WNEW-FM

For the New York City radio station which carried the WNEW-FM callsign from 1958–2007, see WWFS.

For the Jupiter, Florida radio station which carried the same callsign from 2007–2011, see WUUB.

WNEW-FM

City of license	Bowie, Maryland
Broadcast area	Baltimore, Maryland - Washington, D.C.
Branding	WNEW All News 99.1
Slogan	All News. All The Time.
Frequency	99.1 MHz
First air date	1947
Format	All-news
ERP	45,000 watts
HAAT	157 meters
Class	B
Facility ID	72177
Transmitter coordinates	39°1′48″N 76°44′25″W
Callsign meaning	W-"NEW York" (where the call sign was transferred from by CBS via West Palm Beach, Florida)
Former callsigns	WNAV-FM (1947-1983) WLOM-FM (1983) WHFS (1983-2005) WZLL (2005) WLZL (2005-2011)
Owner	CBS Radio (CBS Radio East Inc.)
Sister stations	WIAD, WJFK-FM, WLZL, WJFK, WPGC-FM
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	washington.cbslocal.com/station/wnew-99-1-fm/

WNEW-FM (99.1 FM; "All-News 99.1") is a radio station broadcasting an all-news format. Licensed to the suburb of Bowie, Maryland, it serves the Baltimore, Maryland/Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The station is currently owned by CBS Radio. Its transmitter is located near Crofton, Maryland.

History

Main article: WHFS (historic)

The 99.1 MHz frequency was originally WNAV-FM, licensed to Annapolis, Maryland and featuring a beautiful music format. It competed with similar stations in both the Baltimore and Washington markets. In 1983, the station changed calls to WLOM-FM.

In 1983 the owners of WHFS, then licensed to Bethesda at 102.3 FM, sold that station for $2 million and used the money to purchase WLOM along with and its sister station WNAV (1430 AM). The WHFS format and call letters were then moved to 99.1 FM, licensed to operate with 50,000-watts with much higher power than the 102.3 facility, which broadcasts with only 3,000 watts at the time. Thus WHFS on 99.1 could then be heard in Baltimore, Washington, and much of the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Eventually Einstein's group sold WHFS. When the station switched formats, it was located at the Infinity Broadcasting Center in Lanham, Maryland. The 102.3 frequency is now occupied by an Urban AC station in Washington, using the call letters WMMJ and nicknamed "Majic 102.3".

See also: HFStival

Since 1990, WHFS has hosted an event called the HFStival, an annual (sometimes semi-annual) day-long (sometimes two-day-long) outdoor concert. The concert, often held at Washington's RFK Stadium, features a variety local and national acts; for example, the 2004 lineup included The Cure, Jay-Z, Modest Mouse, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Cypress Hill. Robert Benjamin, Bob Waugh and Bill Glasser took the HFStival from a small yearly concert in Fairfax, Virginia, to a large festival in Washington DC that was headlined by major acts and was surrounded by culturally significant booths, games, food, and rides, as well as an outdoor second stage. Amongst others, Billy Zero was instrumental in growing the HFStival Locals Only Stage where bands like Good Charlotte and Jimmie's Chicken Shack got their big break. The term Locals Only stuck and is still used today and the Locals Only Stage was copied by Modern Rock Stations across the Country.

In the mid-1990s, Liberty Broadcasting published a quarterly magazine titled "WHFS Press" that was mailed to listeners and available in local music outlets.

Though becoming famous as a cutting-edge station playing the latest underground music (and often beating the mainstream to the punch by months and even years), under Infinity Broadcasting's ownership, the station became the local modern alternative rock station in the mid 90s. No longer playing rather obscure progressive rock, nor the classic and hard rock of its Baltimore competitor WIYY, HFS was now formatted more towards a younger set of fans who were more apt to listen to Green Day and Fuel than less mainstream artists such as Fugazi or Lou Reed. The station played much of the alternative hits that were touted by the mainstream press and MTV, turning off many old-school HFS listeners, but in turn gaining many listeners in the 18-24 age demographic.

