HFS Returns

Long-time Washington DC/Baltimore Alternative station WHFS (W High Fidelity Stereo) will return to the airwaves at 97.5 FM on August 1. In the 1960s and '70s WHFS was a Freeform Rock station located at 102.3 FM and had been a Modern Rock station until 1983 when they moved to 99.1 FM.  HFS flipped abruptly to Tropical Latin "El Zol" WLZL in 2005. WHFS is officially the HD-2 feed of WWMX at 106.5 FM and translated on W248AO at 97.5 FM licensed to Baltimore, Maryland.

EDIT:  I just finished watching a documentary titled "Feast Your Ears: The Story of WHFS 102.3".  This excellent feature-length doc focuses on WHFS' years as a Freeform Rock station with tons of interviews from station employees and performers who were heard on--and were fans of--the beloved station.  As of this edit in October 2024, it's available to stream for free on the PBS app.

WANN

WANN was a pioneering Rhythm & Blues station from Annapolis, Maryland. After working as a radio officer in World War II, Morris Blum started WANN in January, 1947. The station set out broadcasting Big Band music along with Sports and News but a year later Blum decided to start playing gospel and rhythm & blues, known at that time as “race music.” Blum had observed African-Americans serving alongside whites in the Navy and was “completely colorblind at a time when it was not popular to support civil rights causes,” according to a longtime friend. The station sponsored a weekend "Bandstand at the Beach" at Carr's Beach, a segregated beach for African-Americans where James Brown and Ella Fitzgerald performed. Following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Blum allowed demonstrators to use WANN to vent their outrage which helped avert rioting in Annapolis. WANN was an influential black music powerhouse for almost 50 years before switching to Country in 1992. Morris Blum sold the station in 1998 and passed away in 2005 at the age of 95.