WLOM Rises from Ashes of WHFS by Tony Sclafani "Cult" Following Formed the Washington Council Following the Previous Station's Demise
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November 21, 1983 Page 5 WLOM rises from ashes of WHFS by Tony Sclafani "cult" following formed the Washington Council following the previous station's demise. Now the for Progressive Radio and collected 18,000 signa- progressive format has a 70 mile radius and a Boring! Yawn! tures on petitions in an effort to "save progressive very powerful output, a far cry from the old days. Radio is boring. This is an opinion to some, a radio." In the months following, Jake Einstein But why the call letters WLOM? fact to others. But what it amounts to is that issued several statements declaring that the "They stand for, I believe. 'Love Our Music,'" modern commercial radio isn't terribly interest- WHFS format would be saved, even if at first, he said Weasel. "The station will be called WHFS ing or fun to listen to, because, like TV, all it wasn't sure exactly where. again, as soon as the FCC gives us permission." offers is the same old stuff. By now, progressive fans were coming out of (For the record, WHFS stands for High Fidelity It's easy to see that on radio there are only a the woodwork, forming the WHFS Listeners Stereo, because it was one of the first stereo handful of things that break out of the normal Alliance, protesting to the FCC, writing editor- stations in the D.C. area.) straight-jacketed format: the scattered college ials in local papers, and even trying to raise Weasel commented on the some of the major radio stations, some late night talk shows, and enough money to buy the station (!) changes in the move to Annapolis. "It's different the few independently owned, free-form radio Consequently, Einstein started negotiating to now because we have to commute to work. I used stations. WHFS, at 102.3 FM was one of these buy WEAM, an AM station located in Falls to just run downstairs and go on the air, since I stations. Church, that was up for sale at the time. The lived in the building. It's like a real job now! Doing what other stations wouldn't dream of, problem was that WEAM's listeners were as'ded- "We've changed the shifts around also. On the small 3000 watt, D.C.-based station broad- icated to that station's big-band music as WHFS' weekdays now, it's Dianne 6:00-10:00 a.m., Damian 10:00-2:00, me from 2:00-6:00, Bob 6:00-10:00, Sarah 10:00-2:00, and Mark 2:00- The Dirge: Pubescent drunks 6:00. On weekends it's Adele in the morning and Milo at night, with maybe [part timer] Jim Dun- bar also. On Sundays there's the ethnic shows, and Milo's reggae show." whip up Oddball Highballs The DJ's have also had some problem with by Bryan Denson full of mescal in an old fashioned glass full of ice learning to operate new equipment so quickly. cold beer. Garnish with a stopwatch to time how "It's a new station, and it was really set up for the This column too often deals with alcohol and long it takes for the beer to warm. old automatic "mellow" format, so we have some • The Denson Doldrums: This one was disco- new equipment on order," said Weasel. its effects upon those of us who overindulge, and for this I must apologize. Nevertheless, it is a vered one night when I was "low on spirits" and More importantly though, the move to Anna- high on morale. Fill a highball glass with water. polis has given WHFS a previously untapped mighty pleasure to introduce MANKIND'S TOP 10 ODDBALL HIGHBALLS. Pour all the liquor you have, an ounce here and audience in the Baltimore area, many of whom an ounce there and a couple of drops over there, have never heard a free-form station before. But first I must explain that 1 stumbled upon this idea quite a few years ago with my 13 year into a single glass. Drain it in one sustained series Weasel defined the unique format as "doing a of pulls from the glass. Pour the water down your whole lot of different things at once." old contemporary Larry Anderson. We had been experimenting with mixed drinks, often very throat and hang on for the ride. Leap tall build- He elaborated somewhat: "The idea of pro- ings in a single bound. Go to a fancy restaurant gressive radio is a matter of opinion. We're pro- explosive and gut-wrenching highballs, in Lar- ry's basement for just about a year when we and eat Chocolate Mousse with your hands. Pro- gressive in the sense that we don't have a position policemen and give all your money to 50-record playlist, we