WHFS no more
 

For all of you HFS listeners in MD and VA. Our beloved station is no more. My dad heard on Howard Stern yesterday that they have changed it to a latino station. He turned it on and just like he heard....couldn't understand a word. I'm sad! I guess there will be no more HFStival. Does anyone know why they did this? I wonder if they went out of business or moved to another station. Just thought I would let you all know if you didn't already.

I've been up in arms about this since yesterday. As much as I dislike the radio these days I'm still sad to see it go. Infinity radio owns WHFS, WARW (94.7), WPGC (95.5) and WJFK (106.7) and out of those stations WHFS had the weakest ratings in the area. Apparently they've had low ratings for several years and there had been talk of them changing over for a while. DC101's head was on the chopping block a few years ago, but I guess they managed to save themselves. These huge media congomerates are horrible for radio because they're playing whatever record labels pay them to play, not what they think is good. I'm seriously looking into getting myself satellite radio.

Here's an article from the Washington Post...you need a login but you can get one from www.bugmenot.com.

I'm shocked as well....The HFS-tival was one of the more well-known summer rock concerts in the country, sort of on par with the KROQ concert in L.A.! I AM SO ANGRY! I don't want anymore of this crappy music on the air!!! WHAT IS GOING ON WITH ROCK THESE DAYS!!:mad: :mad: :mad:

It sooooooo doesn't sound right to turn to 99.1 in the car and hear Oy Ye Como VA!!! ICK!!!:(

I got satelite radio for christmas and it is worth it. I go to school in Kentucky and we have like 3 radio stations and they are all bluegrass and stuff like that. The only radio station I listen to at home is WJFK. Other than that I listen to a cd. I love my satelite radio but I wish I got Sirius because Howard is going to be on there... oh well.

http://www.hfstival.com has some links on there and a little bit more info (not much though).

Here's the last minute of WHFS broadcasting...http://www.hfstival.com/whfs.mp3

If you can prove that, you can cause some big trouble. That's illegal. Unless they announce that they've been paid and log the music as a commercial.

There were "payola" scandals during the 50's and 60's because DJ's were being paid to "hype" certain records.

What is true is that some media conglomerates like Clear Channel and Infinity own other types of entertainment entities and may try to influence their owned stations to feature them.

That's a subtle, but distinct, difference -- but probably not illegal. It's kind of like ABC playing a lot of Disney product or UPN playing a lot of Paramount movies and shows because of their ownership.

Please don't misunderstand -- centralization of media control is not something I'm defending. I don't like it much. But to claim that record companies are paying stations (if they don't own them) is a pretty serious accusation.

Well, while this isn't speaking for ALL stations by any means, this was the first thing that came to mind:

Source

VH1 has something on it too

That may be an isolated incident and yes they ran a disclaimer...I'll look around later on.

From downhillbattle.org

From Rolling Stone

Some artists that have played the HFStival in the past...

1993
INXS, Iggy Pop, Ned's Automic Dustbin, Stereo MCs, Matthew Sweet, Velocity Girl

1994
Cracker, Toad The Wet Sprocket, Meat Puppets, Counting Crows, James, Pavement, Rollins Band, Violent Femmes, Afghan Whigs, Greenberry Woods

1995
Courtney Love, Tony Bennett, Primus, Ramones, Juliana Hatfield, Better Than Ezra, Mike Watt, Bush, PJ Harvey, Soul Asylum, Archers of Loaf

1996
Garbage, Cracker, Goldfinger, Foo Fighters, Afghan Whigs, Presidents Of The United States Of America, Everclear, No Doubt, Gin Blossoms, Fred Schneider, Girls Against Boys, Jimmie's Chicken Shack, Dishwalla, Guided By Voices

1997
Beck, Prodigy, Third Eye Blind, Echo & The Bunnymen, Luscious Jackson, The Verve Pipe, Blondie, Jamiroquai, Cardigans, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Jimmies Chicken Shack, Ben Folds Five

1998
Crystal Method, Green Day, Scott Weiland, Foo Fighters, B-52's, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Everclear, Barenaked Ladies, Wyclef Jean, Marcy Playgound, Soul Coughing, Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Agents Of Good Roots, Grant Lee Buffalo

