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WFLZ-FM
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| WFLZ-FM | |
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| City of license | Tampa, Florida |
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| Broadcast area | Tampa Bay area, Florida Suncoast, Central Florida |
| Branding | 93.3 FLZ |
| Slogan | Tampa Bay's Hit Music Channel |
| Frequency | 93.3 MHz (Also on HD Radio) 93.3 HD-2 (93-3 FLZ HD-2 House Party) for dance music |
| Format | CHR/Pop (Top 40) (Dance "House Party" on HD2) |
| ERP | 99,000 watts |
| Class | C |
| Callsign meaning | nod to original callsign WFLA Z was used on former Z-93 branding |
| Owner | Clear Channel Communications |
| Sister stations | WBTP, WDAE, WFLA, WFUS, WHNZ, WMTX, WXTB |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | www.933flz.com |
WFLZ-FM is a Contemporary Hit Radio/Pop music (Top 40) station broadcasting in the Tampa Bay area, Florida, USA. Before the 90s, the station played the Oldies format before switching to Top 40 to compete against local CHR Q105. The station became 93.3 The Power Pig, and later re-imaged to 93.3 FLZ. The station is the flagship station for the MJ Morning Show hosted by Todd Schnitt, which is also played on other Clear Channel FM stations in Florida and Missouri. The station has a class C signal operating at 99,000 watts, and is one of the most powerful FM radio stations in the state of Florida, covering four of the state's radio markets.
On January 31, 2007, the station was fined $10,000 by the FCC for a purported prank phone call to Nicollette Sheridan in the middle of the night made by MJ that took place in November 2004.
WFLZ currently broadcasts in HD format. 93.3 HD-1 simulcasts the analog WFLZ-FM 93.3 MHz ("93-3 FLZ HD-1 Hits"), whereas 93.3 HD-2 exclusively broadcasts dance music ("93-3 FLZ HD-2 House Party").
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The station began in 1948 as WFLA-FM, one of Tampa Bay's, and Florida's, first FM stations. For most of its early life, WFLA-FM carried a light, "Beautiful music" format. The station was owned by The Tampa Tribune, which also owned WFLA and WFLA-TV in Tampa. In 1966, the Tribune and its three stations were sold to Richmond Newspapers, which became Media General in 1969.
In 1981, after spending most of its early life as a Beautiful Music station, it flipped to a Country format, as WOJC, "Orange Country 93". However, it was unable to compete against Country powerhouses at the time, WSUN-AM and WQYK-FM.
In the mid-1980s, it changed again to a more-conventional Adult Contemporary format, bringing back the WFLA-FM calls and using the moniker "93FLA". While it was a little more successful, it still faced competition from WNLT and WIQI.
It then reformatted into WPDS ("Paradise 93"), a Soft AC formatted station, but it too was unsuccessful.
WFLA-FM and its AM sister, WFLA-AM, were purchased by Jacor Broadcasting in 1988. It changed its calls to WFLZ and soon flipped to oldies, as "Z93". Competing against WHBO-AM, it would only last a year.
In 1989, the station would flip to a pop CHR format to challenge the local dominating pop station, WRBQ, after stunting as an Urban station for an hour. Under the new brand of Power 93: The Power Pig, the station skyrocketed to 1st place in one month with 12+ and 18-34 listeners. WFLZ began marketing "Screw the Q" t-shirts, which WRBQ-FM filed a lawsuit over for copyright infringement due to usage of the Q105 logo. The shirts were sold around town in WFLZ's Pig Van. WFLZ's ratings were taking a huge toll on Q105, as many staff were fired and jock positions not filled for months. In an ironic move, Q105 lost Scott Shannon's syndicated Rockin' America to The Power Pig. Shannon is a former Q105 personality, credited for helping build its morning show and image. In late 1992, The Power Pig's popular Tim and Tom Show came to an end. Nighttimers Hawk and Marty were promoted to afternoons, and were replaced with Bubba the Love Sponge during the night shift.
In April 1993, WRBQ-FM finally gave up and flipped to Hot Country. The next year it would be sold to Clear Channel. The Power Pig continued to perform extremely well in the 12+ and younger demographics. During these couple years, there would be various staff shifts between The Power Pig and 970 WFLA. The station would also hire MJ Kelli to team up with BJ Harris to form MJ & BJ In The Morning, now the MJ Morning Show.
In March 1995, The Power Pig dropped its aggressive image and change to 93-3 FLZ. Its slogan was "The New Music Revolution." FLZ jock Bubba soon syndicated to WJBT in Jacksonville for 2 hours. In 1996, Jacor Communications absorbed Citicasters, Inc, and WXTB and what is now WFUS. For a few months, WFLZ simulcasted on KHTS in San Diego as a CHR format was created for San Diego's market. In 1996, Jacor Broadcasting sold its Tampa Bay TV station WTSP-TV to Gannett Broadcasting in exchange for 6 radio stations in 3 markets, one of which was local Hot AC rival WUSA. Also, Bubba the Love Sponge was promoted to mornings on sister station WXTB. In 1998, Jacor Broadcasting was acquired by Clear Channel, putting WFLZ under the same roof as its former competitor, WRBQ, until it was spun off to Infinity Broadcasting. This created an awkward situation, as the staff of WRBQ, who were subject to personal attacks from WFLZ, had moved to higher positions in Clear Channel that oversaw their old rivals at WFLZ.
