WFLZ-FM

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WFLZ-FM
City of license	Tampa, Florida
Broadcast area	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida (target area) Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida Lakeland-Winter Haven, Florida Sebring, Florida parts of Orlando, Florida
Branding	93.3 FLZ
Slogan	Tampa Bay's Hit Music Channel
Frequency	93.3 MHz 93.3 HD-1 for Top 40 music ("93-3 FLZ HD-1 Hits") 93.3 HD-2 for dance music ("93-3 FLZ HD-2 House Party")
Format	CHR/Pop (Top 40), Dance (Friday and Saturday nights--"Club 93-3 Interactive," "The Saturday Night House Party," "93-3 FLZ's WIRED"--also 93.3 HD-2)
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
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 WFKS and KSLZ. The radio station is also the flagship for syndicated weekday afternoon show and Open House Party Sunday both hosted by Kane. 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").

Contents 1 History 2 Schedule 3 FLZ Weekend Staff 4 External links

[edit] History

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.

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.

It then reformulated into WPDS ("Paradise 93"), a Soft AC formatted station, but it too was unsuccessful.

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-FM". While it was a little more successful, it still faced competition from WNLT and WIQI.

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 would drop its aggressive image and change to 93.3 FLZ. Its slogan was "The New Music Revolution." Bubba would soon syndicate to WJBT in Jacksonville for 2 hours. In 1996, Jacor Communications would absorb 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.

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 OM BJ Harris would leave WFLZ for Cincinnati to do afternoons and PD work. MJ remained at mornings on WFLZ. The next year, MJ would start his own afternoon show The Schnitt Show on sister heritage talker WFLA, months after hosting it solo on Miami's WIOD. Upon the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' victory at the Super Bowl, WFLZ would change 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.

[edit] Schedule

• 5a-11a: MJ Morning Show
• 11a-3p: Ashlee Reid
• 3p-7p: Kane
• 7p-11p: Rat Boy & Staypuff
• 11p-1a: La Loca
• 1a-5a: Brian Fink

[edit] FLZ Weekend Staff

• Kovacs
• Lunchbox
• Jaime
• Perry
• Eggs
• Jay $
• Kidd Leow
• La Loca

• Friday Nights: Club 93-3 Interactive w/ Kovacs and Kidd Leow
• Saturday Mornings: American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest (6am-10am)
• Saturday Nights: The Saturday Night House Party (7p-10p), 93-3FLZ WIRED (10p-1a)
• Sunday Mornings: The MJ Replay (7a-10) - a compilation of MJ Morning Show segments from the previous weeks
• Sunday Nights: Open House Party w/ Kane

[edit] External links

• 93.3 FLZ website
• The Power Pig - WFLZ fansite explaining the history of the station.
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WFLZ
• MJ Morning Show Fan Page