1999 Spring
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Offspring, Sugar Ray, Goo Goo Dolls, Silverchair, Blink 182, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Jimmie's Chicken Shack, Orgy, Lit, 2 Skinnee J's, Citizen King, Fountains Of Wayne, Buckcherry, Ozomatli, Beth Orton, Live, Moby

1999 Fall
311, Limp Bizkit, Bush, Buckcherry, Chemical Brothers, Everclear, Filter, Fuel, Jimmies Chicken Shack, Powerman 5000, Run DMC, Staind, Long Beach Dub All Stars

2000
Rage Against The Machine, Stone Temple Pilots, Third Eye Blind, Cypress Hill, Godsmack, Filter, Deftones, Staind, Bloodhound Gang, Vertical Horizon, Eve 6, Nine Days, SR-71, Good Charlotte, Blue Man Group, Lake Trout, Mary Prankster, Laughing Colors, Rebel Amish Radio

2001
Day 1: Live, Green Day, Incubus, Tenacious D, 3 Doors Down, The Cult, Fuel, Lifehouse, Coldplay, SR-71, Good Charlotte, Nothingface, Alien Ant Farm, Dust For Life, Saliva, American Hi-Fi
Day 2: Staind, Live, Fatboy Slim, 3 Doors Down, Fuel, Linkin Park, Stabbing Westward, Coldplay, Lifehouse, Good Charlotte, American Hi-Fi, SR-71, Saliva, Cold, Sum 41, Mike D & Mix Master Mike

2002
Day 1: The Strokes, Eminem, Hoobastank, Our Lady Peace, Sum 41, The Lloyd Dobler Effect, N.E.R.D., New Found Glory, Citizen Cope, The Vines, Jah Works, Fidel, Cactus Patch, Margaret Heater, Imbue Day 2: Papa Roach, Alien Ant Farm, Our Lady Peace, X-ecutioners, Good Charlotte, P.O.D., Hoobastank, Trik Turner, Unwritten Law, Sum 41, Dashboard Confessional, GOB, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Citizen Cope, The Vines, Phantom Planet, Abandoned Pools, Loudermilk, The Lloyd Dobler Effect, Green Machine, Rotoglow, Phaser

2003
Finch, The Donnas, The Used, The Roots, Jack Johnson, AFI, Chevelle, Good Charlotte, Jane's Addiction, Audioslave, Godsmack, Vendetta Red, Getaway Car, Hot Hot Heat, Interpol, Northern State, Smile Empty Soul, Switchfoot

2004
VooDoo Blue, Papa Roach, Cypress Hill, Violent Femmes, The Offspring, The Cure, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Modest Mouse

We had a few radio station in the NY area that I loved, but they either disappeared or changed their format. Now when I turn on the radio, I have no idea what type of music they will play.

I miss WLIR. :( They played music like U2, Depeche Mode, Smiths, and Cure before anyone. "Dare to be Different."

You know what kind of surprised me is that the DJs, etc. didn't get any notification. The morning show guys ended their show at 10:00 am, apparently, and were notified that it was their LAST show at around 10:30.

I know they're a business and they can do what they want -- it just surprised me.

"their record company paid KUFO, a radio station in Portland, Oregon, $5000 to play this 50 times. The deal was legal because the station ran a disclaimer before the song saying that it was paid for by Flip/Interscope Records."

That's the important part right there. At that point, it basically becomes a commercial message. I'm sure they listed it on their official program log as a commercial as well.

It's the under-the-table type of payola that is illegal.

Yes, I acknowledged that and quoted 2 other sources that discuss using "middlemen" to pay the stations. These stations are getting paid.

Did they carry Howard Stern? Because I swear I will go ape shit if anyone is knocking Stern off the air.

-Rudey

No. WJFK carries him.

Fine. My point is this. If anyone is paying them (with the possible exception of their owners) and they aren't logging and reporting it as commercial content, I believe it is illegal.

In the case you note in both links, the pay for play situation was clearly noted as such.

"Last February, KUFO accepted payment from Interscope Records to play "Counterfeit" in a federally approved pay-for-play arrangement that requires the station to run a disclaimer before or after the song that makes note of the track's sponsor."

As I said, there is a subtle, but very distinct difference. I took your original post to mean that all radio stations are being paid for playing a lot of their music. This appears to be a single situation which was done above board.

