WLIF

WLIF (101.9 FM) is a radio station located in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It is currently owned and operated by CBS Radio. Its studios are located on Clarkview Road in the Mount Washington neighborhood of Baltimore, while its transmitter is located near Loch Raven Reservoir in Towson. WLIF features an adult contemporary format.

History

The station in its current incarnation signed on the air as a beautiful music in the late 1950s as WTOW. In 1963, it became WAQE-FM, and was owned by Booth Broadcasting. On December 24, 1970, after Sudbrink Broadcasting bought the station, it began featuring programming of SRP (Stereo Music Productions, created by Jim Schulke).

Over the years, 101.9 FM was one of the highest-rated stations in Baltimore, playing mostly instrumental renditions of popular songs. Featured artists included Percy Faith, John Fox, Chet Atkins, Richard Clayderman, Frank Mills, Henry Mancini, Ray Anthony, Floyd Cramer, and many others. The station played four vocal selections per hour and they were only smooth vocal stylings of artists like Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, Neil Diamond, Tony Bennett, Patti Page, Dionne Warwick, Barbra Streisand, and others. It was called "The Beautiful Place In Your Life" FM-102. On December 31, 1971, the station became known as WLIF. By the 1980s, WLIF began playing more soft rock hits, such as those by Linda Ronstadt, The Beatles, The Temptations, Elton John, along with the previously played artists. During morning and afternoon drives, the station was about half instrumental and half vocal, while other times the station continued to play one vocal every quarter hour. In the late 1980s, the station shifted to roughly half vocalists and half instrumentals. Early in 1991, WLIF dropped all instrumentals and shifted to a soft adult contemporary format; at this point, it also became known as "Lite 102". By 1993, WLIF began mixing in current material in its playlist.