WKVB (FM)

WAAF

File:WAAF-FM-New.png
Westborough, Massachusetts
Broadcast area	Boston, Massachusetts
Frequency	WAAF 107.3 (MHz), WKAF 97.7 (MHz)
Branding	WAAF Rocks
Programming
Format	Active Rock
Ownership
Owner	Entercom
History
First air date	1937 as W1XOJ , 1967 as WAAF
Call sign meaning	WAAF = FM of former sister AMstation AM1440 WAAB
Technical information
Class	B
ERP	20,000 watts
Links
Website	www.waaf.com

WAAF 107.3 FM (simulcast on WKAF 97.7 FM) is a Boston area commercial Album Oriented Rock/Active rock radio station that mixes music that is popular in the modern rock, heavy metal and classic rock genres.

Originally the station targeted the Worcester, Massachusetts market, but by the mid-1980s, WAAF had begun to direct most of its attention to the Boston radio market. Since it began targeting Boston, WAAF has been in an ongoing rivalry with crosstown rock station WBCN.

WAAF signal issues

WAAF normally broadcasts out of Paxton, Massachusetts on 107.3 FM and now simulcasts at 97.7 FM, which is licensed to Brockton, Massachusetts (where their signal can be better heard in Boston). When its antenna is located in Paxton, the central part of New England, WAAF can be heard throughout much of Massachusetts, as well as parts of neighboring U.S. states New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Vermont.

Currently in spring and summer of 2006, due to testing and a possible permanent change in antennas, the stations signal strength and listenability has decreased in most parts of Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont and Western Massachusetts. WAAF is trying to concentrate the signal into its primary sales market, Boston. However, some claim even though the station targets Boston, the current signal begins to fade out as one travels eastward into downtown Boston and many surrounding neighborhoods.

The new transmitter operating on a construction permit from the FCC is on Stiles Hill in Boylston, Massachusetts. The first experiment with this antenna took place between October 31 and November 22, 2005 but had to resort back to Paxton for a couple months to address multipath issues. FCC pdf

On August 21, 2006, Entercom acquired Urban Contemporary outlet WILD-FM (97.7) from Radio One for $30 Million. Hours after that deal was made Entercom pulled the plug on WILD-FM's format at 7pm (EST) and replaced it with a computerized voice countdown "T Minus [] Hours, [] Minutes, [] Seconds and counting", also adding little funny snippets every few seconds leading up to the August 22, 5:30 PM start of simulcasting WAAF's format on that signal, beginning with AC/DC's "For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)". The addition of 97.7 now gives WAAF an improved signal coverage in Boston.

On August 30, 2006, WILD Was renamed WKAF.

Station history

Early history

The WAAF call letters were first adopted in 1967 and the station had a Beautiful music format. WAAF switched to its long running Rock music format two years later in 1969. (WAAF previously had been WAAB-FM having the same call letters as its sister AM station 1440 WAAB-AM. Historically, the station is often noted as the worlds first FM station. The stations original owner was Edwin H. Armstrong who invented and patented FM radio in 1933. The stations first call letters were W1XOJ. W1XOJ was the first experimental FM radio station, granted a construction permit by the FCC in 1937. Today, WAAF is often still broadcast from the same Paxton, Massachusetts site as W1XOJ. For more on the early history of WAAF/W1XOJ see FM broadcasting in the USA and History of radio. Radio station WXOJ-LP 103.3FM "Valley Free Radio" in Northampton, Massachusetts is a low power station whose call letters pay tribute to WAAF's ancestral origins).

Freeform era 1969-1974

In the late 1960s and early 1970s the Rock format WAAF ran was referred to as Freeform, where the air talent is given total control over what music to play, regardless of commercial interests.

From the late 1960s through the early 1970s WAAF featured typical rock artists of the day such as The Beatles, The Who, Rolling Stones, The Kinks, Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, It's A Beautiful Day, Aerosmith, The Doors, Chicago, Stevie Wonder, Electric Flag, Billy Preston, Sly & The Family Stone, Jimi Hendrix, Van Morrison, Steppenwolf, Blood Sweat & Tears, and many others.

In hindsight, some of these artists are now considered more pop sounding and part of the Oldies or Classic hits musical genres. Some are more eclectic sounding acts, popular during the hippie/counterculture era of the 1960s and early 1970s and not remembered as well past that time period. With FM radio stations expressing a wide artistic freedom at that time, various musical styles were considered proper for a Rock station.

