Baltimore
WNEW Becomes Bloomberg 99.1
Previous Format: News “All News 99.1” New Format: Business News “Bloomberg 99.1” Date & Time Of Change: December 18, 2015 at 10:00am More Info: RadioInsight, Wikipedia Aircheck Contributed by Chris Roth
WHFS Returns At 97.5
Previous Format: Religious “Hope-FM” New Format: Modern Rock “97.5 HFS” Date & Time Of Change: August 1, 2011 at 12:00pm More Info: RadioInsight, Wikipedia Related Change: 99.1 WHFS Becomes “El Zol” WLZL
WSMJ Baltimore Becomes “Channel 104.3”
The 104.3 frequency in Baltimore has been in a continuous loop of format changes since the demise of CHR “B104” WBSB in the early 90’s. There was Hot AC “Variety 104.3” WVRT, Soft AC “Soft 104.3” WSSF, All 70’s and later Classic Hits “The Colt” WOCT, Classic Rock “Baltimore 104.3” which later brought back the “B104” name under the call letters WXFB. Since 2003, the station had found some stability with Smooth Jazz WSMJ. With the format dying off in many markets, it was expected that WSMJ would eventually change formats. That change eventually happened on May 23, 2008 as WSMJ became Modern Rock “Channel 104.3”. The launch sequence includes a nice montage of airchecks taken from BostonRadio.org as...
99.1 WHFS becomes “El Zol” WLZL
At noon on January 12, 2005, 99.1 WHFS was switched to a Tropical Latin music format. Its call letters were soon changed to WZLL for a few days, and then again to WLZL, and the station was rebranded as “El Zol 99.1 FM”. Although a format change had been rumored to some extent for years–due to slipping ratings (22nd) in its primary market of Washington (although its ratings in Baltimore remained high)–the switch was not publicized beforehand and took many long-time fans, and even most of the station’s staff, by surprise. Most of the station’s staff were not told of the change until less than an hour before it happened, and new management presided in the air studio as the former format was playing its last few songs. Aircheck Courtesy of HFStival.com. Summ...
Country 100.7 WGRX becomes Rock AC “The Bay” WZBA
Licensed to Westminster, MD, the 100.7 signal is at a disadvantage compared to the remainder of the FM signals in the Baltimore market. Throughout the 90’s, the station attempted various rock formats as WGRX and then country as “Froggy 100.7” and later “Country 100.7”. Failing to generate ratings and revenue under any of these incarnations, the station flipped to Rock AC on December 1, 1999. Similar to WRVV in Harrisburg and WMMO in Orlando, the station features lighter Classic Rock artists like James Taylor and Styx.
Urban “V103” becomes CHR “102.7 XYV”
What B104 was to the CHR format in Baltimore, V103 was to the Urban format. A longtime station in the format, WXYV began to feel its age in the mid 1990’s as it was bombarded by a pair of Radio-One sisters. Rhythmic CHR “92Q” and Urban AC “Majic 95.9” cut into WXYV’s audience from both ends. Infinity, seeing the CHR format regaining popularity elsewhere, and a huge hole for the format in Baltimore brought the demise of V103 and the birth of “102.7 XYV”. However, the station would be marred with inconsistancy for the next couple of years. The station would constantly change its lean from dance to hip-hop to alternative while searching for a gain in audience. In 1998, the station changed its name to B102.7 in order to prevent a competitor from ...
CHR WBSB “B104” becomes Hot AC WVRT “Variety 104.3”
As the CHR format began to lose steam in the early 1990’s, many CHR’s across the country found themselves losing ratings and revenue streams; WBSB included. After a long successful run as “Baltimore’s Best”, the format was fading fast. In order to increase it’s ratings, the station decided to go after an older audience and flipped to a Gold based Hot AC as “Variety 104.3”. It could not, however, gain listeners from it’s primary competitor WWMX “Mix 106.5”. By the end of 1994, Variety 104.3 was dead and had been sold to the owners of Mix, who changed its format first to Soft AC and then to all 70’s.
