WWMI

WWMI
City St. Petersburg, Florida
Broadcast area Tampa Bay Area
Branding 1380 The Biz
Frequency 1380 kHz
First air date 1939 (as WTSP)
Format Business Talk
Power 9,800 watts day
6,500 watts night
Class B
Facility ID 11954
Transmitter coordinates 27°52′15.00″N 82°37′3.00″W / 27.8708333°N 82.6175000°W / 27.8708333; -82.6175000
Callsign meaning We Want MIckey
(Radio Disney era)
Former callsigns WTSP (1939-1959)
WLCY (1959-1981)
WNSI (1981-1982)
WRBQ (1982-1999)
Affiliations Wall Street Business Network
Owner Salem Media Group
(South Texas Broadcasting, Inc.)
Sister stations WLCC, WGUL, WTBN, WTWD
Webcast Listen Live
Website www.1380thebiz.com

WWMI (AM 1380) is a radio station broadcasting a Business Talk format. Licensed to St. Petersburg, Florida, USA, the station serves the Tampa Bay Area. The station is owned by Salem Media Group.

History

Final Radio Disney logo for WWMI.

Brothers Joe, Sam, and Farris Rahall bought the city's Mutual Broadcasting System affiliate, WTSP-AM 1380 and its FM, 102.5, from the St. Petersburg Times in 1956. Not interested in pursuing FM, they shut it down a year later. On July 15, 1959, the AM's call letters and format switched to WLCY ("Radio Elsie") and Top 40.

For many years, WLCY-AM was the Tampa Bay area’s premiere rock and roll station, with offices, studios, and transmitter in the previous WTSP facility on Gandy Boulevard near 4th Street North.

The disc jockeys during the era were known as "The Swingin' Gentlemen" and included "Stanley Steamer" Jim Stanley (mornings), Johnny Dart (Stan Grams), Rick Morgan, Mark Wheeler, "Shy Guy" Roy Nilson (also the Program Director), Al Dunaway, "Swingin' Sweeney," Johnny Rebel (Herb Hunt), George Nix, Jack E. Rabbitt, Dick Stambaugh (later Dick Starr in Miami), Tedd Webb, Bob Tracey, "Big Daddy" Don Owens, Pepper Lipsinx (James Wayman), Frank Lynn, Kenny Parks, Bob Collins, Bob Cannon, (Clande Miranda), Jeff Laurence, Johnny Stevens, Dave Archard, Bob Carr, D.J. O'Day, Rock Robbins (Bob Bernstein), Murph McHenry, Al Summers, Jack Kane, Bobby Lyons, Dean Drapin, Ron Parker, Dutch Walker, Wade West, Jim Clark, Johnny Byrd (Dennis Waters), Daylon Rushing, Mike Scott (Jim Shirah) and Lolita (Dottie Groven).

Clair Linn provided news and the "WLCY Weather Chick" was Charlene Mathias. Newsman Marshall Cleaver hosted a late-night call-in show, Open Mike, and was succeeded by Harvey Sheldon. Jingles were tagged with, "WLCY, One-thirty-eight!"

The station later shared space with Rahall’s WLCY-TV and the new WLCY-FM at the "Rahall Color Communications Center", just east of the original Gandy site. The name of the licensee changed to WLCY, Inc., on June 20, 1963 and then to the Rahall Communications Corporation on October 3, 1969. WLCY-AM began to identify dual city of license as "St. Petersburg-Tampa" in 1976.

Rahall began to divest itself of its Tampa Bay properties, and in September 1978, Florida Radio, Inc. became the station's new owner. WLCY moved out of the TV building and back into the old WTSP studios.

In 1981, the station was sold to Harte-Hanks and was changed to WNSI-AM (News, Sports and Information). In 1983, after Edens Broadcasting bought the station, it became WRBQ-AM, and flipped to a simulcast of Q105. This simulcast would last until January 1992, when WRBQ-AM flipped to the satellite-fed Urban AC format known as "The Touch" and picked up Tom Joyner.[1][2][3] In July of that year, Edens sold WRBQ AM/FM to Clear Channel Communications.[4] In February 1999, ABC Radio bought the station and it became WWMI and adopted the Radio Disney format on May 3 of that year.[5][6]

On August 13, 2014, Disney put WWMI and twenty-two other Radio Disney stations up for sale, in order to focus more on digital distribution of the Radio Disney network.[7][8]

On September 15, 2015, it was announced that Salem Media Group acquired the last five Radio Disney owned-and-operated stations for sale (including WWMI) for $2.225 million.[9] WWMI was acquired through South Texas Broadcasting, Inc., for $750.000.[10] The sale of WWMI was completed on December 11, 2015.[11]

On December 14, 2015, the station became Salem's Wall Street Business Network affiliate in Tampa Bay.[12] WWMI is now one of two stations in the market airing a business news/talk format, the other being WHFS.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.radioyears.com/other/details.cfm?id=435
  2. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/90s/1992/Billboard-1992-02-01.pdf
  3. ↑ Stark, Phyllis (July 30, 1994). "Vox Jox". Billboard. 106 (31): 122.
  4. ↑ Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (11 July 1992). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 65–. ISSN 0006-2510.
  5. ↑ Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (27 February 1999). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 69–. ISSN 0006-2510.
  6. ↑ http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1999/RR-1999-05-07.pdf
  7. ↑ Lafayette, Jon (August 13, 2014). "Exclusive: Radio Disney Moving Off Air to Digital". Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Radio Disney to Sell the Majority of Its Stations". Billboard. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  9. ↑ Salem Acquires Radio Disney’s Final Five - Radio Insight
  10. ↑ "Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission.
  11. ↑ Consummation Notice - Federal Communications Commission
  12. ↑ Salem Launches 1380 The Biz Tampa - Radio Insight
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