WXTB
Encyclopedia
WXTB — branded 98 Rock — is a commercial radio station
in the Tampa
, Florida
area. However the station can be heard as far north as Ocala and Williston
due to its strong signal. The station plays an Album Oriented Rock/Active rock
format that mixes music from the Modern Rock
and Heavy metal
genres, like with bands such as Linkin Park
, Korn
, Disturbed, System Of A Down
and others.
's WSUN
AM 620. In 1977, the station adopted an Album Oriented Rock (AOR) format, along with its new moniker, 98ROCK. With studios and transmitter located on Starkey Road in unincorporated Pinellas County (now part of the city of Seminole
), WQXM joined the growing Tampa Bay radio market, which included ratings leaders WLCY
1380AM and WRBQ
Q105. WQXM quickly rose to the top of the music scene, riding the wave of arena rock based stations driven by Lee Abrams
"Superstars" format. Early on-air personalities included area legends such as Russ Albums and Nick Van Cleve.
With the aggressive rise of WYNF
's "Florida's Best Rock 95FM" in 1981, WQXM changed program directors. New PD George Hawris felt that rather than pursue the crowded rock demographic, the station should jump on the new wave
/new romantics bandwagon. The station changed format in 1982, becoming "the best NuRock, 98ROCK". A huge slide in ratings resulted as listeners defected to WYNF, which would soon rename itself "95YNF".
Failing to stem the tide, WQXM underwent another format change. Despite the fact that Top 40 was over-represented in the Tampa Bay area radio market with competition such as ratings leader WRBQ, WQXM became Top 40 outlet WZNE "Z98" in 1983.
Poor marketing and weak branding (sample billboard slogan: "Four in a Row... For Ever"), along with poor Arbitron numbers resulted in yet another change of format. In January 1986, WZNE-FM changed its call letters to WKRL-FM, and new owner Sandusky Broadcasting relocated the studios to an office complex in Feather Sound outside St. Petersburg and relaunched as Classic Rock 97.9. Despite many personnel changes and promotional efforts, WKRL 97.9 rarely achieved notable Arbitron results. A rebranding effort occurred in June 1988, as the station was renamed its prior moniker, 98ROCK. This marked a return to the iconic and popular 98ROCK block-letter branding that the station used in the late 1970s, which had also been used by quite a few other stations across the country such as 96ROCK (WKLS) in Atlanta, Georgia
.
The greatest effort was spent trying to crack the Morning Drive numbers for the 18-34 male age group, dominated at the time by Ron Diaz and Ron Bennington, aka Ron and Ron of WYNF, then owned by CBS Radio
. Management kept the duo of Brian Smith and Bruce Barber (they were on the classic rock morning show), a team that had achieved some success at stations in northern markets. Despite being very approachable by fans, the team seemed unable to break into the Tampa Bay market and languished in 10th place behind much smaller stations with talk or beautiful music formats.
The classic rock format lasted until late December, 1989 when the signal went silent briefly, and then Led Zeppelin
's "Stairway to Heaven
" began playing in constant rotation, eventually lasting for 24 hours. Finally, the repetition gave way to the announcement on New Year's Eve 1989 that 98ROCK, now controlled by Great American Broadcasting
, would be the first all-Led Zeppelin format station in the country, playing the band's entire catalog in its entirety as well as solo efforts by the bandmates and their other music-related projects. WKRL received national coverage from MTV
to CBS
to many other outlets, and was the first station to get worldwide coverage for a true "artist flip", where a broadcaster based its entire business on one group or solo artist.
Two weeks unfolded with conjecture from various news outlets as to how long this format could last, given that all studio Zeppelin recordings at the time added up to less than 10 hours of continuous play. The station responded over the following week by adding a few classic acts such as the Rolling Stones and Van Halen
. With the bells of AC/DC
's "Hells Bells
" playing in the background, a major announcement came at noon on January 18, 1990 that the station would be changing its call letters to WXTB, and the station would be relaunched as "98ROCK, Pure Rock and Roll".
