WZBA

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WZBA (100.7 The Bay) is a radio station serving Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The station broadcasts on 100.7 MHz, and markets itself as the only station in the Baltimore market dedicated to the classic rock format. The station's city of license is Westminster, Maryland.

[edit] History

Originally, the station operated from the same frequency and location under the call letters WGRX, and featured such diverse formats as classic rock, modern rock, and even country at various times in its history.

After broadcasting in a classic rock format for many years, the station moved over to a modern rock format for a time in the mid-1990s. While in its modern rock format, it was known as "the X", and featured the popular "M&M" morning show.

Suddenly one day, the station started broadcasting it's modern rock DJ-free in a repetitive 10-song loop for a few days, which led into an unannounced weekend-long transition period of disco music, before eventually switching to a country music format dubbed "Froggy 100".

"Froggy 100" having proven a failure, the station switched its call letters to WZBA and became known as "The Bay", advertising its format as "Rock without the hard edge". The station played mostly classic rock at this time, but only songs without heavy guitar. Occasional forays into mixing more modern "rock without the hard edge" in with the classic rock of that variety were attempted, but abandoned quickly, as they did not seem to have support from the station's listeners.

Eventually, when the Baltimore market's generalized classic rock station, 104.3 FM, switched to a smooth jazz format, WZBA abandoned its theme and switched to its current straight-forward classic rock format.

[edit] DJs

• 5:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. — Chris Emery & Michael Filippelli
• 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. — Colleen Carew
• 3:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. & Weekends — Klug
• 7:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m. — Randy Rock Johnson
• 12:00 a.m. – 6 a.m. & Acoustic Cafe — Mike Brilhart

[edit] Features

Every weekday, the station has designated giveaway times featuring the same theme that deal with questions about classic rock. They include:

• 7:45 a.m. — The Morning Lick, a one or two second snipet of a song is played and must be identified by callers.

• 8:45 a.m. — What In The Hell They're Saying, a hard to understand lyric is played and must be clearly repeated verbatim by the caller.

• 4:20 p.m. — College of Classic Rock Knowledge, a classic rock question with four multiple choice answers is given and must be answered correctly by callers.

The station also offers other designated times where it plays certain songs based on a theme. They include:

• The 10 O'Clock Time Travel (Monday – Friday) — A certain year is focused on (i.e. 1970) and from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., all songs that are played are from the featured year.

• All Request Workforce Lunch (Monday – Friday) — From 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., most listener's lunch hour, Colleen Carew hosts a nearly commercial free "rock block" made up entirely of listener's requests.

• Get The Led Out (Monday – Friday) — At 10:00 p.m., Randy Rock Johnson plays four or more songs by the highly regarded Led Zeppelin.

• Acoustic Cafe (Sunday) — At 11:00 a.m., Mike Brilhart plays acoustic versions of popular classic rock songs.

[edit] External links

• WZBA Website

• Query the FCC's FM station database for WZBA
• Radio Locator information on WZBA
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for WZBA