WHFS gone from Washington/Baltimore airwaves.

[thinker]

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.