New Program Director Greg Mull, brought in from K-ROCK (WRXK-FM
) in Fort Myers
to replace the outgoing Beau Raines, immediately reorganized the On air personality list. Brian Smith and Bruce Barber, morning DJ's who trailed in the ratings, were released and replaced by Tom "Sea Bass" Sebastian, who stunted his first few weeks as "Buck Maui", and was also the voice of the legendary character 'Big Chief Meteorologist'. Ted Canorazzi took the name "Ted Kamikaze" and assumed the 10 am - 2 pm slot. Scott Legere and Austin Keyes kept their afternoon and evening spots, respectively. Kelli Kasey and "Big Rig" Ron Michaels rounded out the schedule.
With two stations now vying for the all important rock demographic, the inevitable conflicts broke out between WXTB and WYNF.
The WYNF staff used connections built up over the past few years as well as the power of parent company CBS Radio to ensure that all concerts were introduced by WYNF personalities. Even at shows that 98ROCK promoted exclusively, invariably a popular WYNF personality would take the stage to kickoff the concert. This tactic was exposed as early as the February 1990 Blondie
/Tears for Fears
, neither of which 98ROCK played at the time, concert at the Florida Suncoast Dome (now Tropicana Field
) in St. Petersburg. Since 98ROCK had gone to the new format just one month earlier, this concert was the first show available to WXTB as a promotional effort. Despite neither band being on WYNF's extensive playlist, WYNF's Charlie Logan arrived on stage to kick off the show. 98ROCK concentrated on new Rock bands @ the time with exclusive shows with the new Up and coming artists of the moment like Poison, Slaughter, Guns and Roses, Metallica and many others.
An ad campaign was then launched at WYNF stating that the station had been in the Tampa Bay area for 13 years and would be there long after everyone else was gone. What the campaign failed to mention was that the only thing that had lasted for 13 years was the call letters "WYNF", and that they had spanned multiple owners, managers, and program formats, beginning with the disco/pop oriented "Y95" in the mid-late 1970s. The response from 98ROCK was an innovative billboard campaign featuring a 95YNF banner that had most of its center ripped out to expose a 98ROCK billboard underneath, getting the message across that WYNF's time had passed.
After initially struggling to establish promotional relationships that had been dominated by WYNF, 98ROCK seized the initiative. Unable to capture major venues for branding and promotional efforts, it created its own venue in a cow pasture in Zephyrhills
. In late 1990, 98ROCK launched what would turn into a 15 year tradition - the "Livestock" annual rock festival. A tongue-in-cheek portmanteau of "Live Aid
" and "Woodstock", each weekend-long Livestock event brought well known national acts such as Soundgarden
and Tesla
together with lesser-known bands hoping for a chance at success. In keeping with the charitable spirit of Live Aid and other rock benefits, bands donated their performance time and a portion of the gate proceeds were donated to charities such as Greenpeace.
As the station rose in the ratings books, 98ROCK took over promotional opportunities that WYNF once controlled, such as The Rock-It Club and Killian's Rock Cafe. Meanwhile, WYNF slowly imploded. Morning slot stars Ron&Ron, were losing ground to the popular Sea Bass, and were in the early months of a syndication deal that spread their brand of humor across the state of Florida into Orlando, Jacksonville, and Miami. They tried to renegotiate their contract for much higher compensation but their tactic backfired as CBS decided not to renew their contract. The syndication deal fell apart, and soon Ron&Ron were gone from wYNF. Just a few months later, CBS exercised a "scorched earth" policy and buried WYNF's format permanently. Prior to selling their Tampa Bay area stations to Cox Radio
, CBS moved their Adult Contemporary station WWRM
107.3 (WARM 107FM) to WYNF's former 94.9 frequency, creating WARM 94.9FM. The original WYNF call letters went to an obscure lower-powered Sarasota
station. (The call letters are now used by a radio station in Augusta, Georgia
owned by WXTB's current owners, Clear Channel Communications
.)
