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"Free FM" is the moniker and on-air brand of several FM talk radio stations in the United States owned by CBS Radio, created because of Howard Stern's departure to Sirius Satellite Radio in January 2006. Free FM was given its name to highlight that satellite radio costs money.

Free FM stations target a largely male demographic ranking from 18 to 49, attracting those who normally listen to FM rock and alternative stations, instead of existing AM talk radio listeners. Programs are more ribald than AM talk stations and include more discussion of dating, personal relationships, and pop culture, more comedy, and more discussion of celebrities and entertainment. Some Free FM stations also include music programs. [1] Most Free FM programs are generally classified under the hot talk format.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Initial Launch 1.2 Demise and replacement of Roth 1.3 Ratings 2 Free FM stations 3 Reference 4 External links

On October 25, 2005, Infinity Broadcasting (now CBS Radio) officially announced that it would be replacing Stern on many of its radio stations with David Lee Roth in New York City and several other eastern markets, Shane "Rover" French in the midwest and Adam Carolla in Los Angeles and several other western markets, along with already established DC-based morning show "The Junkies" on WJFK-FM in D.C. and WHFS-FM in Baltimore. On the same day, several of these Infinity/CBS radio stations became known as "Free FM", some of which already had an all-talk format, while others switched from a music format, and WXRK New York announced that it would become "Free FM" starting January 3, 2006. Jimmy Kimmel is to serve as creative consultant for the format.

In April 2006 rumors were reported that Roth's show would be dumped due to low ratings (The ratings for Roth's show in morning drive went down eighty percent compared to Howard Stern's ratings in the same slot a year prior) and would be replaced by XM's Opie and Anthony. The move will mark Opie and Anthony's return to the New York terrestrial radio scene and to CBS Radio; their show was cancelled by CBS/Infinity in 2002 when they were syndicated through sister station WNEW due to a broadcast of the Sex For Sam III skit from St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York that generated much controversy.

The move was confirmed by Opie and Anthony on their show and web site on Friday, April 21. As of that date, David Lee Roth's Web site had disappeared along with any mention of him on the Free FM local affiliates. On Monday, April 24, a flash presentation presented on the Free FM local affiliates alluded to a debut time of 9 a.m. that day for the announcement of the return of the Opie and Anthony show. The show debuted on the former David Lee Roth affiliates on April 26.

In addition to the departure of Roth, Rover's Morning Glory has also been removed from the Free FM stations and now only airs in Cleveland, on WXRK, and a handful of Modern rock music stations.

The first Arbitron ratings returns indicated that Opie and Anthony had begun to slightly turn around the ratings drop brought on by the departure of Stern and the hiring of Roth, leading CBS to syndicate the show to over 20 markets by August 2006. The overall station ratings only went down 2.0 from Winter 2005 to Winter 2006, to a 1.1. This leaves Free FM ranked #23 in the NY market, and is currently the lowest rated FM Station in the NYC Market.

• Baltimore – WHFS 105.7 [2]
• Chicago – WCKG 105.9 [3]
• Dallas – KLLI 105.3 [4]
• Detroit – WKRK 97.1 [5]
• Los Angeles – KLSX 97.1 [6]
• New York – WFNY-FM 92.3 [7]
• Philadelphia – WYSP 94.1 [8]
• Phoenix – KZON 101.5 [9]
• San Diego – KSCF 103.7 [10]
• San Francisco – KIFR 106.9 [11]
• Washington, D.C. – WJFK-FM 106.7 [12]

• Opie and Anthony announce return to CBS Radio

• The Unofficial Free FM Message Board (Philadelphia)
• The Unofficial Free FM Toolbar (94.1 Philadelphia)
• Welcome to Free FM
• List of Free FM stations