play various types of music began to list the top ten all-time losers. Other kids collected stats on Boog Powell and Luis winos. Leap out of tall buildings in a single and we play a lot of independent records, bound. although we play the major labels as well. Aparicio, but not us; we made notes on the satu- "There are some people who define progres- ration point of a quartered lime in Bacardi 151 sive radio as being the latest new wave or hard- rum, discovered six ways to cut the hard edge off core piece, but that's not exactly what it is. We mescal and grapefruit juice, and listed 32 drinks get some flack because one person's idea of pro- which contained both orange juice and vodka. gressive is not the same as another's." Thanks to the Mr. Boston Deluxe Official Bar- Weasel also explained how the DJ's sets origi- tender's Guide, and our proficiency at siphoning nate. "We have no playlist, so my sets are usually liquor from our parents' well stocked booze cup- out of my head, since I've been doing this for so boards, we had fairly well become lushes at the many years. I just go in there and start off with a age of 13. concept and take it from there. Our parents had been too cheap to buy us "What we play is also an interaction between chemistry sets, so we made our own. Ours us and the audience. If we play a tune and it gets a included a blender, nine different types of booze, and all the necessary ingredients—margarita The often-heard yet seldom-seen Weasel, veteran DJ from WHFS/WLOM. tremendous reaction we play it with more frequency.'' salt, bar sugar, and olives among them—to keep cast its own brand of progressive rock, which listeners were to progressive, and did the same It is with this method that WHFS helped to us occupied with our experiments in inebriation. included a discreet blend of old and new rock, thing as you-know-who's listeners. break previously unheard-of artists—such as Larry had somehow managed to procure an pop, folk, experimental, and progressive music. Keeping with the listeners' faith, WHFS Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt. and Squeeze— unopened bottle of tequila during our collection The disc jockeys also differed from the usual broadcast straight through all of these proceed- into the bigtime. Some of the standard WHFS of distilled spirits. That bottle of Jose Cuervo monolithic announcers. ings. Veteran DJ Weasel (Jon Gilbert) said of the songs of a few years ago have become big hits was to be our undoing. But before 1 explain, I Going directly against the restricting format of time, "There was a lot of pressure on us those now. Billy Idol's two year old "Dancing With must return to the promised MANKIND'S TOP other FM stations was how WHFS garnered its seven months we spent in limbo. When we finally Myself," is a prominent example. 10 ODDBALL HIGHBALLS: small but rabid cult following and earned a fair went off it was a feeling of relief more than Since it is getting close to Christmastime, it is • The Green Russian: Fill a 16-ounce tumbler amount of national recognition not usually anything." interesting to note that WHFS is one of the few with ice and pour 2 and one half ounces of vodka reserved for radio stations. So...the station finally did gooff the air when it FM stations that still plays a good amount of over it. Add 1-2 ounces Kahlua and fill the glass Every WHFS listener knew that although was sold to WTOP for $2.2 million, and in the seasonal music. "Nobody does that anymore, but with lime-flavored Gatorade. Garnish with a WHFS probably couldn't measure up to most three months following the shutdown, WHFS' that's one of our traditions; we like to have fun model replica of the Enola Gay. Let me explain that the formulation of these other FM "AOR" stations numbers-wise, it listeners were kept in the dark about what was with it." Many local progressive listeners would • The Drambuie Downer: In a beer stein add a strange brews was the result of many torturous would always have a small but receptive going on with the negotiations with WEAM, or argue that winter just wouldn't be the same with- seven-ounce Rolling Rock beer and an ounce of and exhausting hours in Larry's basement with audience, open to what it was trying to do. anyone else. out WHFS. Drambuie to an ounce of brandy. Garnish with a the blender and a cautious ear listening for the WHFS broadcast this wildly eclectic format for But then all of a sudden, WLOM Annapolis But some might argue that nothing would be half-dozen valiums.