With 95YNF out of the way, 98ROCK became a ratings success. It aggressively exposed the Seattle bands in 1991 early on and the nu-metal bands of the mid to late 1990s before other stations across North America outside of those bands' home bases caught on. This "Active Rock" format and style soon launched hundreds of stations across the United States and North America in the coming years and even affect the playlists of modern rock stations that were becoming hugely popular in the mid-1990s. WXTB still continues its current active rock programming to this day and since December 1992 has hosted the Tampa Bay Children's Home auction and Pay for Play weekends (taking over for the defunct 95WYNF)-which auctions off rock memorabilia for donations and receives funds from donors in exchange for playing a wide variety of music requests (including those out of format).
In 2000, the station moved its studios from Feather Sound Corporate Center to new owner Clear Channel's broadcast complex in southwest Tampa, Florida in an attempt to consolidate overall operations of Clear Channel stations in the area.
On January 18, 2010 at noon, 98ROCK replayed its format launch from 20 years earlier, including the final countdown in which soundbites from phone calls, many of which trashed WYNF, were played. The first four songs played after the launch ("Hells Bells" by AC/DC, "Kickstart My Heart
" by Mötley Crüe
, "Paradise City
" by Guns n' Roses
, and "Hot for Teacher
" by Van Halen) were played again in tribute to the current format's 20th anniversary, along with original bumpers.
The station covers the Tampa Bay
market as a whole. However the station also covers areas of Levy County and Marion County
, part of the Gainesville-Ocala Radio Market. 98ROCK is the only Rock Station Covering The Villages, Ocala, and other areas of Southern Marion County since WRUF-FM
out of Gainesville
switched to Country as of October 2010. There is another rock station, 100.5 WHHZ
, out of Gainesville
, but even that station has difficulty reaching Ocala and most areas of Marion County
.
Maxwell (Ben Bornstein), formerly heard on WMMS
(and later WNCX
) in Cleveland as host of The Maxwell Show
, spent time at WXTB in 2000 as Max Logan.
WXTB-FM was the home of the top rated Sea Bass & Marla Morning Show, and later the flagship of the former regional radio host Todd Clem, better known as Bubba the Love Sponge
. Bubba arrived on the air for the mornings at a time when the station was struggling to find a morning personality to replace the successful Sea Bass who left when the Morning Show was at its peak. Bubba had handled nights for Contemporary Hit station WFLZ 93.3 "The Power Pig". A huge backlash followed for months where Bubba's urban-influenced broadcast style conflicted with the hard rock listener mentality. Following a record-setting fine assessed by the Federal Communications Commission in February 2004 over alleged indecent content, he was fired as the morning host of WXTB-FM, which also ceased the syndication of Bubba's show carried by a number of affiliated stations mainly throughout the Southeast. The station has never quite recovered ratings or revenue wise from losing Bubba, who has since taken up the morning spot at rival WHPT
(102.5 "The Bone").
WXTB was home to the "Sea Bass" morning show hosted by Tom Sebastian from 1990-93. Marla Stone was added to make "Sea Bass & Marla" from 1993-1995. Bubba the Love Sponge from 1996 until his firing in 2004. He was succeeded by the Monsters in the Morning
and later The Buckethead Show. The morning drive was most recently held down by the duo of Lex and Terry, who were let go in December 2009 in a move announced on the station's Facebook
page. "Big Rig" Ronnie Michaels remains at the station as the midday anchor. He's the only remaining member left from the original airstaff.
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
in the Tampa
Tampa, Florida
Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
area. However the station can be heard as far north as Ocala and Williston
Williston
-Places:United States* Williston Northampton School, a prep school in Easthampton, Ma* Williston, Florida, a city in Levy County* Williston, Maryland, a town in Caroline County* Williston, North Carolina, a village in Carteret County...
due to its strong signal. The station plays an Album Oriented Rock/Active rock
Active rock
Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock plays contemporary rock artists with a mix of songs common in the classic rock radio format.-Format background:...
format that mixes music from the Modern Rock
Modern rock
Modern rock is a rock format commonly found on commercial radio; the format consists primarily of the alternative rock genre...
and Heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
genres, like with bands such as Linkin Park
Linkin Park
Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. Formed in 1996, the band rose to international fame with their debut album, Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005 and multi-platinum in several other countries...