Album Rock era 1975-1981

By the mid-1970s the format WAAF practiced became known as AOR (Album Oriented Rock).

Though some critically acclaimed artist like Blue Öyster Cult, Elvis Costello and Tom Petty were played, this was the era of Arena rock and the majority of airtime was given to mainstream rock bands with such examples being Boston, Kansas, Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, Doobie Brothers, Journey, Foreigner and Foghat.

"MOR" pop rockers like Billy Joel and Elton John were also core artists. While most of the Stevie Wonder/Billy Preston/Chicago styled music was considered too pop by the late 70s ,a few upbeat pop sounding classics like "Good Lovin'" by The Young Rascals and "Shout!" by The Isley Brothers were still in the stations music library and frequently played.

In the second half of the 1970s heavy metal artists like Black Sabbath increased in airplay on the station. Some, such as AC/DC, were played for the first time.

During this era WAAF helped launch the careers of Van Halen and Rush by giving them heavy promotion and airplay.

WAAF's slogan in this time period was, "WAAF, The Rock N' Roll Air Force"

"Non-Stop Rock" era 1981-1989

WAAF went through several owners and numerous management changes in the 1980s, but excluding one brief format shift, the station had a very consistent and commercially viable rock format for most of the decade.

During this period of time, the station came to rely on playing an increasingly large amount of older music to meet advertisers demographic demands. The 1980s was a more conservative time and the height of the 'Yuppie' subculture. WAAF wanted to branch out to this large baby boomer audience located in the nearby Boston market, while not alienating its core Worcester and Central Massachusetts listeners who tended to be younger and working class. They did this through the heavy use of dayparting, playing mostly older music and lighter artist during the day and saving airplay for most harder music for evenings after 7:P.M. when younger listeners were more dominant.

As a result, for most of the 80s, WAAF was a broad based Album Rock station. The range included relatively light pop/rock artists such as Huey Lewis and the News and Phil Collins, played more during the morning and afternoon hours. Hard rock and heavy metal artist like Iron Maiden, Ratt, ZZ Top, Slade, Def Leppard and Guns N' Roses were heard more towards the late afternoon and were played more heavily at night.

However, about two thirds of the stations core artist and style of music for most of the 1980s was from the late 1960s to 1970s, what was then coming to be labelled classic rock. The stations two popular slogans from the autumn of 1981 through the summer of 1989 were "Crank It Up" (1981-1985) and "Non-Stop Rock" (1985-1989).

The station also adopted it's long time, and very recognizable, 'paint splash' style logo during this era in the autumn of 1981.

The "Rock of the 80's" spring 1983

For a brief period of time in the spring of 1983, WAAF shifted its format to having an alternative music slant. During this time WAAF called itself "The Rock Of The 80s" and was consulted by radio programmer Rick Carroll. Mr. Carroll introduced the format on KROQ in Los Angeles in 1978 and by 1983 was having much success with it. WAAF was one of many stations he consulted with the format. Core artist during this brief period included Boy George and Culture Club, A Flock of Seagulls, Human League, Talk Talk, Duran Duran, and Spandau Ballet. WAAF also mixed in some pop music during this period, most notably two of Michael Jackson's hit singles from his Thriller album, Billie Jean and Beat It. This was WAAF's first attempt at getting a larger audience in Boston (The stations ratings were already up in that market due to the success of the 'Bob and Zip' morning radio show). The experiment failed as the stations ratings took a deep drop in its home market of Worcester and failed to impact the Boston market (at that time in Boston 'Alternative' station WFNX signed on in the spring of 1983 as well as the short lived, but extremely popular from 1983-1985, Top 40 hits powerhouse Hitradio WHTT). WAAF quickly switched back to its broad based Album Rock format that summer.

"Untamed Radio" 1989-1991

After many years with a broad based rock format WAAF changed directions in October of 1989. WAAF dropped many acts from the 1960s and 70s (though they continued to play a few such as Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd). They began only playing harder songs by core artists while increasing the amount of current music product being played. They became a "Rock 40" station playing only rock and heavy metal (mostly metal in the more pop oriented Glam Metal genre) but in a manner similar of that to Top 40 stations. WAAF's new slogan between late 1989 and 1991 was "Untamed Radio". The station during this period was inspired by Los Angeles radio station KQLZ , "Pirate Radio 100.3 FM" (WAAF aired the live and nationally syndicated KQLZ produced show "Pirate Radio U.S.A." on Saturday nights from November 1989 through October 1993 when the show ceased production several months after the Los Angeles station changed its format).

