WHFS has been spiritually dead for a long time. I started listening to the station back when they were still in Bethesda and the DJs played what they wanted to play, not brain-dead formats designed by accountants.
WGTB is gone. WMAL-FM is gone. WAMU is more interested in being a repeater for NPR than supporting local/regional music and diversity.
I long ago resigned myself to the fact that my music was not mainstream and I was not really gonna hear it on the radio. And I stopped listening to it.
Welcome to my world, y’all.
After a while, you won’t miss it.
As far as the DC area is concerned, you’re right. But it does a good job of covering Annapolis, Baltimore, and at least the eastern side of the DC area, outside the Beltway. It reaches fairly far into southern Maryland, and they’ve got a transmitter on the Eastern Shore too.
The WaPo’s WHFS obit, which made front page, above the fold.
Who’s going to the HFieSta this year?
(I heard that on Don & Mike)
I’ve lived in B-More since '96 and HFS has not been good that entire time.
Between DC 101 and 98 Rock, there is NO HOLE in the programming.
It’s existance it much more worthy of a pit than it’s demise.
I hit the HFStival in '97. I saw Beck, Foo Fighters (IIRC), Debbie Harry, MM Bosstones (who I never liked, but loved live), Soul Coughing on a small side-stage.
As an aside, I think both RNR and 98 Rock are good stations. RNR, I’d consider a great station, one of the best I’ve ever known and I’ve lived quite a few places in my life.
98 Rock, at least, still seems like a good ole straight up Rock & Roll radio station. They have DJ’s around the clock (I’m not sure DC 101 does).
A lot of the talent is local, a lot has been there forever. It always has a Baltimore flavor, and a good chip on its shoulder towards DC.
The music, as they say. . .it is what it is.
They love classic Hard Rock: Sabbath, Metallica, G n F’n R, Van Halen, AC/DC but they’re not just rooted in the past either. . .it’s certainly not cutting edge but over the last few years through them, I’ve been exposed to Tantric, Creed, Buckcherry, Shinedown, Linkin Park, Korn, Papa Roach, a lot of stuff like that. And you know you’re always going to be able to hear the new Audioslave, Green Day, U2.
They take a lot of shit because they’re meatheads, but it’s not a bad station at all.
Amusingly enough, one of this morning’s callers into Elliot’s show on DC-101 claimed to have a Spanish background and said that the music on 99.1 sucked, saying it was like “his grandfather’s music”, like classic country music. Maybe they’re still tweaking the playlist.
And from reading the article, I thought it interesting that WHFS started as a classical station before switching in the early 1960s. I think I’ll be upping my contribution to the local Baltimore classical station, because G-d knows I’d hate to lose that.
A friend on the east coast IMed me tonight to bitch about this, and I was telling him the same thing the other posters mentioned… about 101 here in Houston getting replaced by a Spanish hip hop station. I do believe Infinity has picked up most of the DJs from Clear Channel’s rock 101, though, and is starting a new station for “adult rock,” whatever the hell that is. If it wasn’t for 88.7 (the classical public radio/NPR station) and 740AM (coast to coast am) I’d probably never turn on my radio. I used to listen to the pop stations in the car, but since I haven’t had a car in over a year, I just don’t have any interest in the other stations.
Someone told me Sirius, I think, is going to start playing commercials during their programming? Does anyone know anything about that, because I always thought it was commercial-free. The boyfriend already has a Sirius-compatible stereo in his car, and we’ve been thinking about signing up for it maybe this coming summer, since it’s cheaper than buying CDs and easier than downloading stuff and burning discs. I don’t want it if it’s going to have commercials though.
Yeah, I listened to it a bit last night, and the mix was odd. I heard them play something that I would swear was a remake of “Last Kiss”., something that sounded like traditional music, and then some fairly standard Latin pop. It also didn’t sound like they were all from the same station. Maybe they are switching feeds?
Dunno about the rest of y’all, but I’m about 20 miles west of DC, and it comes in crystal clear for me.
That surprises me. Do you get it for home and car, or just a specific spot at your home?