, Korn
Korn
Korn is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The current band line up includes four members: Jonathan Davis, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, and Ray Luzier. The band was formed as an expansion of L.A.P.D.The band released their first demo album,...
, Disturbed, System Of A Down
System of a Down
System of a Down, also known by the acronym SOAD and often shortened to System, is a rock band from Southern California. The band was formed in 1994. It consists of Serj Tankian , Daron Malakian , Shavo Odadjian and John Dolmayan...
and others.
History
WXTB signed on in 1973 as WQXM-FM, a sister station to Plough, Inc.Schering-Plough
Schering-Plough Corporation was a United States-based pharmaceutical company. It was founded in 1851 by Ernst Christian Friedrich Schering as Schering AG in Germany. In 1971, the Schering Corporation merged with Plough to form Schering-Plough. On November 4, 2009 Merck & Co...
's WSUN
WSUN (defunct)
WSUN was a radio station which broadcast to Tampa Bay Area, Florida from 1927 until 2001.-History:The radio station began operating at 620 kHz in October 1927. In 1928 it was moved to 580 kHz, then to 900 kHz that year...
AM 620. In 1977, the station adopted an Album Oriented Rock (AOR) format, along with its new moniker, 98ROCK. With studios and transmitter located on Starkey Road in unincorporated Pinellas County (now part of the city of Seminole
Seminole, Florida
Seminole is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 10,890 at the 2000 census. As of 2007, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 19,195. St. Petersburg College has a campus in the city.-Geography:...
), WQXM joined the growing Tampa Bay radio market, which included ratings leaders WLCY
WWMI
WWMI is a radio station broadcasting a children's radio format. Licensed to St. Petersburg, Florida, USA, the station serves the Tampa Bay area. The station is owned by The Walt Disney Company.-History:...
1380AM and WRBQ
WRBQ
WRBQ-FM is a commercial classic hits music formatted radio station in Tampa, Florida.-History:Formerly WPKM and later WEZX, 104.7 switched to a rock ’n roll format as Q105 in December 1973, home to the Q-Morning Zoo, Cleveland Wheeler, Scott Shannon, Dave Saint, Jack Harris, Bill Garcia, Uncle...
Q105. WQXM quickly rose to the top of the music scene, riding the wave of arena rock based stations driven by Lee Abrams
Lee Abrams
Lee Abrams is an American media executive who has held a number of posts for large and influential companies, and is generally credited with developing the "Album Oriented Rock" format employed by hundreds of radio stations across the country.-Career:...
"Superstars" format. Early on-air personalities included area legends such as Russ Albums and Nick Van Cleve.
With the aggressive rise of WYNF
WWRM
WWRM is an adult contemporary music formatted radio station serving the Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida radio market. WWRM began on 107.3 , but later moved to 94.9 with its soft AC format...
's "Florida's Best Rock 95FM" in 1981, WQXM changed program directors. New PD George Hawris felt that rather than pursue the crowded rock demographic, the station should jump on the new wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
/new romantics bandwagon. The station changed format in 1982, becoming "the best NuRock, 98ROCK". A huge slide in ratings resulted as listeners defected to WYNF, which would soon rename itself "95YNF".
Failing to stem the tide, WQXM underwent another format change. Despite the fact that Top 40 was over-represented in the Tampa Bay area radio market with competition such as ratings leader WRBQ, WQXM became Top 40 outlet WZNE "Z98" in 1983.
Poor marketing and weak branding (sample billboard slogan: "Four in a Row... For Ever"), along with poor Arbitron numbers resulted in yet another change of format. In January 1986, WZNE-FM changed its call letters to WKRL-FM, and new owner Sandusky Broadcasting relocated the studios to an office complex in Feather Sound outside St. Petersburg and relaunched as Classic Rock 97.9. Despite many personnel changes and promotional efforts, WKRL 97.9 rarely achieved notable Arbitron results. A rebranding effort occurred in June 1988, as the station was renamed its prior moniker, 98ROCK. This marked a return to the iconic and popular 98ROCK block-letter branding that the station used in the late 1970s, which had also been used by quite a few other stations across the country such as 96ROCK (WKLS) in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
.