'Alternative'lean 1992-1995

In early 1992 heavy metal and hard rock rapidly lost ground to the growing popularity of various "Alternative Subcultures" and the music associated with them. In trying to keep up with the times, WAAF began adding more music acts popular in the alternative music genre to its playlist rotation.

Alternative artists, including Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Pearl Jam, Beck and Belly received ample airplay. Such college radio acts as Sugar and King Missile were also added. WAAF was one of the stations to launch the career of Alanis Morissette in the summer of 1995, by playing the first two singles from her Jagged Little Pill album, "You Oughta Know" and "Hand In My Pocket".

Though WAAF included more 'Alternative' acts in their programming during this era, they still played many hard rock and metal bands other stations during that time would not play. These included harder heavy metal bands such as Metallica, Megadeth, Pantera, Pist.on and Prong, as well as progressive rock act Dream Theater.

With this music mix, WAAF had evolved to one of the pioneers of the Active Rock format.

During this time WAAFs slogan was "The Only Station In Boston That Really Rocks". The "In Boston" part of the slogan had to be dropped after several years due to complaints, and eventually a cease and desist order, filed by rival WBCN. For many years prior, WBCN used the slogan "The Rock Of Boston" and claimed ownership for the combined use of the words 'Boston' and 'Rock' in any company slogan. WAAF, to avoid a legal battle, at first started to insert the names of various New England cities and towns the station could be heard in instead of just exclusively saying 'Boston'. (Examples being, "The Only Station In Manchester That Really Rocks" citing the New Hampshire city or "The Only Station In Wellesley That Really Rocks" recognizing the popular Boston suburb).

By the mid-1990s the station had shortened the slogan to simply "The Only Station That Really Rocks"

"Real Rock" 1996-2005

From the beginning of 1995 till the summer of 1999 radio rival WBCN switched to a broad alternative music format putting them more in competition with Boston's WFNX. With two stations fighting for the same audience, WAAF decided to reembrace hard rock and heavy metal as its main music focus.

In early 1996, WAAF responded by playing only harder guitar based 'Alternative Rock' acts (ex. Bush, Stone Temple Pilots) and became instrumental in helping several local Massachusetts metal musical acts achieve success, including Godsmack, Staind and Shadows Fall. WAAF also helped many national Nu metal acts to prominence from the mid-1990s through mid-2000s. These acts include such heavyweights as KoЯn, the Deftones, Disturbed, Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park.

By the summer of 1999 WBCNs alternative format started to lean more Active Rock, once again putting them in direct compititon for many of the same musical acts played on WAAF.

WAAF's two slogans during these years was "The Only Station That Really Rocks" (1992-2002) and "If It Rocks...It's 107.3 WAAF" (2002-2005).

"Everything That Rocks" 2005 - present

In the autumn of 2005, WAAF adjusted it's format again to include a wider variety of music that fits under the umbrella title of 'Rock'. Using the new slogan "Everything That Rocks" WAAF continued to play the hard rock, modern rock and metal acts that it was known for (such as Mudvayne, System of a Down, Nickelback, Rage Against The Machine as well as acts new to the WAAF playlist Wolfmother, Hinder, Flyleaf and Avenged Sevenfold). The station also began to mix back in more long-time alternative music acts (such as Weezer and U2), and classic rock acts (such as Lynyrd Skynyrd and Yes) that had not been played on the station in many years.

In addition, WAAF added many new current alternative and rock acts that it had not been playing. These acts included, minimalist blues-rock duo The White Stripes, The Raconteurs and virtual band the Gorillaz. Many artist influenced by such alternative music subgenres as power pop and pop-punk were also placed on the stations playlist, including The Killers, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance and AFI.

On-air personalities

The station has been through several host changes in recent years. Their current lineup includes:

Weekday

• Hillman Morning Show (Mornings 5:30am - 10am)
  • Greg Hill - Mayor of Gay town
  • Lyndon Byers a.k.a. L.B. - Sports
  • Kevin Barbare - Writer/voice guy
  • Spaz - Producer with horrible think accent of an uneducated hick that gives MA a bad name.
  • Major Dick - Traffic and a name fitting for man town
  • Danielle - News a woman clearly out of place here!

