We're coming up on another sad anniversary. It was ten years ago next month (December 3, 1999) that the last vestige of local talk radio died in Tampa Bay. 970 changed from a great local station to a syndicated outpost and occasionally a syndication incubator.
December 3, 1999, was when 970 brought down the curtain on the career of the great Bob Lassiter, and fired Marvelous Marvin. Mark Larsen got out of 970 on his own initiative -- but probably just ahead of the sweep-out-localism broom.
Up until that point, through the 32-year history of talk radio in Tampa (dating from the talk launch of WINQ 1010) there was always someone else waiting to pick up the torch of local talk. WINQ handed off to the talk shows on music stations ("Open Mike" on WLCY and "Point of View" on WDAE). Then came WPLP, WNSI, WFLA, WTKN, WEND, and finally (for a time) WSUN. But when 970 abandoned local in 1999, no one else was there to pick it up. Certainly not WWBA which was in the throes of daytime brokered programming such as the "Frank Foster Show" and the man named Hale who was always talking about bridal arrangements. (?) Certainly not WTAN
where some of the refugees and wannabe's wound up (Rocky D, Glenn Klein).
Yes, Lassiter was followed by Glenn Beck, but clearly Tampa was just the first stop on the railway, as his employers would soon railroad him into syndication. Meantime, we've lost our local talk radio, our local flavor, and the innovation that for a time made Tampa one of the top (arguably the most creative, or at least second to Miami) talk radio market in America.
Let those who can remember mourn our loss, and those who can't mourn the fact that they were born too late.
December 3, 1999, was when 970 brought down the curtain on the career of the great Bob Lassiter, and fired Marvelous Marvin. Mark Larsen got out of 970 on his own initiative -- but probably just ahead of the sweep-out-localism broom.
Up until that point, through the 32-year history of talk radio in Tampa (dating from the talk launch of WINQ 1010) there was always someone else waiting to pick up the torch of local talk. WINQ handed off to the talk shows on music stations ("Open Mike" on WLCY and "Point of View" on WDAE). Then came WPLP, WNSI, WFLA, WTKN, WEND, and finally (for a time) WSUN. But when 970 abandoned local in 1999, no one else was there to pick it up. Certainly not WWBA which was in the throes of daytime brokered programming such as the "Frank Foster Show" and the man named Hale who was always talking about bridal arrangements. (?) Certainly not WTAN
where some of the refugees and wannabe's wound up (Rocky D, Glenn Klein).
Yes, Lassiter was followed by Glenn Beck, but clearly Tampa was just the first stop on the railway, as his employers would soon railroad him into syndication. Meantime, we've lost our local talk radio, our local flavor, and the innovation that for a time made Tampa one of the top (arguably the most creative, or at least second to Miami) talk radio market in America.
Let those who can remember mourn our loss, and those who can't mourn the fact that they were born too late.