In 2000, the station underwent a slight re-imaging, adopting a new logo and the slogan "The #1 Hit Music Channel." Meanwhile, Bubba the Love Sponge took former producer Mike Calta (aka Cowhead) to court. Bubba claimed that Mike could not use the Cowhead name at his new position as morning man at WRBQ, but the courts sided with Calta, and he retained the name at Q105. In the same month, long time morning man and operations manager BJ Harris left WFLZ for Cincinnati to do afternoons and PD work. MJ remained at mornings on WFLZ, turning it into The MJ Morning Show. The next year, MJ started his own afternoon show The Schnitt Show on Clear Channel's heritage talker in Miami, WIOD, shortly following 9-11. MJ/Schnitt continued to do the show from Tampa despite the Miami broadcast. Three months later, the show was added locally to WFLA. Upon the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' victory at the Super Bowl, WFLZ changed its branding to 93.3 B-U-C temporarily.
Today, 93-3 FLZ is still a top performer in the Tampa Bay market with all audiences. In 2004 it took the "CHR Station of the Year" and "CHR Personality of the Year" (for Kane) awards in the Radio Music Awards.
In 2006, 93.3 FLZ created a social networking site called "The Pig Pen." The station promoted the Pig Pen as the "local" version of MySpace. The name "Pig Pen" was probably taken from WFLZ's previous station image "The Power Pig."
On June 18, 2007 the station made headlines when the MJ Morning Show placed at least three outdoor ads (2 in the Tampa Bay area, 1 in Jacksonville) featuring Internet photos of Britney Spears with her shaved head, along with the face of Kelli and the slogans "Total Nut Jobs," "Shock Therapy" and "Certifiable." The ads were placed on billboards owned by WFLZ's sister company Clear Channel Outdoor. Evidently being notified about the billboards, this did not please Spears or her representatives, who threatened to sue Clear Channel if they weren't taken down and vowed to take action if the ads were not removed immediately. Clear Channel consented and the ads were removed the following day.
The decision to have the ads removed had Kelli upset that his employers caved in to legal pressure from Spears' reps. In an/ interview with WTSP and The St. Petersburg Times he made his feelings known about their decision: "Do I feel betrayed? Yeah, I feel betrayed. I feel let down. I'm not happy with my company taking it down. I don't think there's any problem with this."
- 93.3 FLZ website
- The Power Pig - WFLZ fansite explaining the history of the station.
- Query the FCC's FM station database for WFLZ
- Radio Locator information on WFLZ
- MJ Morning Show Fan Page
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| By Frequency: | 92.7 · 93.3 · 95.1 · 95.3 · 95.5 · 96.5 · 97.9 · 100.7 · 102.7 · 103.1 · 103.3 · 103.9 · 104.3 · 104.9 · 105.3 · 105.9 · 106.7 · 107.1 · 107.9 |
| By Callsign: | WAOA · WAPE · WEOW · WFKS · WFLZ · WHTF · WHYI · WIFL · WILN · WLDI · WMXZ · WPFM · WVYB · WXCV · WXHT · WXKB · WXXL · WYKS · WZNS |
| By City: | Cape Coral · Fort Lauderdale · Fort Pierce · Fort Walton Beach · Gainesville · Havana · Holly Hill · Homosassa Springs · Inglis · Jacksonville · Key West · Madison · Melbourne · Neptune Beach · Panama City · Panama City · Tampa · Tavares · Valparaiso |
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| Terrestrial |
KNGY (San Francisco) · KNHC (Seattle) · KNRJ (Payson/Phoenix) · WBZC (Suburban Philadelphia) · WDRE (Long Island) · WDVW (New Orleans) · WMPH (Wilmington, DE) · KPMW (Maui) · KLBU (Santa Fe; Electronica/Chill) · WKIE/WRZA/WDEK (Chicago, IL; Nighttime Only) · KRYC (Yuba City, CA) · WXGR (Portsmouth, NH; Electronica/Chill) · WXND (Hanover, NH; Electronica/Chill) |
| HD Radio |
Format Lab: Classic Dance · Club Phusion · KDWB Party Zone · Pride Radio · Trancid · WFLZ House Party · Workout Channel Other: Funkytown Boston (WMKK-HD) · HD-D2 (WPOW-HD & WRDW-HD2) · WBBM-HD2 · Club Ben (WBEN-HD2) · Orbital 93.1 (WEXM-HD2) |
| Satellite | |
| Audio/Cable | |
| Internet |
1Club.FM Dance Hits . Fusion Radio Chicago · Energy 98 · Groovera (Chill) · Groove Radio · IPartyRadio · MusicOne · Party107 · The Pulse · United Djs Radio
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| Corporate officers | |
| Board of directors | |
| Local radio, TV, and satellite radio assets |
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| Radio networks |
Australian Radio Network (50%) • Fox Sports Radio • National Lampoon Comedy Radio (dist./sales)• Premiere Radio Networks • The Radio Network (50%) |
| Miscellaneous assets | |