# Long-lived DC rock radio station killed with no notice. Fuck Infinity Broadcasting! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 12, 2005, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-lived-dc-rock-radio-station-killed-with-no-notice-fuck-infinity-broadcasting/284428 "2005-01-12T19:57:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-lived-dc-rock-radio-station-killed-with-no-notice-fuck-infinity-broadcasting/284428/61 "2005-01-14T18:33:46Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#): > > Whaaa?? I’m sorry, but what part of this statement is not true? “This is the United States and most of us speak English!” Have the foreign-language speakers surpassed 50 percent and I didn’t get the memo? It was the concatenation of that sentence with the one preceding it: > [@](#): > > I’m sorry, it just strikes me as… fucked up that they kill this old and beloved rock station for a FOREIGN LANGUAGE station! Come on, people, this is the United States and most of us speak English! :mad: Sure, most of us speak English, but a lot of Americans, and noncitizens residing here, speak Spanish. So what’s the deal - they shouldn’t get one lousy station until they’re in the majority?? Pardon me if I find that attitude pretty fucked up. Along with the racist tinge that seems to be part of it: that it was somehow worse that HFS got turned into a Spanish-speaking station than, say, an English-speaking easy-listening station. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-lived-dc-rock-radio-station-killed-with-no-notice-fuck-infinity-broadcasting/284428/62 "2005-01-14T18:54:30Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > It was the concatenation of that sentence with the one preceding it: > Sure, most of us speak English, but a lot of Americans, and noncitizens residing here, speak Spanish. So what’s the deal - they shouldn’t get one lousy station until they’re in the majority?? > > Pardon me if I find that attitude pretty fucked up. Along with the racist tinge that seems to be part of it: that it was somehow worse that HFS got turned into a Spanish-speaking station than, say, an English-speaking easy-listening station. It’s not a matter of “they” getting anything, as if Latinos had been granted a radio station of their very own by the Broadcasting Fairy. There’s a large segment of the market that was overlooked, and Infinity wanted to get some Latino ad dollars, simple as that. I don’t see the problem with a Spanish-language radio station; my cable provider has a Latino tier of cable channels, and I get HBO Latino with my cable movie package, so I can watch Carrie and Samantha talk about vibrators in Spanish. As far as rock dying, get over it. Big band died, country and western died (yes, there’s “country” music, but that’s a pale, weak copy of the real thing), and now AOR is fading away along with the Boomers who listened to it. Hip hop has been the dominant music genre for some time now, and it, too, will disappear someday when a new form of music arises. Then a whole new generation of old farts with saggy tattoos and grown-over nipple rings will complain about the good old days, and how Eminem broke his hip dancing at a benefit at his retirement home, poor old thing ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Crunchy\_Crunch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Captain\_Crunchy\_Crunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Crunchy_Crunch)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-lived-dc-rock-radio-station-killed-with-no-notice-fuck-infinity-broadcasting/284428/63 "2005-01-14T22:25:00Z")
Indeed **gobear**. Take a look at the current [Top 100 Albums](http://www.billboard.com/bb/charts/bb200.jsp) list. Rock is getting pummeled, although **Green Day** does have the number one album! 😉 16 weeks after it’s release no less! ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-lived-dc-rock-radio-station-killed-with-no-notice-fuck-infinity-broadcasting/284428/64 "2005-01-16T18:31:16Z")
Dang… (The old, “real”) HFS was where folks from (the old, “real”) WJHU wanted to go when we grew up. But it would not have been a stretch even 20 years ago to predict that what we called “98-Schlock” (yeah, we were smug condescending little poseurs, weren’t we?) would outlast and outlive both. Even smug condescending little poseurs knew how the _galletita_ crumbled in _El Mundo Real._ Oh, well… _sic transit gloria mundi_ ( **Real** Latin… so nobody can knock it, being a basis of our civilization 😉 ). Let’s face it, commercial radio will play to where the dollars are… and the dollars aren’t in broadcast Rock. Never really were that much, if we’re talking _true_ AOR, it was always just a relative handful of stations, when compared to Pop. But no need to lash out inappropriately – if the projected high-growth-in-discretionary-income demographic for the next 20 years were Russian emigrés, we’d be having stations converted to playlists heavy on tAtU. So chill. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-lived-dc-rock-radio-station-killed-with-no-notice-fuck-infinity-broadcasting/284428/65 "2005-01-17T15:29:33Z")
Hee hee. Rock dead. That’s a _good_ one. Don’t worry. It’s all just a bit of history repeating. Remember before Nirvana? Remember the late 70s? Remember… aw, don’t _worry_ about it. Long as people like to screw around with music, rock lives. Hip-Hop’s fun, but eventually, it’ll be deader than disco. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-lived-dc-rock-radio-station-killed-with-no-notice-fuck-infinity-broadcasting/284428/66 "2005-01-17T16:31:47Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > Hip-Hop’s fun, but eventually, it’ll be deader than disco. Yup, annyyy day now. It’s been going strong for 25 years now. I don’t think hip-hop is in any danger. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-lived-dc-rock-radio-station-killed-with-no-notice-fuck-infinity-broadcasting/284428/67 "2005-01-17T18:20:24Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > Yup, annyyy day now. It’s been going strong for 25 years now. I don’t think hip-hop is in any danger. Not now, but eventually, it, too, will disppear into the realm of nostalgia as the current teens become middle-aged and their kids get into some new genre of music. All things pass with time. ---