During this period, WHFS featured a specialty show called "Now Hear This", hosted by Dave Marsh, which highlighted indie and local music. The station never fully reverted to its prior all-indie status, but it did begin to combine more underground programming with its modern rock format.

In 1999, WHFS released a New Music New Video Compilation Volume 1 on VHS that was distributed free at Washington area Tower Records outlets. It featured tracks by Cyclefly, Fuel, Fastball, Elliot Smith, Kid Rock, Eve 6, 3 Colours Red, Puya, and Joydrop.

"El Zol 99.1 FM" and all-news

At noon on January 12, 2005, 99.1 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". AOL, which had a partnership with Infinity Broadcasting and recognized that many people would miss the old WHFS format, quickly launched an internet-only streaming radio station with a playlist much like that of WHFS. Due to the amount of complaints about the format change which attracted media attention, then owner Infinity brought the WHFS format back a month later on the 105.7 FM frequency (now WJZ-FM). The WHFS call letters have since relocated first to a talk station on 1580 AM (now WJFK), then to a sister station in West Palm Beach, Florida. WLZL is also CBS Radio's first Spanish radio station, and the company's only Spanish station outside the southern United States.

A WNEW Chevrolet Equinox news vehicle

On November 16, 2011, CBS Radio announced plans to acquire WFSI (107.9 MHz) from religious broadcaster Family Radio, with the intention of moving WLZL's Spanish Tropical format and El Zol branding from 99.1 to 107.9, with a new all-news format launched on 99.1. The 99.1 MHz frequency will adopt the WNEW-FM call sign. The format change occurred on December 1, when 99.1 and 107.9 both began simulcasting El Zol. El Zol was finally moved to 107.9 on December 12, 2011, and 99.1 began stunting with Christmas music, with the WNEW-FM call letters now in place on 99.1. On December 27, 2011, WNEW-FM ended its Christmas music stunting and began stunting with the 1981 Silver Anniversary Edition of The History of Rock and Roll. The all-news format launched at noon on January 22, 2012; the station initially planned to launch at 5 a.m. on January 19, but postponed it due to technical problems. The station also broadcasts simultaneously in HD Radio on 94.7 FM - HD2.

Currently, WNEW regularly programs traffic reports every ten minutes on the "ones" (six times an hour) and weather reports every four minutes (both from CBS affiliate WUSA), sports updates twice an hour (at :25 and :55) from sister station WJFK-FM, entertainment news once an hour, and business news twice an hour (at :15 and :45). When breaking news warrants, WNEW will break format to provide continuous coverage of any event.

Air Staff

Anchors typically split five hour shits in which one anchor will anchor the first half hour of each hour while the other anchor does the last half hour. The exception to this is for the 2am-5am shift in which one anchor does the entire shift.

Weekday Anchors

-Nathan Hager: Top of Hour 5-9:30am

-Amy Morris: Bottom of Hour 5:30-10am

-Chas Henry: Top of Hour 10a-2:30p

-Jenny Glick: Bottom of Hour 10:30a-3pm

-Evan Haning: Top of Hour 3-7:30pm

-Stacy Lyn: Bottom of Hour 3:30-8pm

-Cheryl Simone: Top of Hour 8p-1:30am

-Sarah Jacobs: Bottom of Hour 8:30p-2am

-Chris Barns: 2-5am

Weekday Traffic

-Lisa Baden: 5-11am

-Jerry Booth: 11am-3:30pm

-Julie Wright: 3:30-7pm

Business

-Jill Schlesinger 6-11am

-Nancy Lyons 11a-5pm

Weather

Mornings and afternoons are covered by WUSA-TV meteorologists. All other times are covered by Accuweather.

External links

• Query the FCC's FM station database for WNEW
• Radio-Locator information on WNEW
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for WNEW