WHRL had a long heritage as a station playing instrumental music in Albany, first as Beautiful Music, then as one of the first Smooth Jazz stations. In early 1999, Clear Channel purchased WHRL in their acquisition of Dame Media with no major on-air change. However, when modern rock WQBK-FM “The Edge” flipped suddenly to Active Rock in late September, a hole existed for modern rock. With Clear Channel flipping Smooth Jazz stations in smaller markets, WHRL was fair game for a change, and on October 2, 1999 became Modern Rock “Channel 103-1” quietly (with an outcry from the Smooth Jazz listeners). Those listeners would not have to worry, as Modern AC WZMR flipped to Smooth Jazz 16 days later