It’s “touchy” in Baltimore. In my home stereo, I can get it all right, but I need to aet the dipole just right.
In one of our cars, we get it fine, in the other, it’s very tempermental.
In Silver Spring and points west, I have a hard time getting it in either car.
I only listen to the radio in my car, so that’s the only place I’ve tried it. But my car’s receiver is pretty good–I remember sitting around in Culpeper once and being able to pick up stations from Charlottesville and DC.
Yeah I know it’s about the money, and I can accept that. But why pull it with absolutely no notice to anyone? That is heartless. And it’s just sad to me, as a rock fan, that there’s not enough rock fans out there to keep rock stations viable. Everyone’s listening to rap, pop, R&B, country, Latin and all that shit I can’t stand. (Just IMO.)
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?
I tried that last night and my car radio doesn’t pick up the signal at all! 
Hell yeah! I love 98 Rock, it’s my favorite station. I’m just glad I still have that.
What you said was true. The fact that you think it’s in any way relevant does not reflect well on you.
KML this morning were saying they pulled it without notice so that they wouldn’t have throngs of protesters outside. Even with 30 minutes notice, they had a small gathering.
Also, of COURSE the US is mostly english speaking but there’s enough Spanish speakers here to make a Spanish radio station profitable. Just because they’re not over 50% doesn’t mean they don’t merit a station. “Scan” the FM dial up in New York City sometime. I think about half the stations are Spanish speaking.
Basically, I figure Infinity was looking at being one of 3 Rock stations (4 if you count RNR) versus being the only Spanish station. Easy call.
Well sorry you feel that way, but like I said above, as a hard-core rock fan, it’s sad… To me, rock is an All-American Art Form. So, the fact that rock stations are being phased out and there aren’t enough rock fans to keep these stations viable, and being replaced by a foreign genre of music, it’s just sad to me… Can you blame me for being said that rock is dying, and salsa is taking its place? If that reflects poorly on me, then so be it.
It’s sad to me that what Neil Young sang about is not true anymore:
The rock and roll that old Neil was writing about hadn’t been played on WHFS in years. When was the last time you heard Johnny Rotten on any conglomerate-owned station?
Those damn foreigners! First they take our jobs, now they’re taking our music! :rolleyes:
Wrong.
So now we have 6 Spanish music stations vs. 2 Rock stations (not counting Baltimore)?
That is just not right! A station that has been around for 30 + years deserves better. A one week send off was called for; Lamenting time.
I always get pissed off when someone turns the classical station on. Damn Germans, Austrians, Russians and Italians! 
I’ve heard it and other Neil Young tunes on 94.7 (classic rock), DC 101 and 98 Rock.
99.1 was not my favorite station by far, but don’t you get what my point is? Now DC is down to only one modern rock station and one classic rock station. (98 Rock is out of Baltimore). So now I have just three stations to choose from.
It is sad that the number of rock fans has dwindled so much that there are only a couple of rock stations left, that’s my point.
Out of the list from the post, three of those were AM stations. I’ve never heard of the other two stations. I recall that there was one Latin Station maybe 92.3, but it always faded out by around Alexandria.
I am a Sirius subscriber, and I have not heard this. You will, however, hear public service announcements on the stations whose feeds are designed for commercial radio - like the Fox News, ABC and CNN stations. Since those feeds have to have breaks for ads, Sirius has got to fill them with something, and they use public service announcements to do it. Of course, that could change in the future - they do need to pay Howard Stern his huge new salary, after all :dubious: .
The music stations are all music, with some of the stations having DJs that talk a little between songs and some of them not having anything but a brief stream ID in between.
Actually, nyctea scandiaca, you should consider yourself lucky you’ve got 3 stations to listen to. Around these parts rock fans got nothin’, which is why I’ve got Sirius now. I also love being completely morning-show free. I’ve never listened to one I actually liked.
I love Sirius so much that when I bought my new car, I was at Circuit City the next day buying a new receiver and having it installed, since it didn’t come as an option from the dealership and my old radio and receiver wasn’t right for the new car. I literally did not want to go a day without it.