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WJFK-FM

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WJFK-FM
Broadcast areaWashington metropolitan area
Frequency106.7 MHz (HD Radio)
Branding106-7 The Fan
Programming
FormatSports radio[1][2]
HD2: silent
HD3: WFAN/New York
HD4: WJZ-FM/Baltimore
AffiliationsCBS Sports Radio
Washington Nationals Radio Network
Washington Capitals
Virginia Tech Hokies
Georgetown Hoyas
DC Defenders
Ownership
Owner
WDCH-FM, WIAD, WJFK, WLZL, WPGC-FM
History
First air date
April 4, 1961; 63 years ago (1961-04-04)
Former call signs
WPRW-FM (1961–68)
WEZR (1968–85)
WBMW (1985–88)
WJFK (1988–91)[3]
Call sign meaning
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Technical information
Facility ID28625
ClassB
Power22,500 watts
HAAT223 meters (732 ft)
Transmitter coordinates
38°52′28.0″N 77°13′24.0″W / 38.874444°N 77.223333°W / 38.874444; -77.223333
Repeater(s)94.7 WIAD-HD3 (Washington)
Links
WebcastListen live (via Audacy)
Websitethefandc.radio.com

WJFK-FM (106.7 MHz "106.7 The Fan") is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Manassas, Virginia, and serving the Washington metropolitan area.[1] WJFK-FM airs a sports radio format and is owned and operated by Entercom.[4]

WJFK-FM's studios are located on Half Street SE near the Navy Yard in Southeast Washington.[5] The transmitter is located in Falls Church, Virginia, near the intersection of Lee Highway (U.S. Route 29) and the Capital Beltway.[6]

WJFK-FM broadcasts in the HD Radio format. It carries two co-owned sports stations on its subchannels, WFAN from New York City and WJZ-FM from Baltimore.

Programming

On weekdays, WJFK-FM has local personalities hosting sports shows in morning drive time, middays and afternoons. Late nights and weekends, the CBS Sports Radio Network is heard.

WJFK-FM is the flagship radio station for the Washington Nationals baseball team and the Washington Capitals hockey team, and was formerly the flagship for the DC Defenders of the XFL. For college sports, WJFK-FM carries Virginia Tech Hokies football and men's basketball as well as Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball. It also has an agreement with the Washington Redskins to air programs with players and coaches, although AM 980 WTEM is the flagship station for the NFL team.[7]

History

WPRW-FM and WEZR

On April 4, 1961, the station first signed on as WPRW-FM.[8] It was owned by the Prince William Broadcasting Company and was the sister station to AM 1460 WPRW (now WKDV). The two stations simulcast their programming, directed mostly to listeners in and around Manassas and Prince William County. WPRW-FM broadcast with an effective radiated power of 30,000 watts, but only using a 160-foot tower, so it was unable to cover the larger Washington radio market. In 1966, the transmitter was moved to the AM site west of Manassas.[9]

In 1967, WPRW-FM was sold to Radio Fairfax-Prince William, a Fairfax-based firm that owned WEEL radio in that city. The transmitter was moved to Fairfax and the call letters changed to WEZR, airing 15 minute sweeps of beautiful music, mostly instrumental covers of popular songs, including Hollywood and Broadway showtunes. Ultimately, the entire company renamed itself EZ Communications later in 1968, later going on to buy other stations nationwide and apply the format there. A further power boost to 50,000 watts, improving coverage in the Washington market, was approved in 1973.[9]

While WEZR and its sister stations remained successful into the 1980s, the easy format was seen as attracting older listeners, while most advertisers were seeking a younger demographic. In 1982, EZ tweaked the format used by its three remaining music outlets—WEZR, WEZS in Richmond and WEZC in Charlotte—to add more vocals.[10]

Top 40 and new age

On January 1, 1985, the station flipped to Top 40 as WBMW "B106."[11] It was positioned against two other Washington-area Top 40 stations: WRQX, owned by ABC, and WAVA-FM, owned by Doubleday Broadcasting. WBMW was acquired by New York City-based Infinity Broadcasting in April 1987.[12]

Infinity, at first, flipped WBMW to an adult rock format, but it only lasted a few weeks. On May 8, 1987, WBMW switched to new-age music, a forerunner of the smooth jazz format.[13][14][15] The station simply called itself "106.7 WBMW." The playlist included jazz-influenced instrumentals and some soft rock titles, with limited chatter from the DJs. This format lasted about a year and a half.

Rock and hot talk

On October 3, 1988, the station flipped to an album-oriented rock format as WJFK. The station became the Washington affiliate for the syndicated Howard Stern Show.[16] This marked Stern's return to the market for the first time since he was let go from rival rock station WWDC in 1982.[17][18]

Over time, WJFK began adding other talk shows targeted at young men, similar to Stern. Eventually WJFK had switched over to a full-time hot talk format.[19] Programs on the station during this era include Stern, Don and Mike,[20] Opie & Anthony, G. Gordon Liddy,[21] The Greaseman, Bill O'Reilly, Ron & Fez and the Sports Junkies.[22] In 1991, Infinity began to simulcast WJFK programming on co-owned AM 1300 in Baltimore.[23] That station switched its call letters to WJFK, so 106.7 added an FM suffix and became WJFK-FM.

Howard Stern departed his terrestrial network of stations in 2005, including WJFK-FM, when he left for Sirius Satellite Radio. WJFK-FM rebranded as "Free FM" in October 2005, as part of Infinity's plans for a nationwide hot talk network. Two months later, Infinity was renamed CBS Radio. The Sports Junkies moved from the midday slot to replace Stern as WJFK-FM's morning hosts.[24] But the Free FM format did not attract enough listeners, and many of those stations switched to other formats. The "Free FM" branding was dropped by WJFK-FM in 2007, even though it continued a while longer as a hot talk outlet. It began using the slogan "Washington's Talk Superstation."

