Bye-Bye WGMS. Hello WETA
Contributed by jfl on Monday, January 22, 2007 | Link to this article

The move that we had been waiting for and expecting has finally commenced: WGMS will change its call letters and format – and be our classical station no more. A few minutes ago WGMS broadcast its last bit of classical music (the final chorus of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion) and bid its listenership goodbye. After 60 years of being the most listened-to classical radio station in America (as percentage of market) and the most profitable classical music radio station every of the last six years, Bonneville has decided that, after a bungled sale-attempt to Dan Snyder’s Red Zebra network, that WGMS had no future as a classical station.

WETA is able to use this opportunity to save face and take over classical music – starting at 8PM tonight. They will receive WGMS’ music library, their program director (and presumably other staff, too), its call letters, and on-air support from WTOP and whichever station will transmit on 104.1 – just as WETA (now WGMS) will promote Bonneville’s stations. Read more in the Washington Post on this.

ionarts.