Broadcast area Metro Washington, D.C. First air date April 8, 1968 HAAT 223 meters (732 ft) Frequency 106.7 MHz Format Sports radio Area Washington, D.C. | Repeater(s) 94.7 WIAD-HD3 Power 22,500 Watts Class B City of license Manassas Owner CBS Radio Branding 106.7 The Fan | |
Sister stations WJFK, WPGC-FM, WIAD, WLZL, WNEW-FM | ||
WJFK-FM is a Sports formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Manassas, Virginia, serving the Washington metropolitan area. WJFK-FM is owned and operated by CBS Radio. WJFK's studios are located near the Navy Yard in Southeast Washington, while its transmitter is located in Falls Church, Virginia.
History
WJFK-FM started in 1961 as WPRW-FM, the sister station to Manassas-based WPRW. In 1968, it would be sold to EZ Communications, and flipped to an easy listening format. The format would remain until January 1, 1985, when it flipped to Top 40 as WBMW, "B106." WBMW would be positioned against two other Top 40 stations, WRQX and WAVA-FM. The station would be acquired by Infinity Broadcasting in April 1987, resulting in a flip to new age music in October. On October 3, 1988, the station flipped to a rock format as WJFK, with the station being the Washington affiliate for Howard Stern, marking his return to the market for the first time since he was let go from WWDC in 1982.
Throughout the 1990s, WJFK would drop most of their music programming and evolve into a hot talk format. Programs on the station during this era include Stern, Don and Mike, Opie & Anthony, G. Gordon Liddy, The Greaseman, Bill O'Reilly, Ron & Fez and the Sports Junkies. WJFK would also simulcast on WJFK-AM in Baltimore during this time period. Infinity would be renamed CBS Radio in December 2005.
The station would rebrand as "Free FM" in October 2005, as part of CBS Radio's plans for a nationwide talk station network in the wake of Stern's departure to Sirius Satellite Radio. The "Free FM" branding would be dropped in 2007 and rebranded as "Washington's Talk Superstation."
On July 20, 2009, WJFK would flip to sports talk, branded as "106.7 The Fan". The launch of "The Fan" coincided with CBS Radio's plans to launch sports talk-formatted stations in both Washington and Boston, where WBZ-FM would replace WBCN. With the changeover to "The Fan", The Junkies (who would later change their name back to "The Sports Junkies") would be retained, while "The Big O and Dukes Show" and "The Mike O'Meara Show" would be dropped.
WJFK would adopt the flagship broadcast rights to Washington Wizards basketball and Washington Nationals baseball, as well as Washington Capitals games (which are shared with WFED), and Virginia Tech Hokies football and basketball.
On March 8, 2009, WJFK signed on the first HD4 subchannel in the United States, carrying Philadelphia sister station WIP-FM.
On January 22, 2010, WJFK announced that it will air a weekly D.C. United show on Sunday evenings.
On September 9, 2015, WJFK announced that the station will become the new affiliate for Georgetown University men's basketball games.