WHFS is no more!

[showcase]

According to the Post, the Infinity station switched over from it's "alt-rock" format to a Spanish format at noon today. I guess the writing was on the wall, considering that its reputation was one of catering to the new music that not everybody was going to like.

For me, having gone to school in DC during the '90s and being a fan of that "alt-rock" genre, 'HFS was a seminal part of the experience. HFS played music that you really didn't hear anywhere else (and in particular from WGTB, which you couldn't hear, period), and I found DJs like Weasel highly entertaining and well informed about what was breaking in that part of the music world. I guess of late, it's "alternative" format wasn't as compelling as it used to be, since they basically had the same playlist as DC101.1, and I find most of that music to be fairly bland.

There's an interesting online Q&A in the online edition of the Post right now, for those who are interested. As the host said in the Q&A, with the passing of 'HFS, it's like the 90s just flashed before my eyes again.

discuss.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/zforum/04/style_ahrens011205.htm

[Cambridge]

Total MF on that one. I grew up in the area and remember WHFS as a staple at parties and other hazy memories.

To think that it is no longer the same...totally crazy.

[HoyaInsomniac]

It's still around... sort of... it's now 105.7 out of Baltimore. And they have streaming radio online. But that's still what my alarm clock is set to...

[Joe Hoya]

I totally can sympathize with fans of WHFS...my favorite radio station, WPLY-FM 100.3 (known as Y100) in Philadelphia was switched on Thursday from alternative/modern rock (which, if I'm not mistaken, was similar to the format of WHFS) to rap/hip-hop. It was taken over by another station in the area that had a weaker signal. Radio One has done this before, as they changed 103.9 WDRE from alternative to rap about eight years ago (incidentally, most of the staff from WDRE moved to Y100 after the change. The station that has now supplanted Y100 is the same one that replaced WDRE, 103.9 "The Beat").

The killer is that 103.9 is being replaced by a gospel station. Essentially, Radio One decided to replace the seventh-highest rated station in Philadelphia (within the 18-34 demographic), and the only one of its genre, with the eighth-rated one, and then filled the vacancy with a genre that has very limited appeal to that coveted audience.

Seems like bad business right there. Regardless, help a Hoya out and go to www.y100rocks.com and sign the petition to give Joe Hoya his rock back. Thanks.

[Bando]

I just found a station that's like HFS in the old days. You know, lots of music, minimal talking, DJs play their own stuff. Heard recently: Live, the Ramones, the Clash, the Beastie Boys, Bright Eyes, Modest Mouse, the Buzzcocks, Social Distortion, Franz Ferdinand, STP, etc. etc.

Unfortunately, this station is in San Diego. Forturnately, they have a webcast:

www.fm949sandiego.com