WZHF is a news-formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Capitol Heights, Maryland, serving the Washington, D.C. area. A non-commercial station owned by Multicultural Broadcasting and operated by RM Broadcasting, WZHF broadcasts the Russian Radio Sputnik network full time. The station went on air on April 7, 1947 as WEAM, licensed to Arlington, Virginia and founded by J. Maynard Magruder. Throughout its history, WZHF has had a variety of formats including top 40, rock, R&B, big band, country, and health. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the station broadcast local college basketball games from American University, Georgetown, and George Washington. In 1984, WEAM was purchased by Viacom, became WMZQ, and changed to a classic country format. WMZQ was later a full simulcast of WMZQ-FM, its sister station that played contemporary country music, from 1987 to 1996. The WMZQ stations were among the most popular in the Washington area in the late 1980s and 1990s; they topped local ratings in 1988, 1992, and 1995. In 1996, WMZQ changed its call sign to the present WZHF and its format to a health talk. Beginning in 1999, WZHF had a variety of ethnic formats, with programming primarily in Spanish and various Asian languages. Multicultural Broadcasting bought WZHF in 2000. In 2011, WZHF began broadcasting English-language Voice of Russia programming. After resuming a Spanish-language format around 2015, WZHF began broadcasting Radio Sputnik, the successor of Voice of Russia, in November 2017. Due to Radio Sputnik being an official Russian state broadcaster, WZHF registered with the federal government as a foreign agent in 2019. History As WEAM (1947–1984) Originally licensed to Arlington, Virginia, the station began broadcasting as WEAM, with a daytime-only, 1,000-watt signal, on April 7, 1947. WEAM's founder was J. Maynard Magruder, an Arlington entrepreneur and member of the Virginia House of Delegates. Pianist and bandleader Jack Little was an afternoon host for six months during the station's first year of operations. In January 1948, Magruder and other station investors sold WEAM to Harold and Meredith Thoms, who incorporated Thoms Broadcasting in 1966. By July 1948, WEAM upgraded its signal to 5,000 watts with unlimited broadcast hours. WEAM was one of the most popular top-40 stations in the Washington area in the 1960s. In the late 1960s, WEAM's offices moved from its original Radio Building in Arlington to its transmitter location in nearby Falls Church. In the mid-1970s, WEAM had progressive music and