.1) doing music in the evening, and Tom Leykis latenights. The weekends are music full-time. Interestingly, the frequency for the new WHFS is the same as WKTK, Baltimore's prog-rock outlet during the '70s. As far as DC goes, the market is still really left out, since 105.7 doesn't have an exceptional signal (much like 99.1's before a new shiny strong signal magically appeared for El Zol last week), and its orientation leaves southerly-situated listeners basically out of range. At the same time the HFS segments were being let out on 105.7, http://www.whfs.com was converted into an AOL radio station playing basically the material that WHFS had been playing before its demise at 99.1, with some '80s goods thrown in sometimes. There will be a party at Baltimore's Hard Rock Cafe at noon on Saturday, February 5 to celebrate the semi-resurrection of WHFS.