In January it will be twenty years since its longest incarnation died, but once again a heartbeat is coming from the venerable Alternative “WHFS” brand in Washington DC and Baltimore.
On Wednesday, local venue The 9:30 Club announced WHFS’ former annual concert “HFStival” will return on on September 21 from Nationals Park in Washington, the home of MLB’s Washington Nationals. No performers or other details were announced. The concert was held annually from 1990 through 2006 as well as in 2010 and 2011 always promoted by the station. The “HFS” intellectual property is still owned by Audacy existing as a playlist on its app with the company still holding a trademark for “HFS” although the “HFStival” trademark was cancelled in 2021. There are no indications yet that Audacy is involved in this resurrection, although the company still owns all of the domains associated with the station and HFSTival.com.
Following the January 2005 flip of 99.1 WHFS Annapolis MD to Spanish Tropical “El Zol“, the “HFS” brand was resurrected in the Baltimore and Washington markets multiple times by former owner CBS Radio. It first appeared on nights and weekends on Hot Talk “Live 105.7” WHFS Catonsville/Baltimore from 2005 to 2007. After a move to 105.7-HD2, it was shifted to Washington on 94.7 WTGB-HD2 Bethesda as “HFS2” in 2009. In 2011, a fully staffed version of the brand debuted on 97.5 W248AO/106.5 WWMX-HD2 Baltimore. After translator owner Hope Christian Church of Marlton was unable to upgrade one of its other Baltimore area signals, it reclaimed W248AO and “HFS” moved again in March 2014 to the 10w 104.9 W285EJ signal that covered just a small portion of the Baltimore metro. The brand was tweaked in September 2020 as Audacy’s restructuring of its Alternative brands across the country brought on-air talent back the signal in this case with the staff of “Alt 92.3” WNYL New York voicetracking the Baltimore focused signal until its demise in 2021. After being dropped from 105.7 Baltimore in 2009, The WHFS call letters were parked on stations in Washington, West Palm Beach and Tampa until being dropped in September 2023.
The original WHFS was located on 102.3 in Bethesda MD serving Washington DC shifting to Progressive Rock in the early 1970s. It was moved to 99.1 Annapolis allowing it to serve both the Baltimore and Washington markets in 1983 becoming one of the most influential Alternative Rock stations of the late 80s and 1990s.
Mark W.
I’d love to see a classic alternative flavored WHFS!
DC101 is not a bad station musically, but I’d love to see an HFS comeback *if* it were to follow an approach similar to Atlanta’s 99X. Needs to be on a full power FM analog signal if attempted. No puny translator, HD-only signal or lame stream.