Sports radio

On July 20, 2009, WJFK-FM became "106.7 The Fan."[25][26][27] With WJFK-FM's changeover to "The Fan," The Junkies (who would later change their name back to "The Sports Junkies") were retained, while The Big O and Dukes Show and The Mike O'Meara Show were dropped.

WJFK-FM acquired the rights to Washington Wizards basketball and Washington Nationals baseball.[28] It also began sharing some Washington Capitals hockey games with AM 1500 WFED. For college sports, WJFK-FM became the Washington-area home of Virginia Tech Hokies football and men's basketball.

On March 8, 2009, WJFK-FM signed on the nation's first HD4 subchannel, carrying co-owned sports station WIP-FM from Philadelphia.[29] In addition, WFAN in New York City is heard on the HD 3 subchannel.

On January 22, 2010, WJFK announced that it will air a weekly D.C. United soccer show on Sunday evenings.[30]

On September 9, 2015, WJFK announced that the station would become the new flagship station for Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball games.[31][32]

On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with Entercom, a company like CBS Radio, that owned scores of radio stations across the country.[33] The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on the 17th.[34][35]

References

  1. ^ a b "Arbitron Station Information Profiles". Nielsen Audio/Nielsen Holdings. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  2. ^ http://hdradio.com/station_guides/widget.php?id=100 HD Radio Guide for Washington D.C.
  3. ^ "Call Sign History: WJFK". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  4. ^ "WJFK Facility Record". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  5. ^ "106.7 The Fan". CBS DC. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  6. ^ "WJFK-FM". FCC data. REC Networks. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  7. ^ Inside Radio "Entercom Secures Rights for Redskins Games" Oct. 2, 2018
  8. ^ Broadcasting Yearbook 1963 page B-191
  9. ^ a b FCC History Cards for WJFK-FM
  10. ^ "Vallie Promoted To VP At EZ" (PDF). Radio & Records. July 23, 1982. pp. 1, 22. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  11. ^ Trescott, Jacqueline (December 31, 1984). "WEZR becomes WBMW". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  12. ^ Yorke, Jeffrey (April 3, 1987). "WGMS sale hits snag". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  13. ^ "WBMW Drops CHR For 'Adult Rock'" (PDF). R&R The Industry's Newspaper. No. 686. May 15, 1987. p. 1. Retrieved 2017-06-08.
  14. ^ "Sebastian To Drive 'BMW" (PDF). R&R The Industry's Newspaper. No. 692. June 26, 1987. p. 2. Retrieved 2017-06-08.
  15. ^ Brown, Joe (October 2, 1987). "Nine to herald the 'New Age'". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  16. ^ Yorke, Jeffrey (September 30, 1988). "He's Baaaaaaack!; Howard Stern's return threatens a ravings war". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on April 9, 2016. Retrieved October 16, 2015 – via HighBeam Research.
  17. ^ Yorke, Jeffrey (October 4, 1988). "Behind the Stern return". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  18. ^ "WBMW Drops NAC, Adds Stern" (PDF). R&R The Industry's Newspaper. No. 758. October 7, 1988. p. 1. Retrieved 2017-06-03.
  19. ^ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1992/RR-1992-12-18.pdf
  20. ^ Yorke, Jeffrey (October 1, 1991). "Don Mike: They're back". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  21. ^ Yorke, Jeffrey (March 30, 1993). "Liddy goes national". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  22. ^ Fischer, Mark (June 3, 1997). "Four men and a Mike; On WJFK, the twenty-something sports junkies talk trash". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 11, 2018. Retrieved October 16, 2015 – via HighBeam Research.
  23. ^ Siegel, Eric (September 30, 1991). "Good morning, Baltimore is your radio ready for Howard Stern?". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  24. ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/2006/02/26/the-accidental-shock-jocks-span-classbankheaddoes-fms-future-depend-on-four-guys-who-got-their-start-on-cable-access-span/e17d5cfd-f007-4648-a453-77751c6a43b9/
  25. ^ Venta, Lance (July 14, 2009). "'106.7 The Fan' WJFK Washington debuts Monday 7/20". Radio Insight. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  26. ^ "CBS Radio steps up to the plate and launches FM sports stations in Boston & Washington D.C." (Press release). CBS Broadcasting. July 14, 2009. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  27. ^ Lemke, Tim (July 15, 2009). "WJFK adopts sports talk". The Washington Times. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  28. ^ "Radio Affiliates". Washington Nationals. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  29. ^ "CBS Radio's WJFK Launches an HD4 Channel". Radio World. NewBay Media. March 8, 2010. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  30. ^ "D.C. United, 106.7 FM WJFK to air 'The Soccer Show Presented by D.C. United'". Major League Soccer. January 22, 2010. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  31. ^ "106.7 The Fan to Carry Georgetown Men's Basketball Radio Broadcasts". CBS DC. September 8, 2015. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  32. ^ Ourand, John (September 7, 2015). "Georgetown basketball moves to FM, CBS Radio". SportsBusiness Daily/Global/Journal. Street & Smith. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  33. ^ CBS Radio to Merge with Entercom
  34. ^ "Entercom Receives FCC Approval for Merger with CBS Radio". Entercom. November 9, 2017. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  35. ^ Venta, Lance (November 17, 2017). "Entercom Completes CBS Radio Merger". Radio Insight. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
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