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WFLA- same calls in 3 cities?

D

DougD

Guest
What's with that? Three separate stations- probably same ownership - in Tampa, Orlando and Tallahassee - all using the WFLA calls.

I've never heard of call letters being used by other stations.
 
Two of the stations, WFLF Orlando and WNLS Tallahassee "call" themselves "WFLA" over the air. There is a separate FM station in Tallahassee, talk WFLA-FM and I believe those are the station's real calls. Each station's programming is separate from WFLA Tampa.

And yes, they're all owned by Clear Channel.
 
Actually, when WFLA-FM went on the air last year in Tallahassee, WNLS became all-sports as "1270 The Ticket." I think, though this predates me, when WSRQ was simulcasting 970 WFLA, it was called "1450 WFLA." When they started their own local talk, they began using their own calls.

WFLF in Orlando continues to be branded as "540 WFLA."


In a way, using the WFLA brand for these three stations is accurate. We're doing these other stations' newscasts for them at various points during the day.


Eben Brown
WFLA - The one in Tampa
 
I think Paxson did a similar thing with their AM's in the 90s. Although, I am not sure they actually used the exact call letters, I remember them calling all the news stations WINZ (including WHNZ here in Tampa) and using Team for all of their sports stations (I think 820 AM was changed to WZTM or something like that at the time.).

All branding stuff anyway.
 
zoneguy said:
I think Paxson did a similar thing with their AM's in the 90s. Although, I am not sure they actually used the exact call letters, I remember them calling all the news stations WINZ (including WHNZ here in Tampa) and using Team for all of their sports stations (I think 820 AM was changed to WZTM or something like that at the time.).
Click to expand...

Exactly right- it was the "WINZ News Network", allegedly 'cause Bud Paxson was impressed by 1010 WINS. Most of the promotional items here in Tampa were branded with "WINZ", even though that was not the calls. There was a fairly sizeable staff at what was then 570; problems included poorly networked computers, outdated and unsupported software (causing near complete inability to communicate between "network" stations in Miami, Orlando, etc), recalcitrant engineers, and a $350 annual promotions budget to tell the entire Tampa Bay area about this local all-news station. I exaggerate (slightly), but it was doomed to fail, especially when the GM cooked the books to move all 'HNZ promotions money and 'HNZ profit to reflect on WHPT's budget. Colon Blow info-mercials followed in short order as the salespeople swooped in on what was, for a time, this market's only credible all-news radio station. That's about when CC stepped in.
 
zoneguy said:
I think Paxson did a similar thing with their AM's in the 90s. Although, I am not sure they actually used the exact call letters, I remember them calling all the news stations WINZ (including WHNZ here in Tampa) and using Team for all of their sports stations (I think 820 AM was changed to WZTM or something like that at the time.).

All branding stuff anyway.
Click to expand...

Yes, you're right-- Miami had WINZ, Tampa WHNZ and Orlando, WWNZ (I think there might have been on in Tallahassee, too). All stations used the "Winz" moniker on-air. Regarding 820, your memory is correct, calls were changed from WYTA to WZTM. I was on the air, the night we changed calls and the station had Russ Albums cut a few promos with a phoney French accent proclaiming, "We are 'zee Team'....blah blah blah..."
 
smadge,

According to the FCC database, that is correct.

WYTA was the call sign they used during their brief nightmare into the talk radio format.

It was WNZE from 10/12/94 to 3/17/96, becoming WZTM On 3/18/96..at least in the database.

I used to listen to this station during its WRFA days.
 
[/quote]

Miami had WINZ, Tampa WHNZ and Orlando, WWNZ (I think there might have been on in Tallahassee, too).
[/quote]


Tallahassee didn't get sports on 1270 at that time. 1270 changed from WTNT-AM to WYYN in March of 1988.
WYYN played "motivational talk" rotating through excerpts of "motivational, inspirational" speakers like other stations rotate through music. WYYN's format bombed, and the station became WNLS - for 'Noles Radio -
in December of 1990.
 
sbe1 said:
befoe WRFA, 820 was on 800 as WSST
Click to expand...

Yes, and WSST stood for "SuperSonic Transport." I think the owner then was ex-military. And yes, my omission on the earlier post, WRFA was WZNE before becoming WZTM. Of course, after WRFA it was briefly all talk as WYTA "Your Talk Authority" (and some interesting things happened during that format, maybe one of the people, who pulled off the best prank- and who also posts here- can tell the story).
 
....and there was yet another WFLA brand station; WJNX - 1330 Fort Pierce, used the WFLA brand around 2000- 2002 or early 2003; the actual call letters of WJNX were only mentioned (very hurriedly) during the top of the hour legal i.d. ClearChannel sold WJNX is late 2003 to St. Lucie Broadcaster, a small Treasure Coast group of stations.
 
And now, 94.5 FM in Panama City is WFLF-FM as "94.5 WFLA."

Check out 945wfla.com
 
I remember WSST was on 800 and a daytimer. In the early to mid eighties, they opened up the clear channel frequencies to secondary stations at nite. WSST moved to 820, 1040 got nite operation and 760 came on including nite authority. Down here in Sarasota, I can still get WBAP on 820 while nulling out the local 820 except that god awful HD radio they operate now really slams the band either side of their signal. I think about that time 1420 WBRD moved from the Samoset swamp to the North end of Palmetto and got nite operation. Same with WKXY 930 moved their transmitter to Dog Kennel Road and sold off the old tower location to build apartments.
 
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