**Author:** ![FrostySonofThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@FrostySonofThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrostySonofThunder)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-lived-dc-rock-radio-station-killed-with-no-notice-fuck-infinity-broadcasting/284428/68 "2005-01-18T13:27:49Z")
I have to agree that the “real” HFS died years ago. When I first moved to the DC area HFS was still in Bethesda. I can’t remember if a co-worker told me about the station, or I stumbled across it searching the dial. But I do remember that the first song I heard made me go: Wow! I can’t believe I’m hearing that song on the radio. I was hooked. Over the years they changed, but I still listened. Until the new owners tried to take Damien off the air! Then I knew it was only a matter of time until HFS went the way of all conglomerate radio: playing the same playlist over and over again. I listened to 98 Rock for a while, but haven’t been a regular listener for years. Haven’t listened to DC101 for awhile due to the fact that I really don’t like adolescent humor morning jocks like the Greaseman or How-weird Stern, though I do have to admit that I was listener of How-weird when he got kicked off the radio for his “One-way ticket to the 14th Street Bridge” joke, if anyone remembers that(Og, I’m getting old), so I don’t know what type of music DC101 is currently playing. WRNR/103.1 is my current choice for home and car. The reception is very spotty and it will fade in and out when driving to work down the Balt/Wash Parkway. This seems to be weather dependent/related since, if the conditions are right, it doesn’t fade out until I’m in our parking garage. At work, I have been listening to WARW/94.7(Classic rock), since I can’t get RNR on our crappy radio. Weasel and Cerphe(both former HFS DJs) are working at 94.7 so at least IMO it can’t be too bad of a station. Even though they did get rid of a morning show that I didn’t find too annoying for one that I just can’t stand. Any hoo, that’s my little rant about the demise of HFS. On the subject of satellite radio, I just can’t quite bring myself to shell out the money for the equipment and subscription, yet. That may change once I start upgrading to vehicles that are satellite radio ready. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-lived-dc-rock-radio-station-killed-with-no-notice-fuck-infinity-broadcasting/284428/69 "2005-01-18T13:36:22Z")
Yeah, I’m another of the WHFS Bethesda crowd. High School and such way the hell back when. [Here’s an article from The Washington Post on DC Radio.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16855-2005Jan17.html) ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-lived-dc-rock-radio-station-killed-with-no-notice-fuck-infinity-broadcasting/284428/70 "2005-01-18T15:15:08Z")
I’m a little confused here. Are any of you familiar with a station being given a “send-off” before the format changes? I’ve not seen that happen in the past. Well, I did once, with a small, locally-owned AM station that was going bankrupt. Why would the station owners want to announce that they were changing formats beforehand? All that will do is piss off the current listeners and possibly cause protests/demonstrations at the station in the days leading up to the switch. By making it a _fait accompli_, they reduce that possibility greatly. Sure, there may be a handful of folks who will take the time to go to the station to complain, but nobody will organize a massive rally the day of the switch. Does no one remember the classic first episode of “WKRP in Cincinnati”, when Dr. Johnny Fever was awakened and told in mid-shift that the station’s format had changed from easy-listening to rock? (And, of course, the classic follow-up scene, where a little old lady comes into the booth while he’s napping again and bangs the turntable on which a rock album is playing with her umbrella. Fever: “I’ve killed a lot of old people in my time, and I’m not above doing it again.”) Locally, a sports-talk station changed its 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. show a few months back. They made the announcement a week before the show was to end, so for a week callers bashed management on the show while the host (who was being fired) kept saying “It’s a business decision.” Horrible PR for the station, but they were stuck – they’d already announced the day the new show would start running, so they couldn’t change it. And, of course, the new show has tanked. Radio doesn’t announce format changes in advance, especially if the format is radically different from the current station. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-lived-dc-rock-radio-station-killed-with-no-notice-fuck-infinity-broadcasting/284428/71 "2005-01-18T16:05:57Z")
Heh! I guess I am not the only one to use Neil Young’s words to comment on the death of another rock radio station… > [@nyctea scandiaca](#): > > It’s sad to me that what Neil Young sang about is not true anymore: > > > [@Neil Young](#): > > > > Hey hey, my my > > Rock and roll can never die From today’s Washington Post: [Rock, Rolling Over: Pressured by Other Formats and Ways of Listening, a Radio Staple Is Crumbling](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16855-2005Jan17.html) > [@](#): > > Way back in 1979, when rock still ruled the radio, Neil Young offered this confident lyrical couplet in a popular tune of the day: “Hey hey, my my / Rock-and-roll can never die.” > > Young may still be right, but the radio stations that once played the Canadian rocker’s music are showing clear signs of mortality. With baby boomers switching to other formats and younger listeners increasingly bypassing radio altogether, once-dominant rock stations are withering and in some cities dying. > > The latest casualty turned up last week. WHFS-FM, the “alternative” station that pioneered free-form rock radio in Washington in the 1960s and '70s, abruptly pulled the plug on rock and began carrying Spanish-language pop. The move by WHFS’s owner, Infinity Broadcasting, left the Washington region – a radio market of more than 4 million people – with just one area-wide station, DC-101 (WWDC-FM), playing contemporary rock. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-lived-dc-rock-radio-station-killed-with-no-notice-fuck-infinity-broadcasting/284428.md?page=3)