Attention, Baltimore-Washington area DUers who miss WHFS: [View all]

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Thu Dec 25, 2025, 06:39 PM - Edit history (1)

WTMD in Towson MD is playing exactly the Christmas (or other holiday) tunes that the WHFS of the early1980s would be playing if it were still on the air.

I started out this afternoon listening to WTMD via a legacy version of the Audials Play app on a ~10-year-old 5th generation Kindle Fire. Audials gives you a choice of the main channel or the two HD subchannels. I'm listening to the main channel. On my version of Audials Play, this is a 64 AAC signal.

I am in Alexandria VA, which is just about as far south as one can get a clean stereo signal from WTMD with rabbit ears. By carefully positioning the rabbit ears I have attached to a ~1980-vintage Technics receiver, I can bring in a good signal from WTMD. I found the sweet spot this afternoon.

The audio signal from the Technics receiver is far superior to what I get from Audials Play. I can't explain it. What I'm not getting on either is a playlist or some indication of what is currently playing.

Possibly a newer version of Audials Play does show a playlist. Perhaps WTMD's app shows a playlist. WTMD's app will not install on the up-to-date Amazon Fire I'm sending this from. I haven't tried Radio Garden, which I do have on this device.

My HD radios can also get WTMD if I position their antennas just right. Usually, though, all I get is the main channel in analog. It's a rare occasion for the signal to be strong enough for the radio to go into the digital reception mode.

In the digital mose, HD radios provide a scrolling RDS text that will me what's on. That's nice, but I just wanted to listen to some music, not turn this into an exercise in broadcast engineering. I'm going to settle for what I've got, sit back, and enjoy the music.

Merry WHFSmas.