The greatest effort was spent trying to crack the Morning Drive numbers for the 18-34 male age group, dominated at the time by Ron Diaz and Ron Bennington, aka Ron and Ron of WYNF, then owned by CBS Radio
CBS Radio
CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...
. Management kept the duo of Brian Smith and Bruce Barber (they were on the classic rock morning show), a team that had achieved some success at stations in northern markets. Despite being very approachable by fans, the team seemed unable to break into the Tampa Bay market and languished in 10th place behind much smaller stations with talk or beautiful music formats.
The classic rock format lasted until late December, 1989 when the signal went silent briefly, and then Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
's "Stairway to Heaven
Stairway to Heaven
"Stairway to Heaven" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in late 1971. It was composed by guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant for the band's untitled fourth studio album . The song, running eight minutes and two seconds, is composed of several sections, which...
" began playing in constant rotation, eventually lasting for 24 hours. Finally, the repetition gave way to the announcement on New Year's Eve 1989 that 98ROCK, now controlled by Great American Broadcasting
Taft Broadcasting
The Taft Broadcasting Company, also known as Taft Television and Radio Company, Incorporated, was an American media conglomerate based in Cincinnati, Ohio....
, would be the first all-Led Zeppelin format station in the country, playing the band's entire catalog in its entirety as well as solo efforts by the bandmates and their other music-related projects. WKRL received national coverage from MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
to CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
to many other outlets, and was the first station to get worldwide coverage for a true "artist flip", where a broadcaster based its entire business on one group or solo artist.
Two weeks unfolded with conjecture from various news outlets as to how long this format could last, given that all studio Zeppelin recordings at the time added up to less than 10 hours of continuous play. The station responded over the following week by adding a few classic acts such as the Rolling Stones and Van Halen
Van Halen
Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...
. With the bells of AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
's "Hells Bells
Hells Bells (song)
"Hells Bells" is the first track of Australian hard rock band AC/DC's album Back in Black. It is the first song on their comeback album after the death of vocalist Bon Scott, introducing his successor Brian Johnson....
" playing in the background, a major announcement came at noon on January 18, 1990 that the station would be changing its call letters to WXTB, and the station would be relaunched as "98ROCK, Pure Rock and Roll".
New Program Director Greg Mull, brought in from K-ROCK (WRXK-FM
WRXK-FM
WRXK-FM is a commercial radio station with studios located in Estero, Florida and licensed to Bonita Springs, Florida, broadcasting to the Fort Myers-Naples-Marco Island, Florida area on 96.1 mhz FM. WRXK-FM airs 70's, 80's, 90's and some current rock and classic rock music in a format branded as...
) in Fort Myers
Fort Myers, Florida
Fort Myers is the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. Its population was 62,298 in the 2010 census, a 29.23 percent increase over the 2000 figure....
to replace the outgoing Beau Raines, immediately reorganized the On air personality list. Brian Smith and Bruce Barber, morning DJ's who trailed in the ratings, were released and replaced by Tom "Sea Bass" Sebastian, who stunted his first few weeks as "Buck Maui", and was also the voice of the legendary character 'Big Chief Meteorologist'. Ted Canorazzi took the name "Ted Kamikaze" and assumed the 10 am - 2 pm slot. Scott Legere and Austin Keyes kept their afternoon and evening spots, respectively. Kelli Kasey and "Big Rig" Ron Michaels rounded out the schedule.
With two stations now vying for the all important rock demographic, the inevitable conflicts broke out between WXTB and WYNF.
The WYNF staff used connections built up over the past few years as well as the power of parent company CBS Radio to ensure that all concerts were introduced by WYNF personalities. Even at shows that 98ROCK promoted exclusively, invariably a popular WYNF personality would take the stage to kickoff the concert. This tactic was exposed as early as the February 1990 Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
/Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears are an English new wave band formed in the early 1980s by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, they were initially associated with the New Wave synthesiser bands of the early 1980s but later branched out into...
