History
WPRW-FM and WEZR
On April 4, 1961, the station first signed on as WPRW-FM.[6] It was owned by the Prince William Broadcasting Company and was the sister station to AM 1460 WPRW (now WKDV). The two stations simulcast their programming, directed mostly to listeners in and around Manassas and Prince William County. WPRW-FM broadcast with an effective radiated power of 30,000 watts, but only using a 160-foot tower, so it was unable to cover the larger Washington radio market. In 1966, the transmitter was moved to the AM site west of Manassas.[7]
In 1967, WPRW-FM was sold to Radio Fairfax-Prince William, a Fairfax-based firm that owned WEEL radio in that city. The transmitter was moved to Fairfax and the call letters changed to WEZR, airing 15-minute sweeps of beautiful music, mostly instrumental covers of popular songs, including Hollywood and Broadway showtunes. Ultimately, the entire company renamed itself EZ Communications later in 1968, later going on to buy other stations nationwide and apply the format there. A further power boost to 50,000 watts, improving coverage in the Washington market, was approved in 1973.[7]
While WEZR and its sister stations remained successful into the 1980s, the easy format was seen as attracting older listeners, while most advertisers were seeking a younger demographic. In 1982, EZ tweaked the format used by its three remaining music outlets—WEZR, WEZS in Richmond and WEZC in Charlotte—to add more vocals.[8]
Top 40 and new age
On January 1, 1985, the station flipped to Top 40 as WBMW "B106".[9] It was positioned against two other Washington-area Top 40 stations: WRQX, owned by ABC, and WAVA-FM, owned by Doubleday Broadcasting. WBMW was acquired by New York City-based Infinity Broadcasting in April 1987.[10]
Infinity, at first, flipped WBMW to an adult rock format, but it only lasted a few weeks. On May 8, 1987, WBMW switched to new-age music, a forerunner of the smooth jazz format.[11][12][13] The station simply called itself "106.7 WBMW". The playlist included jazz-influenced instrumentals and some soft rock titles, with limited chatter from the DJs. This format lasted about a year and a half.
Rock and hot talk
On October 3, 1988, the station flipped to an album-oriented rock format as WJFK, with the new call sign named after John F. Kennedy. The station became the Washington affiliate for the syndicated Howard Stern Show.[14] This marked Stern's return to the market for the first time since he was let go from rival rock station WWDC in 1982.[15][16]
Over time, WJFK began adding other talk shows targeted at young men, similar to Stern. Eventually, WJFK had switched over to a full-time hot talk format.[17] Programs on the station during this era include Stern, Don and Mike,[18] Opie & Anthony, G. Gordon Liddy,[19] The Greaseman, Bill O'Reilly, Ron & Fez and the Sports Junkies.[20] In 1991, Infinity began to simulcast WJFK programming on co-owned AM 1300 in Baltimore.[21] That station switched its call letters to WJFK, so 106.7 added an FM suffix and became WJFK-FM. From 1995 to 2005 WJFK-FM was the flagship radio station for the then-Washington Redskins (now Washington Commanders).[22]
Howard Stern departed his terrestrial network of stations in 2005, including WJFK-FM, when he left for Sirius Satellite Radio. WJFK-FM rebranded as "Free FM" in October 2005, as part of Infinity's plans for a nationwide hot talk network. (Two months later, Infinity was renamed CBS Radio.) The Sports Junkies would move from the midday slot to replace Stern as WJFK-FM's morning hosts.[23] However, the Free FM format did not attract enough listeners, and many of those stations switched to other formats. The "Free FM" branding was dropped by WJFK-FM in 2007, even though it continued a while longer as a hot talk outlet under the slogan "Washington's Talk Superstation".
Sports radio
On July 20, 2009, WJFK-FM became "106.7 The Fan".[24][25][26] With WJFK-FM's changeover to "The Fan", The Junkies (who would later change their name back to "The Sports Junkies") were retained, while The Big O and Dukes Show and The Mike O'Meara Show were dropped.
WJFK-FM acquired the rights to Washington Wizards basketball and Washington Nationals baseball.[27] It also began sharing some Washington Capitals hockey games with WFED. For college sports, WJFK-FM became the Washington area home of Virginia Tech Hokies football and men's basketball.
On March 8, 2009, WJFK-FM signed on the nation's first HD4 subchannel, carrying co-owned sports station WIP-FM from Philadelphia.[28] This fourth HD subchannel was later dropped, leaving WFAN in New York City on the HD2 subchannel and WJZ-FM from Baltimore on the HD3 subchannel. On June 21, 2021, WJFK (AM) flipped to a sports gambling format, branded as "The Bet Washington", with programming from the co-owned BetQL Network and CBS Sports Radio. With the flip, WJFK AM shifted its HD simulcast to WJFK-FM-HD3.[29]
On January 22, 2010, WJFK announced that it will air a weekly D.C. United soccer show on Sunday evenings.[30]
On September 9, 2015, WJFK announced that the station would become the new flagship station for Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball games.[31][32]
On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with Entercom.[33] The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on the 17th.[34][35] On December 30, 2020, it was announced that Steve Czaban would be working a Saturday morning show, replacing his weekday afternoon show on WJFK's Entercom sister station, WTEM.