• Mike Hsu (Mid-Days 10pm - 3pm)

Mike is also host of "Harder Faster" featuring a mix of hardcore, thrash metal, gothic metal, doom metal, black metal, death metal, grindcore and other hard music subgenres, Weeknights 11pm - 12midnight

• Mistress Carrie (Afternoons 3pm - 7pm. Music Director.)

Early September of 06, Carrie went to Iraq to visit U.S. forces from the New England area, mainly from Massachusetts where she also broadcast live for those back home as a reporter for WAAF.

• Bob Hannah (Evenings 7pm - 11pm)

Weekend and overnights

• Gomez (Overnights and Sundays)
• Dave Breen (Saturdays)
• Mike Wild (Current host of 'Saturday Night Hairball', a retro music show playing rock and heavy metal songs from the mid 80s through early 90s)
• Big Bamboo (Sundays)
• Denny Doherty (Sundays)
• Matt Leonard (Sunday Evenings and fill-ins. Former host of 'Saturday Night Hairball' from April 2005 until July 2006)
• Carmelita (Sunday Nights 10pm - 12midnight. Host of local music show "Bay State Rock" since 1986)
• Zakk Giannette (Weekend Overnights)

Notable former on-air personalities

• Gregg "Opie" Hughes (Co-Host of top rated afternoon drive time show 'Opie and Anthony' 1995-1998)
• Anthony Cumia (Co-Host of top rated afternoon drive time show 'Opie and Anthony' 1995-1998)

Current on-air shows

Hillman Morning Show

"The Hillman Morning Show", led by host Greg Hill, is WAAF's most popular current program as well as one of its longest running. Although billed as a music program, the majority of time is spent with the program's hosts' banter.

The program has spawned a calendar and DVD set, branded Mantown, in which local women are profiled through soft core pornography. Women appear on the show to interview for a position in the calendar, and are asked a standard set of questions about their anatomy (If their genitals most resemble a ziplock bag, a blooming flower, or busted Ravoli), their sexual preference, and their sexual history.

Women are often asked to fake an orgasm on the air, for the listeners to vote on.

"The Hillman Morning Show" has been the top rated morning drive radio show in the Worcester radio market since 1990, almost always winning in both the all adult listeners (age 12 and up) demographic as well as the 18-34 and 25-54 male demographics sold to advertisers. In addition, "The Hillman Morning Show" has always done very well in the ratings in the larger Boston market against rival WBCN. WAAF makes a large portion of its total revenue off of advertising sales made based on the stations performance in the Boston market in addition to the Worcester market. Much of this revenue is generated during the morning drive time slot, when people are more likely to listen to the radio as they get ready for and commute to their jobs or school.

From 1989 till the spring of 1996 Greg Hill and his cast competed with popular longtime WBCN morning show "The Big Mattress" with host Charles Laquidara. "The Big Mattress" mixed political and topical humor with the stations usual rock music programming. Like "The Hillman Morning Show", Charles Laquidara and "The Big Mattress" cast were live and local broadcasting from the WBCN studios in Boston.

From April 1996 through December 2005 "The Hillman Morning Show" went up against nationally syndicated media favorite "The Howard Stern Show". "The Howard Stern Show" previously had been airing in the early evening 7pm slot on WBCN since March 1993. On April 1, 1996 Charles Laquidara and "The Big Mattress" cast moved crosstown to do mornings on WBCNs sister station, classic rock formatted WZLX. On that same date "The Howard Stern Show" was moved from evenings to become WBCNs new morning show.

David Lee Roth, former lead singer of the rock music act Van Halen, aired his short lived nationally syndicated morning drive time show on WBCN from January 3, 2006 till April 21, 2006. This marked the first time "The Hillman Morning Show" and WAAF beat WBCN in the morning drive time slot in the Boston market. "The Hillman Morning Show" bested David Lee Roth, both in the overall Arbitron Ratings and also in the key 18-34 and 25-54 male demographics both stations use to sell advertisers, a great feet considering he was on for less than month

Since April 26, 2006 Greg Hill and his cast have been fending off competition and attacks from current WBCN morning show and former WAAF employees Opie and Anthony on their nationally syndicated show. In the spring 2006 Arbitron Ratings "The Opie and Anthony Show" is above "The Hillman Morning Show" among all adult listeners (age 12 and up). "The Opie and Anthony show " in Boston has a 3.4 share of listeners compaired to "The Hillman Morning Show" which has a 2.5 rating. In the 18-34 demographic "The Hillman Morning Show" has a 6.2 share compaired to a 6.7 rating for the "The Opie and Anthony Show". (One share equals 1 percent of all the radio listeners at a particular time). David Lee Roth previously had a 1.6 (age 12 and up) and a 1.9 in the 18-34 demographic. During his last ratings period, in Fall 2005, "The Howard Stern Show" had a 6.4 (12 and up) and 10.9 (18-34). [1]

