Eventually, the station went to a "popular music" format, briefly adopted the call letters WHEE, then went back to being WBMS.
By the end of the 1950s, the call letters were changed to WILD under owner Bartell Broadcasters, who tried a personality DJ and music format.
WILD first saw competition when WZOU flipped to a rhythmic contemporary hits format as WJMN ("Jam'n 94.5") in 1993.
In May 2000, Radio One took control of WILD through a local marketing agreement, which became an outright purchase later that year.
[6][7][8] On October 20, 2005, Radio One moved the urban adult contemporary format to the dial position of WBOT.
WILD became the Boston affiliate for the company's African American-targeted news/talk network, featuring Michael Eric Dyson, Warren Ballentine, Al Sharpton and 2 Live Stews.
[10] On August 21, 2006, radio industry website All Access reported that Entercom bought WILD-FM and changed the format (after a "stunt") to rock (a simulcast of WAAF), a move designed to improve WAAF's signal in the Boston and South Shore areas.
The sale of WILD-FM meant that the Tom Joyner morning show would return to AM 1090, and WILD would revert to contemporary inspirational and gospel music, ending the news/talk format.