CBS is hoping to find multicast success by promoting the return of a past popular format and familiar call letters to the Washington market.
It has kicked off the return of WHFS via the HD2 channel of WTGB on 94.7 MHz.
Air talent Cerphe Colwell, an alum of WHFS from the late 1970s who had been heard on the main WTGB channel until a recent format change, hosted the debut. The new WHFS channel will also be available online at www.hfs2.com in coming weeks.
CBS promises a mix of current and retro alternative music as well as archival material, including live “HFS-tival performances, “Just Passing Through” live studio performances and artist interviews.
Sam Rogers, SVP/market manager for CBS Radio Washington, said returning to air as an HD Radio station “completes the evolution for the station and the WHFS call letters. HD2 is changing the way we experience radio content, providing listeners more choice, better quality and no monthly subscription fees.”
IBiquity Digital, the HD Radio technology company, notes other FM stations being “reborn” on multicast channels including New York’s’70s classic FM WNEW, which WWFS brought back at 102.7-2; KSHE-2 in St. Louis; K-ROCK-2 in L.A. (which is K-ROCK’s flashback to the K-ROCK of the ‘80s); and WBCN in Boston.
