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HISTORY OF WILZ 1590

T

thebeach33445

Hey Guys:

Could anybody give me a good history of WILZ 1590? My history on 1590 is a little fuzzy.

This is what I know from the Tampa radio years site, WILZ 1590 went on air in 1957 it had a MOR/standards format in the 60's (one listings says it was a MOR/AC format) and it did top 40 in the 70's called z-16 and an oldies format also in the 70's called solid gold 16. It went to WRXB R&B in December 1975. Can anybody tell me if I am right? And if I am not could you all help me fill in the blanks with exact years if you all know them.


Thanks very much for your help on this one guys.
T.J.
 
I really can't comment on the various formats of what is now WRXB. I also did quite a bit of contract engineering for them a couple of years ago. The place really was a toilet and I did my best to clean things up. When I showed up for the first time the main Continental transmitter was completely down and they were running about 250 watts from their original RCA transmitter. I got the main transmitter running, but had major problems with getting the nighttime directional pattern back up without shutting the transmitter down. They were able to reduce power at night to the licensed 1000 watts, but it always remained on the daytime pattern which prompted complaints from a 1590 on the east coast. They upgraded from a 1000 daytimer sometime during the 80s by adding two more towers at the site. The phasor, probably from the 60s - came from WKOK in Sunbury, PA - a station that I remember visiting when I was just a punk broadcaster. We re-built the control room which is at the transmitter site just a couple of years ago. After I left the area for another project, I understand that they finally did get the nighttime pattern straightened out. I've always thought that station had a ton of potential, but I'm not really sure how well they're doing since Metropolitan sold them.
 
If I recall correctly, WILZ was broadcasting from Terra Verda in the mid 70's, Jim Shira, a jock who had
worked at WMFJ in Daytona, and worked Jax, was doing a shift, along with Daylon Rushing, again, it was
a long time ago, but as I recall, those were the major jocks. When Gene Danzy got the station, they moved
to the Suncoast Village in South St. Pete ...that would be mid 70's, when WQSR opened it's Bay area
sales office around the same time. Sad to see Suncoast, home then of the Cheyene Social club, now torn
down. WILZ was a good station in it's day.
 
HEY QUADMAN....I WAS JUST INFORMED OF THIS WEBSITE BY JOEL BUSCH (HOWARD HEWES), ANOTHER OLD TIME TAMPA BAY DJ. YES I WAS AT WILZ WHEN IT WAS ON TIERRA VERDE ISLAND. I CAME TO THE TAMPA BAY AREA IN 1971 FROM WAPE IN JAX, WHERE I WAS PD FOR FOUR YEARS. WHEN STAN KAPLAN BOUGHT THE APE, HE FIRED EVERYBODY. I GOT ON WITH WLCY IN TAMPA IN 71 AND WAS THERE UNTIL 74. HAD SOME FRIENDS THAT PUT WILZ ON THE AIR (MEL TINNEY, GEORGE GAINEY) AND WHEN I FOUND OUT THEY WOULD BE PLAYING OLDIES (MY PASSION) I LEFT WLCY AND WENT TO WILZ IN SALES/AFTERNOON DRIVE. WE WERE KNOWN AS SOLID GOLD 16 (EVEN THO WE WERE 1590) DAYLON RUSHING WORKED THERE A VERY SHORT TIME. JOHN DEHAVEN TOO. .SADLY WILZ DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH OF A SIGNAL TO COVER THE BAY AREA VERY WELL AND WE WERE ALSO A DAYTIMER THEN. HAD A LOT OF FUN THERE. DIDN'T MAKE ANY MONEY, BUT LOTS OF GRINS. PLAYED SOME GREAT OLDIES. SCOTTY OWENS CAME IN AS PD AND CHANGED IT TO Z 16 AND PLAYED CONTEMPORARY STUFF, SO I DECIDED TO GET OUT. WENT TO WORK AS A GTE YELLOW PAGES SALES REP AND WAS OUT OF RADIO ABOUT TEN YEARS.
 
Re: HISTORY OF WILZ 1590 TO jshirah

jshirah: Thank you for your input!! It helps out alot in my research!! So what you are saying is that WILZ 1590 was oldies first then top 40? I saw a post on this site saying that WILZ was Top 40 first then oldies. This could clear up a lot. Could you also tell me what year you started out at Solid gold 16 and could you tell me what year z 16 started. This would be a great help!!

Again jshirah thank you!!

T.J.
 
Only from what I have read elsewhere...but I thought WILZ was a MOR format in the early days. Is this right? Also, when the station was on Tierra Verde, didn't the "ILZ" part stand for "Isles"? I want to think that was their slogan at some point. Again...this is from sketchy (second-hand) info...

Also...if Howard Hewes checks out this website...all I can say is: you were one of the best DJs I ever came across. Especially liked listening to you on WHBO, where it seemed you had free reign to do "interesting" radio. You and Scott Robbins made WHBO great and that was one of the few times the station pulled respectable ratings. :)
 
jshirah said:
HEY QUADMAN....I WAS JUST INFORMED OF THIS WEBSITE BY JOEL BUSCH (HOWARD HEWES), ANOTHER OLD TIME TAMPA BAY DJ. YES I WAS AT WILZ WHEN IT WAS ON TIERRA VERDE ISLAND. I CAME TO THE TAMPA BAY AREA IN 1971 FROM WAPE IN JAX, WHERE I WAS PD FOR FOUR YEARS. WHEN STAN KAPLAN BOUGHT THE APE, HE FIRED EVERYBODY. I GOT ON WITH WLCY IN TAMPA IN 71 AND WAS THERE UNTIL 74. HAD SOME FRIENDS THAT PUT WILZ ON THE AIR (MEL TINNEY, GEORGE GAINEY) AND WHEN I FOUND OUT THEY WOULD BE PLAYING OLDIES (MY PASSION) I LEFT WLCY AND WENT TO WILZ IN SALES/AFTERNOON DRIVE. WE WERE KNOWN AS SOLID GOLD 16 (EVEN THO WE WERE 1590) DAYLON RUSHING WORKED THERE A VERY SHORT TIME. JOHN DEHAVEN TOO. .SADLY WILZ DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH OF A SIGNAL TO COVER THE BAY AREA VERY WELL AND WE WERE ALSO A DAYTIMER THEN. HAD A LOT OF FUN THERE. DIDN'T MAKE ANY MONEY, BUT LOTS OF GRINS. PLAYED SOME GREAT OLDIES. SCOTTY OWENS CAME IN AS PD AND CHANGED IT TO Z 16 AND PLAYED CONTEMPORARY STUFF, SO I DECIDED TO GET OUT. WENT TO WORK AS A GTE YELLOW PAGES SALES REP AND WAS OUT OF RADIO ABOUT TEN YEARS.
Click to expand...

Jim! Holy smoke! Long time! 30 years? Where are you these days and what are you doing?

Frank Ferreri
 
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