On November 2, 2006, WBCNs afternoon drive time personalities The Toucher and Rich Show received an email, from a listener who searched for Mantown on wikipedia. The listener found that Mantown, in addition to being a WAAF promotion, was also a communal society of single, heterosexual men who wish to remain bachelors but who also seek the gratification of raising children.

The 'Mantown' wikipedia entry, however, was already victim to vandalism, resulting in the word "heterosexual' being switched to homosexual. 'Toucher and Rich' listeners, began to edit the WAAF article in the areas concerning "The Hillman Morning Show" with humor that could be described as homophobic in nature. After a wikipedia contributor edited the page vandalism, Toucher and Rich listeners edited the page numerous times to make it seem overtly homosexual. The vandalism included pictures of The Village People, Gay Pride Parades, Richard Simmons and The Fab Five, with captions claiming the pictures where of "The Hillman Morning Show" cast. The WAAF entry also got filled with many inside jokes from the show, and Toucher and Rich would read page updates live on the air. Editing stopped when the page was locked. The "Mantown" wikipedia article has since been deleted.

The 'Toucher and Rich' cast began to criticize competitor WAAF upon taking over WBCNs afternoon drive show in April 2006. The cast and crew of 'Toucher and Rich' decry the whole 'Mantown' concept. They claim the Hillman's Mantown theme is false machismo masking repressed homoeroticism on the part of the "The Hillman Morning Show" cast and crew .

Past shows and personalites

Opie and Anthony

On February 13, 1995, WAAF brought shock jocks Opie and Anthony on board.

One of the their first major acts was "Whip ‘Em Out Wednesday," or WOW. They sold bumper stickers that simply said "WOW", and encouraged all of their female fans to flash any car or truck with the sticker. It became a popular fad, especially among truckers, and for a period of time many of the trucks in Massachusetts had WOW written somewhere on them.

The last controversy they pulled at WAAF was an April Fool's Day prank in 1998 wherein they informed their listeners that Boston Mayor Thomas Menino had died. City Hall had some trouble reaching Menino since he was in a plane at the time, so they weren't able to deny the rumor before it spread throughout Boston. Once the truth was out, there was a significant backlash. Opie and Anthony were placed on leave without pay; a week later they were fired.

Opie and Anthony eventually landed at WNEW-FM in New York, and into national syndication. Today, the duo does two morning radio shows, one in syndication (which is heard on rival WBCN), the other exclusive to XM Satellite Radio. XM also simulcasts the syndicated show.

John Osterlind

John Osterlind doubled as the Music Director for the station and the popular 10am to 3pm DJ for many years. Nicknamed "Ozone", Osterlind combined a detailed, knowledgable banter about current musical trends with such popular segments as one in which he invited listeners to call in daily with midget sightings in the greater Boston area. Osterlind left WAAF in May 2001 to host a radio call-in show with former congressman, Peter Blute, on WRKO AM 680 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Promotions and community events

Walk and Rock for Change

Every November, starting in 1993, WAAF has held its popular annual charity event "Walk and Rock for Change". During this event, the DJs (Greg Hill 1993-2003)from the station walk across Massachusetts, asking for change from the people as they stop in each town. The station will often air interviews with people as they come across interesting events. Starting in 2003, while this event is proceeding, the DJs at the station will play requested songs, for a price. While the station will play any song requested, obnoxious or unpopular songs, such as the Spongebob Squarepants theme, will have a higher price than the station's standard fare.

CD releases

The station has released a number of mostly limited edition CDs containing exclusive in-studio performances and various comedy bits from the on-air staff.

• Unusual Suspects: WAAF Exclusive Live Studio Recordings, November 19, 1996
• Royal Flush: Live On-Air, November 25, 1997
• Bootleg Live On-Air, March 23, 1999
• WAAF Survive This, October 30, 2000

See also

• Mistress Carrie
• Opie and Anthony
• Boston Radio
• Oldest radio station

External links

• WAAF.com
• Bay State Rock (local music show)
• Harder Faster (hard music show)
• Harder Faster MySpace fan site
• Entercom