in its first six years on the air, the new wbow-fm was a simulcast of its am counterpart, though it used the whoe call letters for six months in 1971. that changed on february 1, 1974, when wbow-fm became wboq "alternative radio" with a format described as freeform but middle-of-the-road. later in the 1970s, wboq became a country music station.