OK that's good. Well in that case y'all enjoy your salsa and that enrique inglesias stuff.

-Rudey

I'm pretty shocked about this too. I wonder if El Zol is going to do any better than HFS did. All I know is that I won't be listening to it!

I tried to sign the online petition, but it says you have to be a Maryland resident... I'm a VA resident. Oh well. I'm not sure I believe a petition is going to do any good anyway.

Commercial radio is a "for profit" business. If the station didn't have the "numbers" (broadcastspeak for ratings), no amount of signatures on a petition will help.

Ratings = Dollars.

ETA that reading the trade magazines, Hispanic (Spanish) stations are probably the fastest growing formats at this point in time.

I don't think it will, sadly. They've had poor ratings for several years...

Hence, large labels paying third-party marketing agencies for airtime for singles as well as trading airtime for appearances at shows and festivals. This has all happened "above-board" for years, and you know it.

It's a joke, but it's not technically illegal, so we watch it ruin radio. Delt, you can't even fake that this doesn't happen.

Yeah, that's what I hear. But I had no idea they were doing that badly, what with the turnout they always get at HFStival. I've never been, and now I guess I never will.

I feel really bad for the employees though. I don't think it was fair not to give them any warning. I hear that the excuse is that Infinity didn't want it to leak that the station was changing its format... but why did it need to be a secret anyway? I think it actually would have been nice to give the public a warning too. It was probably weird as hell for people listening to the morning show yesterday to hear an abrupt change to Latin music at 10am. I mean that is why everybody thought it was a joke at first... because it just completely blindsided everybody.

The following is from the Federal Communications Commission website, explaining the Communications Act of 1934 as amended by the Communications Act of 1996.

I could not get this to copy, so please excuse any typos.

"Section 317 of the Communications Act, as amended, requires broadcasters to disclose that matter has been broadcast in exchange for money, service or other valuable consideration. the announcement must be made when the subject matter is broadcast. The Commission has adopted a rule, which sets forth the broadcasters' responsibilities for sponsorship identification.

Section 507 of the Communications Act, as amended, requires that when anyone pays someone to include program matter in a brodcast, the fact of payment must be disclosed in advance of the broadcast to the station over which the matter is to be carried. Both the person making the payment and the recipient are obligated to disclose the payment so that the station may make the sponsorship identification announcement required by Section 317 of the Act. Failure to disclose such payments is commonly referred to as "payola" and is punishable by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than one year or both. These criminal penalties bring violations within the purview of the Department of Justice.

Thus, for example, if record companies or their agents pay broadcasters to play records on the air, those payments are legitimate if the required sponsorship identification message is aired. If it is not aired as required by the Communications Act and the Commission's rules, the broadcast station will be subject to enforcement action.

If record companies, or their agents, are paying persons other than the licensee to have records aired, and not disclosing that fact to the licensee, the person making such payments, and the recipient, are subject to fine, imprisonment or both."

To reiterate my comments above, if this is being done, it's illegal.

El Zol is horrible. It has this grainy miserable sound to it. HFS had huge bandwidth, and there's no reason for the music to sound that terrible......


I have read several articles that mention that promotors (including the owner of 9:30 who partially put on HFStival last year) are looking into keeping the event if there is enough interest. I was there in 96 and 97 and it was an amazing time, at RFK in the sunshine. But that was back before they made all these crazy rules about no bringing anything into the stadiums and what have you. I can't imagine I would have any fun today between that and the fact that the only people who go to HFStival anymore have an average age of 18.


Good times, good times. I wish Infinity had allowed for the station to leave a better legacy and have a more classy exit. It would have been nice to know/say good-bye. HFS = high school for me.



eta = my boyfriend just sent me this:

http://www.hfstival.com/

Fox News reported that there is a protest being planned for Saturday at the Asylum studio in DC at 819 7th Street @ 11am - I have no further information on this.

http://www.petitiononline.com/991hfs/petition.html

He was on HFS at one point, though. As was the Greaseman.

They were both on DC101, not HFS.

Rudey
Don't be too relieved because Howard is going off the air next year and going to Sirius Satelite Radio. You will have to pay for the service to hear him. It really sucks because I love listening to Howard.

You're right.