In May 1932, Albert S. Moffatt, a former
newsreel photographer, was granted a
construction permit by the
Federal Radio Commission to begin work on a new radio station, with the sequential
call sign WHEU. When the station officially
signed on, its call letters were changed to WMAS. The letters stood for
Massachusetts, and they also include the owner's initials, although not in the correct order. The station's studios were in the Hotel Stonehaven, and when it signed on for the first time, on September 1, 1932, it broadcast on 1420 kHz with 100 watts. During the 1940s and 1950s, WMAS was a member of the
Yankee Network, a programming service originating in
Boston for
New England radio stations. WMAS was also a
CBS Radio Network affiliate. It carried the CBS line-up of dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows, children's shows and
big band broadcasts, during the "
Golden Age of Radio". In 1947, WMAS-FM signed on. At first, both stations mostly simulcast their programming. When network programming shifted from radio to television, WMAS-AM-FM switched to a
full service,
middle of the road music format. WMAS 1450 later had a
country music format as "The Country Leader". On-air personalities included Dave Thatcher (also the station's news director), Fred Stevens, and Mike Williamson. WMAS was one of the original "
Music Of Your Life"
adult standards radio stations, as its previous owner for many years, Bob Lappin (Lappin Communications, Inc.) was friends with the format's originator and syndicator, Al Ham. In June 2004, WMAS-AM-FM were sold to
Citadel Broadcasting for $22 million. Citadel switched AM 1450 to an unsuccessful
talk radio format, then tried
oldies, playing
Scott Shannon's
The True Oldies Channel from
ABC Radio. On April 7, 2009, the format was changed to
sports radio with programming from
ESPN Radio. The call sign was changed to WHLL to represent the word "Hall". The
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is located in Springfield and the station's studios were moved to the facility. Citadel merged with
Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011. After the merger, WHLL switched networks to
CBS Sports Radio, a network that Cumulus Media had a financial interest in. On December 27, 2018, WHLL changed its format from sports to country, branded as "98.1
Nash Icon", in line with the launch of an FM simulcast of WHLL on translator W251CT, which is licensed to Springfield. On February 13, 2019, Cumulus and
Entercom announced an agreement in which WHLL and WMAS-FM, as well as
WNSH in New York City, would be swapped to Entercom in exchange for Entercom's Indianapolis stations. Under the terms of the deal, Entercom began operating WHLL under a
local marketing agreement (LMA) on March 1, 2019. The swap was completed on May 9, 2019. On March 22, 2021, WHLL rebranded as "Hall of Fame Country 98.1". On September 1, 2023, WHLL flipped to Spanish CHR, branded as "". ==FM translator==