WIYY

Infobox Radio station
name = WIYY


city = Baltimore, Maryland
area =
branding = "98Rock" "Classic 98Rock" (HD2)" "Indie 97.9" (HD3)"
slogan =
airdate = 1958
frequency = 97.9 (MHz) HD Radio
format = Active Rock Classic rock (HD2) Independent Rock (HD3)
erp = 13,500 watts
haat = 288 meters
class = B
facility_id = 65693
owner = Hearst Corporation
webcast = [http://bdcast-hearstradio-wiyy-fm-main.wm.llnwd.net/bdcast_hearstradio_wiyy-fm-main Listen Live]
website = [http://www.98online.com/ www.98online.com] [http://www.classic98rock.com/ www.classic98rock.com] (HD2) [http://www.indie979.com/ www.indie979.com] (HD3)|

WIYY (97.9 FM, "98 Rock") is a radio station in Baltimore, Maryland, owned by the Hearst Corporation. WIYY broadcasts an Album Oriented Rock/Active Rock format that mixes music popular in the modern rock, heavy metal and classic rock genres. WIYY has broadcasted in this format since 1977.

WIYY shares a facility with sister stations WBAL (1090 AM) and WBAL-TV (channel 11) on Television Hill in the Woodberry section of Baltimore. Hearst-Argyle Television manages the two radio stations corporately. WIYY and WBAL are the only two radio stations owned by the Hearst Corporation.

History

The 97.9 frequency in Baltimore began as WMAR-FM, owned by the A.S. Abell Company, publishers of the "Baltimore Sun" and founders of WMAR-TV, Baltimore's first television station. Abell later sold the radio station, and the new owners changed its call letters to WFDS-FM and adopted a classical music format. The Hearst Corporation became the next owners of the frequency and retained classical music originally, while renaming it WBAL-FM. The calls changed to the current WIYY in middle 1970s when NBC started the ill-fated 24 hour national radio "News and Information Network". After about a year of all-news and no ratings, WIYY became "98Rock". 98Rock celebrated its 30th year of its rock format on March 28, 2007.

Personalities

Since October 30th, 2006, mornings feature Mickey and Amelia with newsman Josh Spiegel. Baltimore morning radio presenters Kirk McEwen and Mark Ondayko left the company and started on WHFS 105.7 FM on February 1, 2007, taking over for the Sports Junkies.

Former Newsman R. Edward Lopez died of lung cancer on 22 May 2005 at the age of 52. Lopez held the national record for longest tenure for a news man at a rock station. Jon Lieberman had been filling in for him during his illness. KML, as the morning team was known, has released a number of parody CDs. They are known for their interest in and knowledge of the local area. They briefly called it the "98Rock Morning Show" presently out of respect for Lopez. On August 22, 2005, the 98Rock Morning Show became "98Rock Morning Radio" and was joined by Spiegel, a former news commentator for Big O and Dukes and a 20-year radio veteran. Also in 2005, the morning show first broke the story of the Mitch Hedberg death because he was about give a promo for an appearance at the Baltimore Improv.

Sarah Fleischer follows from 10-3 daily; her shift includes the classic request Hair Ball hour. She is the only personality who has worked at the station from its debut as 98Rock in 1977. Sarah can also be credited with being the first Official Disc Jockey on 98"Rock", as it was her that hit the switch under the (then) new rock format to play the very first song "Baba O'Riley" by the British rock group The Who. She has also been featured in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"Stash" (Steve Ash/Smith) is currently the afternoon show DJ, though he has worked just about every shift in his long tenure at 98Rock. He detests motorcycle sidecars and is knowledgeable about the Eastern Shore of Maryland.On December 3rd, 2007, he fell down some stairs at his home, according to [http://www.dcrtv.com DCRTV.com] . According to WIYY Program Director Dave Hill speaking to [http://www.dcrtv.com DCRTV.com] , Ash suffered a fractured skull, which resulted in bleeding on the brain.

For nearly a year there was no regular night show when Stash moved from nights to the afternoon slot formerly occupied by Mickey and Amelia. That changed when " [http://www.98online.com/pages/jocks_tj.aspx Irresponsible Radio with Theo and Joe] " debuted September 17, 2007. The show aired for only 10 months from 7PM-Midnight. It featured morning show regular and local comedian Joe Robinson and former 93.5 'The Rock' Champaign/Urbana, Illinois DJ, Theo. On July 29, 2008 Theo told fans "The powers that be have decided that it's not economically feasible to keep us together. I would like to say on a personal note that working with Joe has been the real highlight of my radio career." "We felt we wanted to rock out at night and not talk as much," WIYY Program Director David Hill told dcrtv.com. [http://www.dcrtv.com/]

Stash's producer, and Theo and Joe's for the first 7 months of the show, was Stephanie Drummond. She was also formerly with and both the KML and KMS morning shows. Stephanie went to work in television news at WBAL in mid April 2008.

WIYY currently broadcasts the Baltimore Ravens games. Stash co-hosts the [http://www.98online.com/ravensgameday/ravens-radio-shows.shtml "Ravens' Last Call"] Sunday post-game show with Mike Flynn. Joe Robinsonwas the co-host during the innaugural 2007-2008 season.

Local music

98Rock supports local musical acts. Every Sunday from 11pm to midnight, the station broadcasts a show called "Noise In The Basement" which bills itself as providing air-time to the best performers in the Baltimore area. Noise in the Basement is hosted by Matt Davis. Matt also has local artists come into studio to promote the "Noise In The Basement" live show every Monday night at Fletchers Night Club. Additionally, other DJs will often invite local artists (and comedians) into the studio to chat about their music, upcoming shows or just to talk about whatever they want to (politics, religion, food, etc). Kelly Bell of the Baltimore-based Kelly Bell Band was a frequent guest on the KML/98 Rock Morning Show and now can be heard on the former afternoon-drive, current morning drive "Mickey and Amelia" show. Local artist Mary Prankster has also been a featured guest.

Matt Davis also hosts on XM Satellite Radio's Boneyard channel 41 during the weekends.

Podcasting

As of September 2005, 98 Rock is podcasting portions of its talk shows.

HD Radio

98Rock offers two separate HD channels. HD2 will offer classic rock under the name "Classic 98Rock" and HD3 will offer independent rock under the name "Indie 97.9". Web streams for the HD channels are available on their respective websites.

Awards

In 2007, the station was nominated for the Radio & Records magazine "Active Rock station of the year in a top 25 market award" . Other nominees included WAAF in Boston, KBPI in Denver, WRIF in Detroit, WMMR in Philadelphia, and KISW in Seattle. cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=2007 Industry Achievement Awards | date=Sept 28, 2008 | publisher= | url =http://www.radioandrecords.com/Conventions/con2007/awards/rockFinal.asp | work =Radio and Records]

References

External links

*FMQ|WIYY
*FML|WIYY
*FMARB|WIYY

* [http://www.98online.com/ 98Rock Website]
* [http://www.classic98rock.com/ Classic 98Rock Website (HD2)]
* [http://www.indie979.com/ Indie 97.9 Website (HD3)]
* [http://www.98online.com/pages/jocks_mas.aspx Mickey, Amelia, and Speigel Morning Show (Official 98Rock Page)]
* [http://www.98online.com/pages/jocks_tj.aspx Irresponsible Radio with Theo & Joe (Official 98Rock Page)]