University Tower. 2006 frequency change On January 4, 2006, Bonneville and the Washington Post announced that the frequencies then used by WTOP — 1500 kHz and 107.7 MHz — would be reassigned to a new station, WTWP, to be known on air as "Washington Post Radio." WTOP would move to 103.5 MHz, the frequency then used by classical music station WGMS; in turn, WGMS would move to 104.1 and 103.9 MHz, displacing contemporary music station WWZZ (Z104). At noon that day, WGMS and WTOP shifted frequencies, and Z104 shut down. The change in frequency left WGMS with a weaker signal in the Washington area. At 103.5 MHz, it had broadcast at a strength of 44,000 watts; its new transmitter at 104.1 MHz broadcast at 20,000 watts from southern Prince George's County, well away from the center of the metropolitan area. Its repeater signal, at 103.9 MHz, had a strength of only 350 watts. (Coincidentally, the 103.9 signal in Braddock Heights, Maryland, had also once been a CHR station known as "Z104," under the WZYQ calls.) Attempted sale On December 8, 2006, The Washington Post reported a preliminary agreement by Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to buy WGMS and convert it to a sports talk format, adding its frequency to the Triple X ESPN Radio network. Had the deal gone through, Washington, D.C., would have been left without a classical-music station as a result of the earlier 2005 switch of WETA to a public-radio news and talk format. Washington-based XM Satellite Radio attempted to capitalize on the development, purchasing advertisements in The Washington Post billing itself as the new home of classical music in the region. Snyder eventually withdrew from the purchase agreement, citing "a change in the radio climate" and hopes that "a better signal will soon become available in the market." News accounts suggested that a comment to the Post from an unnamed Bonneville executive, who said Snyder had offered "50 percent more than [WGMS] was worth," had stalled the negotiations. 2007 format change The Snyder offer led Bonneville executives to rethink their commitment to classical music on WGMS, with sports talk or popular music being the most likely formats considered as its replacement. Public outcry among the area’s classical music listeners over this possibility led the board of public radio station WETA (FM) to vote to approve a return to classical programming should Bonneville decide to end classical