Update: WHFS says, "I'm not dead yet!"

Post by **Zaia** » 2005-01-12 11:36pm

WBAL news wrote:Wednesday Not 'Muy Bien' For Some WHFS Fans
Former Rock Station Switches Formats

POSTED: 4:42 pm EST January 12, 2005
UPDATED: 6:19 pm EST January 12, 2005

WASHINGTON -- The radio station WHFS changed its format to Spanish language dance music Wednesday after more than 35 years of playing rock and alternative music in the Washington region.

At noon WHFS became "El Zol" 99.1, playing Caribbean and Central American dance music geared toward people between the ages of 25 and 54, according to a statement from the station's owner, Infinity Broadcasting. The station made the switch to reach a growing market in the Washington area that Infinity said is underserved.

"There exists a tremendous opportunity for Infinity to launch a Spanish language format in Washington, D.C., where almost 10 percent of the population is not being directly served," said Infinity President Joel Hollander in a statement.

Infinity spokeswoman Karen Mateo, said some former WHFS employees will be offered jobs within the company's national network of 183 radio stations. She said some have been fired, but would not say how many.

Reached at home, John "Cakes" Auville of the WHFS morning show "Junkies" said he and other WHFS employees had been instructed not to comment on the format change. A woman who answered the phone at the station referred all calls to Infinity's New York headquarters.

WHFS, which stood for "Hi Fidelity Stereo" started out on the dial at 102.3 in 1961 playing classical music and jazz. But by the late 1960s and early 1970s, WHFS had shifted to a free form style where DJs were given wide choice on what they played. The station featured well known rock bands but also lesser known musicians whose tracks were not played on big radio stations.

Bruce Springsteen came to the station when he was playing in clubs and Steve Miller stopped by when he couldn't get his songs on other radio stations, according to Damian Einstein, who started working as a DJ at WHFS in 1971 and stayed there for nearly 25 years.

"Certain artists weren't being played anywhere, so they went to WHFS," said Einstein, now at WRNR in Annapolis. "We did a lot of different stuff no one else did."

In 1983, WHFS moved from Bethesda to Annapolis and shifted to the 91.1 frequency. After several changes in ownership, it was bought by Infinity in 1996, eventually settling in Lanham. It reached listeners in the Washington area, Baltimore and Annapolis.

The station sponsored an annual concert at RFK Stadium known as the WHFstival. Mateo said the Infinity "realizes the importance of the event in the community" and will "look to continue the event" if possible.

Ratings, however, have slipped. WHFS had lower ratings than Infinity's other three FM stations in the area, making it a target for a format change.

"Of the stations we own in that market, that is the one that made the most sense to make the change," Mateo said.

The switch also demonstrates the growing power of the Hispanic market in the Washington area. Immigrants primarily from Central American countries have built large communities in areas such as Silver Spring and Wheaton in Maryland, and sections of Northern Virginia and Washington.

Infinity estimated the area's Hispanic population grew 25 percent in the past four years to reach 400,000 people. The company signed a deal in October with Spanish Broadcasting System that gave Infinity inroads into Spanish language radio.

"El Zol" will be Infinity's first Spanish language station in a top 10 market, according to the company.

Link.

I highlighted the parts that will maybe show how this wasn't just any station...*sighs*

They didn't give even the DJs any notice--12 noon rolled around today and BAM! Stupid fucking Latin dancey pop shit instead of the best alternative rock station ever. HFS was on the air for almost 40 goddamn years! And they gave no one any notice--no notice AT ALL!! Fuckers.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2005-01-12 11:45pm

They killed WHFS!??!

Post by **Zaia** » 2005-01-12 11:47pm

Howedar wrote:They killed WHFS!??!

It was a fucking LEGEND and they KILLED IT!!!!

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2005-01-12 11:53pm

Shit I live(d) 250mi away and I listened to it whenever I was passing though.

*EDIT* Haha, wrong Washingon, wrong letters, same frequency.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2005-01-13 12:00am

Sorry to hear that, Z

Damaramu · Post by **Damaramu** » 2005-01-13 12:09am

Same EXACT fucking thing happened here in Houston.

Clear Channel killed KLOL 101.1 (hard rock/new & old...been around for about 20 years or so) and switched it's format to a Latin Hip-hop, with the late teen/early 20's latin community in mind.

As if the FOUR fucking Tejano stations weren't enough here in H-Town, CC decided that it would make more money if they added a fifth.

Now, we have 2 stations to choose from if we want rock, 94.5 The Buzz (alternative

) and 93.7 The Arrow (classic rock from 60's-80's

)

Fuckers.

Post by **Kuja** » 2005-01-13 12:31am

It's like a disease going around. One of my favorite rock stations here in Buffalo recently switched over to become a talk station. Fuck that.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2005-01-13 01:20am

Good ol' corporatism at work, folks. MBAs in two thousand-dollar suits who make their decisions based on spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations.

Singular Quartet · Post by **Singular Quartet** » 2005-01-13 02:18am

Ah, the joys of being in range of one of the only alternative rock stations not owned by a major corporation, WFNX (101.7 of the Boston Area).

