Re: Whfs Adios to a ONCE great alternative, now run of the mill pre-programmed corporate whore. Shame...
Re: Whfs I would but I'm in love with my XM. FM radio is now officially the Studebaker of the airwaves. Soon to become obsolete.
This sucks. I haven't listened to 'HFS in a pretty long time, but when I first moved to the DC area, it was the ONLY stationed I ever listened to. Now it's become a Spanish language station. Well, I guess we won't have to worry about the 'HFSTival tearing up RFK's turf any more. We'll just have to worry about baseball, er beisbol. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4390-2005Jan12.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4390-2005Jan12.html http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/bal-to.hfs13jan13,1,5055372.story?coll=bal-features-headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true http://www.inform.umd.edu/News/Diamondback/archives/2005/01/winterbreak/13-whfs.html http://www.nbc4.com/news/4077185/detail.html
HFS has been unlistenable for at least the last 10 years. But, it used to be a commercial station that acted like a college station. I doubt it ever made any money in that format and that's why Jake Einstein sold it back in 1985. For a while, the new owners let it act like it's old self, but it wasn't long before it was clear the DJs had play lists to follow and the old DJs were replaced by ones who didn't ramble about the label an artist was on or who didn't have brain damage from drinking and taking 'ludes and crashing cars into fences. I have an old cassette made from WHFS. It's got Berlin, Lene Lovitch and Tommy Keane. There's "boyfriend" set.
Overall FM radio has become a barren wasteland of pre-programmed bunk and corporate greed. To me it's virtually unlistenable. Every station on the dial has a "wacky" morning zoo team that's supposed to be funny but isn't. Just give me the weather, traffic and play some music. HFS was great in its day, a true pioneer in the DC music scene. Many artists owe HFS for their popularity and growth. It's a shame but not unexpected. Thank God for XM radio.
'HFS was one of the good things about the 80's. Since the early 90's though the only thing the station shared with the original one was the call letters. Good Riddance.
Back in the day, WHFS really was cool. The jocks were all about the music, and because they were not really polished, were actually interesting to listen to. I only got to hear the station when visiting my one brother in Manassas or other brother in college in Maryland, but I loved following their playlists in the trade papers. It was painful to hear their call letters announced in the same breath as "Limp Bizkit and Lostprophets" at the end. And yeah, the early HFStivals were great, and a total party. They were so good that they were well known in other radio markets. My favorite was the year Soup Dragons/TMBG/Catherine Wheel/Ocean Blue/Graham Parker/Manifesto and a couple other bands played. It was a crazy hot and sunny day, and I went with my brothers and our wives/girlfriends. We bought a giant cheap foam cooler, loaded it with ice and sodas, and the bottom fell out halfway between the car & the entrance gate. We carried in loose what we could but we consumed everything by halfway into the show, and naturally none of us brought enough dough to buy more food & drinks. I had to leave my crew to get some "voice I.D."'s from some of the acts for the radio thing that I was doing, and saw the huge buffet that was set out for the bands behind the stage. As I was chatting with Rob the singer from Catherine Wheel about my family being out front, he led me back to the table where he & I stuffed my backpack full of fried chicken and cold cokes for the gang. A DJ from the station (I think his name was Damien, he had a crazy speech impediment for a jock) appeared and asked us what we were up to, and I fessed up to smuggling some grub to take outside. Amazingly, he slid me a better grade of pass to me so I could come back and make a second smuggling hit on the table later in the evening! Those shows were great because it seemed like everyone there were kindred because of their love of new music, and it didn't seem at all like some kind of creepy radio promotion like that festival later turned into. I think my current love of KEXP has much to do with the fact that the jocks remind me of the old HFS team (though maybe a bit mellower), in the way that they seem to exist just to turn me on to good music.
See my reference to ludes and crashing cars into fences. That was Damien and he was the owner's son. He was a DJ before the wreck and came back after his recovery, such as it was.
I'll agree with the majority sentiment in this thread. WHFS was great, but that was over a decade ago. Seeing it go is like putting down an old dog--one who should've been put down ages ago. I loved HFS back in the day. It got me through high school when the rest of the radio stations were playing Milli Vanilli and Paula Abdul. It was the only purveyor of new music--and often the only place you could hear The Ramones, REM, the Clash, Bob Marley and scores of lesser known but talented musicians. I remember a couple years ago firing off an angry email to hfs. I was sickened by their promotions. "We don't try to be HFS, we are HFS." "The True Alternative." "the LEGENDARY hfs." That was crap. It had been 10 years since Kurt Cobain had killed himself and I said he'd do it again if he knew that a Nirvana song was scheduled to air once every hour. Why is it that of every 3 songs, one of them will be a catalogue song of Pearl Jam, Green Day, Sublime, or Blink 182? Where's the new music? Why are they too afraid to play some innovative good music? Why don't I hear the Shins or the Sleepy Jackson when I turn on HFS? I had told them that they're shameless promos reminded me of a 35 year-old harping about when he was such a good high school football player. They're ratings were already in the tank and I was curious as to why they couldn't address the real issue: THEY WERE IRRELEVENT. Like most former HFS listeners, the death of the station is like hearing of the demise of a former lover you haven't had contact with in a decade. Life will go on with minimal change. You will still listen to xm radio or your cd collection while you drive to and from work. By pure luck yesterday, I happened to catch Hfs's final moments during an early lunch. Instead of listening to a cd, I tried the radio. When I hit the preset to 99.1, I was expecting to hear "American Idiot" by Green Day...again. Imagine my surprise when I heard: "Clampdown" by the Clash followed by "Gardening at Night" by REM. I knew something was up when an old Cure song was next. I didn't need to hear the Spanish dj to know what the next song meant. It was Jeff Buckley's glorious "Last Goodbye." They should have played one more song: "Good Riddance" by Green Day.
Well, lots of people with Falls Church as their address. Falls Church always was the home of alternative music. Well, I too bemoan the death of HFS, but it died years ago and now I listen to NPR. Anyone remember, maybe 10-12 years ago, when Robb Timm and Bob Waugh were left on all day as an April Fools joke? First off, Damien never came in, just was a no-show. Then the program director, whose name escapes me for the moment, claimed to have a dentist appointment and then the guys called Weasel to com in, but he was sick. Bob and Robb weren't released until 5:00 or so. Funniest day of radio I ever heard. I spent all day driving around , went through two tanks of gas...
In the 90's, I mostly listened to DC 101 so I probably won't be missing HFS. But I have to give them props when they had an "80's/New Wave weekend" during last year's Thanksgiving weekend.
...which I took to stand for WhoreHouse For Satan. I stopped listening when Damien left/got forced out and never felt I was missing anything. His Sunday night blues show was awesome. Every once in a while I see Weasel walking around Bethesda. I used to love My Three Songs. The first time I ever heard Dylan's Shelter From The Storm was during one of those games.