, neither of which 98ROCK played at the time, concert at the Florida Suncoast Dome (now Tropicana Field
Tropicana Field
Tropicana Field is a domed stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida, which has been the home of Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays since the team's inaugural season in 1998, when they were the Devil Rays. It has also served as the host stadium for the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl, an NCAA-sanctioned college...
) in St. Petersburg. Since 98ROCK had gone to the new format just one month earlier, this concert was the first show available to WXTB as a promotional effort. Despite neither band being on WYNF's extensive playlist, WYNF's Charlie Logan arrived on stage to kick off the show. 98ROCK concentrated on new Rock bands @ the time with exclusive shows with the new Up and coming artists of the moment like Poison, Slaughter, Guns and Roses, Metallica and many others.
An ad campaign was then launched at WYNF stating that the station had been in the Tampa Bay area for 13 years and would be there long after everyone else was gone. What the campaign failed to mention was that the only thing that had lasted for 13 years was the call letters "WYNF", and that they had spanned multiple owners, managers, and program formats, beginning with the disco/pop oriented "Y95" in the mid-late 1970s. The response from 98ROCK was an innovative billboard campaign featuring a 95YNF banner that had most of its center ripped out to expose a 98ROCK billboard underneath, getting the message across that WYNF's time had passed.
After initially struggling to establish promotional relationships that had been dominated by WYNF, 98ROCK seized the initiative. Unable to capture major venues for branding and promotional efforts, it created its own venue in a cow pasture in Zephyrhills
Zephyrhills, Florida
Zephyrhills is a city in Pasco County, Florida. The population was 10,833 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, the city had a population of 11,854. It is a suburb of the Tampa Bay Metropolitan Statistical Area...
. In late 1990, 98ROCK launched what would turn into a 15 year tradition - the "Livestock" annual rock festival. A tongue-in-cheek portmanteau of "Live Aid
Live Aid
Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
" and "Woodstock", each weekend-long Livestock event brought well known national acts such as Soundgarden
Soundgarden
Soundgarden is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by singer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto...
and Tesla
Tesla (band)
Tesla is an American hard rock band formed in Sacramento, California in 1984. They have sold 14 million albums in the United States.-Formation and Mechanical Resonance :...
together with lesser-known bands hoping for a chance at success. In keeping with the charitable spirit of Live Aid and other rock benefits, bands donated their performance time and a portion of the gate proceeds were donated to charities such as Greenpeace.
As the station rose in the ratings books, 98ROCK took over promotional opportunities that WYNF once controlled, such as The Rock-It Club and Killian's Rock Cafe. Meanwhile, WYNF slowly imploded. Morning slot stars Ron&Ron, were losing ground to the popular Sea Bass, and were in the early months of a syndication deal that spread their brand of humor across the state of Florida into Orlando, Jacksonville, and Miami. They tried to renegotiate their contract for much higher compensation but their tactic backfired as CBS decided not to renew their contract. The syndication deal fell apart, and soon Ron&Ron were gone from wYNF. Just a few months later, CBS exercised a "scorched earth" policy and buried WYNF's format permanently. Prior to selling their Tampa Bay area stations to Cox Radio
Cox Radio
Cox Radio, Inc. is a division of Cox Enterprises that holds a number of radio stations. Cox Radio is headquartered at 6205 Peachtree Dunwoody Road in Sandy Springs, Georgia....
, CBS moved their Adult Contemporary station WWRM
WWRM
WWRM is an adult contemporary music formatted radio station serving the Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida radio market. WWRM began on 107.3 , but later moved to 94.9 with its soft AC format...
107.3 (WARM 107FM) to WYNF's former 94.9 frequency, creating WARM 94.9FM. The original WYNF call letters went to an obscure lower-powered Sarasota
Sarasota, Florida
Sarasota is a city located in Sarasota County on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Florida. It is south of the Tampa Bay Area and north of Fort Myers...
station. (The call letters are now used by a radio station in Augusta, Georgia
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
owned by WXTB's current owners, Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
.)
