CBS Radio returned Modern Rock and the venerable “WHFS” brand to Baltimore via 97.5 W248AO and 106.5 WWMX-HD2 at noon today.
The station is launching with a full airstaff. Tim Virgin, most recently in afternoons at Q101 Chicago, will host mornings. He along with afternoon host Gina Crash and night host Neci are veterans of the original 99.1 WHFS. The syndicated Loveline will air from 10pm to midnight. Other Baltimore radio veterans Jenn Marino (who continues to co-host afternoons at Mix 106.5) and Chris Emry will also appear on the station.
Since being displaced from its longtime home on 99.1 in Annapolis, MD in February 2005, the format was used on HD2 and part time on then FM Talk “Live 105.7” in Baltimore and up until now on 94.7 WIAD-HD2 Bethesda/Washington, DC. The actual WHFS call letters are held by “1580 The Big Talker” in Morningside, MD.
Listen to the rebirth of WHFS at 97.5 on FormatChange.com.
Here’s a sample hour of HFS at 3:00pm today:
Blur – Song 2
Foster the People – Pumped Up Kicks
Nirvana – Heart-Shaped Box
Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out
Stone Temple Pilots – Unglued
New Order – Bizarre Love Triangle
Rise Against – Audience of One
Veruca Salt – Seether
Foo Fighters – Walk (Live)
Live – Lightning Crashes
The Ataris – The Boys of Summer
Soul Coughing – Super Bon Bon
The Cult – Love Removal Machine
I was the Chief Engineer, morning drive jock and Production Director at the Original WHFS at 102.3 in Bethesda from 1972-1975. The signal was also weak, but its three thousand watts is a LOT more than the 97. 5 eight watts.
Eight watts and an antenna 500 feet up doesn’t go very far, but the transmitter is pretty much dead center of the arc of I-695. I’m getting it on the receiver in my living room and I’m just outside of their local contour here in Ruxton.
Back in the early 1970s, there was something called FM penetration. FM radio was just coming of age. Car radios had been AM only until then. In a very few years, FM radios were everywhere and the AM stations began drying up. Maybe, just maybe, it’s time for FM’s digital channels (which require a special receiver) to supplant regular FM.
Neci sounds clean but the music sounds distorted.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Ty,
Just as a correction, 97.5 is now operating at the 250 watt maximum for translators from the 106.5/104.3 tower.
Lance, How’d they get to bump the license to 250 watts?
250 watts is the maximum allowed for translators. The spacing is far enough away from WIYY and other 97.5’s to prevent interference in the protected contours.