Dennis Toy · Post by **Dennis Toy** » 2005-01-13 02:51am

heres a tip, get satellite radio

only stations i listen to is 96.3 and 102.3 in DC

Post by **Dalton** » 2005-01-13 06:21am

Yeah, our soft-rock station 92.7 changed to a Spanish station a little while ago. I hope the same doesn't happen to our rock stations...

Post by **Gandalf** » 2005-01-13 06:25am

Our local "Classic rock" station became wall to wall modern pop a year or so ago. Used to be lots of things like Cold Chisel, AC/DC, The Angels etc. They had a good talk show late at night as well. It used to kick inhuman ass. Now it's those gits "Simple Plan", all because they wanted that younger demographic everyone else wanted.

Z, I know your pain. You have my sympathies.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2005-01-13 06:51am

Darth Wong wrote:Good ol' corporatism at work, folks. MBAs in two thousand-dollar suits who make their decisions based on spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations.

Actually its a reaction to a changing demographic and a finite number of available radio frequencies. Radio stations that people listen to in sufficient numbers do not get shut down.

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2005-01-13 07:15am

GODDAMNIT!

That was all I listened at sometime because it was worth it!

Great...guess I will be going back to hunting..........again.

Post by **Zaia** » 2005-01-13 11:09am

There's an internet petition for Maryland residents (and DC and Virginia residents too, I would assume) here. I don't completely agree with the wording of the protest, because I think that there should be a Latin station; I just don't think it should be WHFS that goes down for it.

Apparently they're also staging a protest on Saturday, but I have to work.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2005-01-13 11:38am

Dalton wrote:Yeah, our soft-rock station 92.7 changed to a Spanish station a little while ago. I hope the same doesn't happen to our rock stations...

Rob there's like three Spanish stations in the NYC area now. I predict there will be a fourth devoted to radio talk shows like WABC or CBS fairly soon. The hispanic demographic in the city is enormous and people are beginning to recognize the money there.

Personally I've been listening to Satellite Radio and that's fun - something like 170 stations, I've barely scratched the surface of the variety available.

Losonti Tokash · Post by **Losonti Tokash** » 2005-01-13 11:38am

At least it wasn't changed to a country station. That happened to what was virtually the only rock station available in Omaha. The replacement is some other station that operates out of a community college and has beg-a-thons to stay running.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2005-01-13 12:06pm

Stravo wrote: Personally I've been listening to Satellite Radio and that's fun - something like 170 stations, I've barely scratched the surface of the variety available.

XM has several uncensored comedy stations, it's fantastic! Although the signal fizzles out in the bowels of the Big Dig. Do you get service in the Hollad and Lincoln tunnels?

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2005-01-13 12:08pm

Zaia wrote:There's an internet petition for Maryland residents (and DC and Virginia residents too, I would assume) here. I don't completely agree with the wording of the protest, because I think that there should be a Latin station; I just don't think it should be WHFS that goes down for it.

Apparently they're also staging a protest on Saturday, but I have to work.

That petition is so bigoted it's embarrasing. "Spanish sucks"? WTF? Can't people just protest for the right reasons (like, don't kill my station) instead of trying to insult a whole community with racist comments?

Post by **Zaia** » 2005-01-13 12:24pm

Slartibartfast wrote:That petition is so bigoted it's embarrasing. "Spanish sucks"? WTF? Can't people just protest for the right reasons (like, don't kill my station) instead of trying to insult a whole community with racist comments?

I know. Like I said before, I don't agree with that aspect of the petition, and I think that the station will probably be fairly successful since DC has a decent-sized Spanish-speaking population. I do, however, think they should've picked one of their other stations to kill off.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2005-01-13 12:52pm

Zaia wrote:
Slartibartfast wrote:That petition is so bigoted it's embarrasing. "Spanish sucks"? WTF? Can't people just protest for the right reasons (like, don't kill my station) instead of trying to insult a whole community with racist comments?
I know. Like I said before, I don't agree with that aspect of the petition, and I think that the station will probably be fairly successful since DC has a decent-sized Spanish-speaking population. I do, however, think they should've picked one of their other stations to kill off.

I agree completely with you, just not with people saying stuff like "I like tacos, not song about tacos"

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2005-01-13 01:10pm

I guess I am lucky. Localy we have four rock stations. Two classic rock stations, one rock station that plays old and new alike just as often, and one pop-rock station. Plenty of variety.

Post by **Zaia** » 2005-01-13 01:10pm

Gah!

Where I got my link to the petition, I wrote this:

Z, on the petition to get HFS back, wrote:I signed the petition and all, but was anyone else bothered by the wording? I don't mind a Latino station popping up for the Spanish-speaking residents of DC; I just would MUCH rather it to pop up on a different frequency.

Here's the only answer I've received so far:

I agree with that. I have no problem with spic music, just leave the Junks alone

('The Junks' are the Junkies, the morning show guys on WHFS.)

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2005-01-13 02:09pm

Singular Quartet wrote:Ah, the joys of being in range of one of the only alternative rock stations not owned by a major corporation, WFNX (101.7 of the Boston Area).

yep, I flip between that and 104.1

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2005-01-13 02:12pm

Wow, if that's the standard listener to this classic rock station then I say "Viva la Rasa!!" Good on those racist fucks for losing their rock station.