With 95YNF out of the way, 98ROCK became a ratings success. It aggressively exposed the Seattle bands in 1991 early on and the nu-metal bands of the mid to late 1990s before other stations across North America outside of those bands' home bases caught on. This "Active Rock" format and style soon launched hundreds of stations across the United States and North America in the coming years and even affect the playlists of modern rock stations that were becoming hugely popular in the mid-1990s. WXTB still continues its current active rock programming to this day and since December 1992 has hosted the Tampa Bay Children's Home auction and Pay for Play weekends (taking over for the defunct 95WYNF)-which auctions off rock memorabilia for donations and receives funds from donors in exchange for playing a wide variety of music requests (including those out of format).
In 2000, the station moved its studios from Feather Sound Corporate Center to new owner Clear Channel's broadcast complex in southwest Tampa, Florida in an attempt to consolidate overall operations of Clear Channel stations in the area.
On January 18, 2010 at noon, 98ROCK replayed its format launch from 20 years earlier, including the final countdown in which soundbites from phone calls, many of which trashed WYNF, were played. The first four songs played after the launch ("Hells Bells" by AC/DC, "Kickstart My Heart
Kickstart My Heart
"Kickstart My Heart" is a Grammy Award-nominated song by the American rock band Mötley Crüe, originally released on their 1989 album, Dr. Feelgood. The song has also been used numerous in media, including the trailers for Robert Rodriguez's family comedy Shorts and the Disney/Pixar film Cars...
" by Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1981. The group was founded by bass guitarist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, who were later joined by lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil...
, "Paradise City
Paradise City
-Personnel:* Axl Rose - lead vocals, synthesizer, whistle* Izzy Stradlin - rhythm guitar, backing vocals, percussion* Slash - lead guitar, backing vocals* Duff McKagan - bass, backing vocals* Steven Adler - drums-Live:...
" by Guns n' Roses
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...
, and "Hot for Teacher
Hot for Teacher
"Hot for Teacher" is a song on Van Halen's album 1984.The sexually suggestive song was best known for its long opening drum solo, near motorcycle-like drum fills and its music video featuring the band as both adults and young students in a high school...
" by Van Halen) were played again in tribute to the current format's 20th anniversary, along with original bumpers.
The station covers the Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and estuary along the Gulf of Mexico on the west central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay."Tampa Bay" is not the name of any municipality...
market as a whole. However the station also covers areas of Levy County and Marion County
Marion County, Florida
Marion County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. The U.S. Census Bureau 2006 estimate for the county is 316,183. Its county seat is Ocala....
, part of the Gainesville-Ocala Radio Market. 98ROCK is the only Rock Station Covering The Villages, Ocala, and other areas of Southern Marion County since WRUF-FM
WRUF-FM
WRUF-FM is a radio station broadcasting a country music format. Licensed to Gainesville, Florida, USA, the station serves the Gainesville/Ocala area. The station is currently owned by the University of Florida...
out of Gainesville
Gainesville
Gainesville is the name of several places in the United States of America:*Gainesville, Alabama*Gainesville, Florida, largest municipality with this name*Gainesville, Georgia*Gainesville, Missouri*Gainesville , New York...
switched to Country as of October 2010. There is another rock station, 100.5 WHHZ
WHHZ
WHHZ , branded as "100.5 The Buzz", is a commercial radio station licensed to Newberry, Florida, broadcasting to the Gainesville-Ocala, Florida area...
, out of Gainesville
Gainesville
Gainesville is the name of several places in the United States of America:*Gainesville, Alabama*Gainesville, Florida, largest municipality with this name*Gainesville, Georgia*Gainesville, Missouri*Gainesville , New York...
, but even that station has difficulty reaching Ocala and most areas of Marion County
Marion County
Marion County is the name of seventeen counties in the United States of America, mostly named for General Francis Marion:* Marion County, Alabama* Marion County, Arkansas* Marion County, Florida* Marion County, Georgia* Marion County, Illinois...
.
