The Upstate Life

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Pour One Out for WHFS

In what may be shocking to some (and relief to others), WHFS 99.1 is apparently no more. The station completely changed its format from "The True Alternative" to "Siempre de Fiesta" at noon today without warning. The Upstate Life wasn't able to hear the switch from alt-rock to salsa that occurred just a couple hours ago, but thankfully DCRTV was able to capture HFS' dying seconds of airtime before the station transformed itself into El Zol.

"We have made clear our desire to expand into this burgeoning market and believe this move marks an important step in our commitment to Spanish radio," said Joel Hollander, president and chief operating officer of Infinity. "There exists a tremendous opportunity for Infinity to launch a Spanish-language format in Washington DC where almost 10 percent of the population is not being directly served. El Zol will be the most powerful Spanish radio station in the area and will provide listeners with the music, entertainment, and information relevant to the many segments of the Latino culture."

It's somewhat sad especially since the station was slowly beginning to play some great bands lately such as Franz Ferdinand, Modest Mouse, and Interpol among others. The departure of HFS now leaves a void larger than ever of good music transmitting on todays free, non-satellite airwaves in the DC area. If your radio can pick it up, I highly recommend you tune into WMUC 88.1, the University of Maryland's radio station and probably one of the best freeform formats out there right now in the college circuit. Unfortunately, if you're not around the surrounding area of College Park, you probably won't receive the best signal, but that's why they have that device known as the Internet. You can listen online here using Winamp or iTunes. Isn't technology grand?

Posted by Brett at 2:33 PM |