K-LOVE buys 100.7 The Bay, ending Baltimore’s classic rock station

K-LOVE is taking over 100.7 The Bay, ending a roughly 26-year run of classic rock on a signal many Baltimore-area drivers have treated as part of the daily soundtrack. The change will remove Baltimore’s only dedicated classic rock station and send listeners looking for a new home on the dial, or online, as another familiar format disappears from a region that has seen plenty of station flips before.

The station’s owner, Shamrock Communications, is selling WZBA-FM, licensed to Westminster, Maryland, along with two FM translators, 100.1 W261CD in Baltimore and 107.5 W298CG in Bel Air, to Educational Media Foundation, the group behind the K-LOVE network. Station staff were informed of the pending sale on June 11, 2026, and transfer paperwork is expected to go to the FCC. The purchase price has not been disclosed.

WZBA operates from studios in Hunt Valley and broadcasts from a transmitter near Owings Mills, reaching the Baltimore metropolitan area and into southern portions of south-central Pennsylvania. That means the change will be felt well beyond one frequency: for commuters on the Baltimore-to-Ocean City run, for drivers cutting through the inner suburbs, and for longtime listeners who have known the station as “Baltimore’s Rock Classics.”

The numbers help explain why the flip matters. WZBA posted a 2.1 share in the April 2026 Nielsen Audio ratings, according to Barrett Media, while WRBS-FM, 95.1 Bright-FM, had a 5.4 share in the same month. The new K-LOVE signal would put another Christian contemporary outlet into a market where 95.1 already has a stronger audience position, while likely pushing some classic rock listeners toward Hearst’s 98 Rock or iHeartMedia’s 102.7 Jack-FM.

For Baltimore, the loss is also a loss of identity. The Bay brand dates to December 1, 1999, when the station flipped from country and rock formats and settled into classic rock under the slogan “Baltimore’s Rock Classics.” Its on-air identity, including Huber in the Morning, has been part of the region’s routine for years, especially for listeners who grew up with the station as a default on the way to work, school, games at Camden Yards, or a weekend drive past the Inner Harbor.

The sale fits a broader pattern in local radio: a station changes hands, the format changes with it, and a city’s shared soundtrack shifts again. For Baltimore, that means another familiar signal is about to become something else entirely.