Notable on-air staff
Radio personalityRadio personality
A radio personality is a person with an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality can be someone who introduces and discusses various genres of music, hosts a talk radio show that may take calls from listeners, or someone whose primary responsibility is to give news, weather,...
Maxwell (Ben Bornstein), formerly heard on WMMS
WMMS
WMMS — branded 100.7 WMMS: The Buzzard — is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, widely recognized as one of the most influential rock stations in America throughout much of the history of FM broadcasting...
(and later WNCX
WNCX
WNCX — branded 98.5 WNCX — is commercial radio station in Cleveland, Ohio, broadcasting a classic rock format. The station's studios are currently located in Cleveland's historic Halle Building, in the Playhouse Square District...
) in Cleveland as host of The Maxwell Show
The Maxwell Show
The Maxwell Show was a hot talk radio show which aired weekday mornings on classic rock radio station WNCX in Cleveland, Ohio. The show first began in April 2004 on noted Cleveland rock station WMMS , and over the course of the next five years, grew to become the Cleveland radio market's #1...
, spent time at WXTB in 2000 as Max Logan.
WXTB-FM was the home of the top rated Sea Bass & Marla Morning Show, and later the flagship of the former regional radio host Todd Clem, better known as Bubba the Love Sponge
Bubba the Love Sponge
Todd Alan Clem is an American radio personality better known by his Legal name Bubba the Love Sponge Clem. He is the host of The Bubba the Love Sponge Show on various Cox Radio and Beasley Broadcast Group stations, formerly on Sirius XM Howard 101, as well as on RadioIO.-Early career and the...
. Bubba arrived on the air for the mornings at a time when the station was struggling to find a morning personality to replace the successful Sea Bass who left when the Morning Show was at its peak. Bubba had handled nights for Contemporary Hit station WFLZ 93.3 "The Power Pig". A huge backlash followed for months where Bubba's urban-influenced broadcast style conflicted with the hard rock listener mentality. Following a record-setting fine assessed by the Federal Communications Commission in February 2004 over alleged indecent content, he was fired as the morning host of WXTB-FM, which also ceased the syndication of Bubba's show carried by a number of affiliated stations mainly throughout the Southeast. The station has never quite recovered ratings or revenue wise from losing Bubba, who has since taken up the morning spot at rival WHPT
WHPT
WHPT is a Cox Radio station located in the Sarasota, Tampa Bay, and St. Petersburg Florida areas, but can be heard as far south as Fort Myers and Naples, from its transmitter near SR 70, near the northeastern corner of Sarasota County. While the station's license and transmitter is based within...
(102.5 "The Bone").
WXTB was home to the "Sea Bass" morning show hosted by Tom Sebastian from 1990-93. Marla Stone was added to make "Sea Bass & Marla" from 1993-1995. Bubba the Love Sponge from 1996 until his firing in 2004. He was succeeded by the Monsters in the Morning
The Monsters In The Morning
The Monsters in the Morning is a talk radio show on WTKS-FM Real Radio in Orlando, Florida, USA, XM Radio Channel 152 and via the Iheartradio app for mobile devices. It is a morning show that runs from 6 am-11 am ET. The show is a mix of current events, comedy, and stunts. Discussions involve the...
and later The Buckethead Show. The morning drive was most recently held down by the duo of Lex and Terry, who were let go in December 2009 in a move announced on the station's Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
page. "Big Rig" Ronnie Michaels remains at the station as the midday anchor. He's the only remaining member left from the original airstaff.
- Scott Legere- Tampa Bay Bucs radio host
- Austin Keyes - National voice talent
- Ted Kamizaze - National Voice talent
- Brian Medlin - Runs Voice Over agency
- Seabass - retired in South Florida
Concerts
- Livestock concert series; now retired
- 98RockFest new annual concert series
- World's Largest Barbecue concert series; now retired
- GuavaweenGuavaweenGuavaween is an annual Latin-flavored Halloween celebration which takes place on the last Saturday of October in the historic neighborhood of Ybor City on Tampa, Florida. It is named after Tampa's nickname, "The Big Guava"....