WFLA (AM) - History

History

According to RadioYears.com, WFLA began in 1925 as Clearwater radio station WGHB (1130 AM). By 1927, its call letters switched to WFLA and it moved to 590 AM on the dial. It shared the frequency with WSUN before they both moved together to 620 AM in 1929. In January 1941, WFLA separated to 940 AM, then to its present 970 AM that March. From 1945-1949 WFLA had a gospel show, which featured legendary bass singer J. D. Sumner and The Sunny South Quartet.

WFLA carried most of the popular network shows during the golden days of radio. It had various music formats over the subsequent years (Top 40, middle-of-the-road, adult contemporary) before switching to news/talk in 1986. It has been the market leader in this format ever since, and usually is among the top five stations in the market, according to Arbitron ratings.

At one time, WFLA and its FM radio sister (93.3 FM, now WFLZ-FM) were owned by Media General, the parent company of The Tampa Tribune and WFLA-TV. In the 1980s, federal regulations forced Media General to divest the radio stations because of its other local media holdings. The radio stations were sold to Blair Broadcasting in late 1982. Sconnix Communications of Charleston, South Carolina, bought WFLA and what was then WPDS from Blair Broadcasting (who was divesting all of its English-language broadcasting properties in order to concentrate on what became today's Telemundo) in 1987, and Jacor Communications purchased WFLA from Sconnix in 1988. (Clear Channel Communications purchased Jacor in 1999 and thus acquired WFLA and WFLZ.)

Though they share call letters, WFLA radio and WFLA television are not longer affiliated; the TV station provided weather information for the radio station's newscasts for nearly 20 years until the local Fox television affiliate, WTVT, became the radio station's weather partner in June 2009. WTVT also sometimes provides "actualities" (sound bites) for the radio station's newscasts. In 1990, the station moved from downtown Tampa to its present location at 4002 W. Gandy Blvd., in south Tampa.

970 WFLA is perhaps best known nationally as the station that gave national hosts Glenn Beck and Lionel their starts in talk radio. Other prominent alumni, from the days when the station concentrated on local programming, include Bob Lassiter (d. 2006), Jay Marvin, Dick Norman (d. 1989), Chuck Harder, Jack Ellery and Freddy Mertz. Other former hosts include Al Gardner, Mark Larsen, Daniel Ruth, Mark Beiro, Paul Gonzalez and Mel Berman (d. 2010). Tony Zappone was the first drive-time traffic reporter, beginning in 1974 when the station was an NBC affiliate, and was followed three years later by Gary McHenry, who has remained in that position since.