WDUV
Encyclopedia
WDUV, "The Dove," is a radio station serving the Tampa Bay media market
in Florida
.
Broadcasting on 105.5 FM
, the station specializes in playing the "easy listening
" format, which announcers for the station describe as "continuous relaxing easy favorites." The format is actually a very gold
-leaning soft adult contemporary mix of music which once included one or two instrumentals per hour, having evolved from true "beautiful music". (As of recently, however, most, if not all, of the instrumentals were dropped.) Artists frequently heard on the station include Anne Murray
, The Carpenters
, Barry Manilow
, Barbra Streisand
, Bread
, Carly Simon
, Elton John
, The Beatles
, The Mamas & the Papas
, and Natalie Cole
.
WDUV is owned by Cox Radio
, and is one of the highest-rated radio stations playing the "beautiful music
" format in the Southern United States
. According to Arbitron, WDUV was the highest-rated radio station in Tampa Bay, beating out its nearest competitor, WFLA
, by nearly three full percentage points in the winter of 2008. Currently, WDUV has a 9% market share out of all the radio stations licensed for the Tampa area, sliding one percentage point from 2005.
in Manatee County
and formerly broadcasted at 103.3 FM. The station originally shared the same studio facilities on Tamiami Trail
in Bradenton with WBRD
AM 1420 and the Bradenton news bureau of WXLT-TV
; at the time, all three stations were owned by the same family. In the early-1990s, WDUV relocated its frequency to 103.5 FM, to improve its coverage area in the Tampa Bay area. By the mid-1990s, WDUV would be acquired by Jacor Broadcasting (since absorbed by Clear Channel Communications
), who relocated its studios to St. Petersburg.
As recently as 1997, WDUV continued to play about 50 percent instrumental music.
In 1999, WDUV would swap its frequency with Classic rock
station WTBT, moving from 103.5 to the stronger 105.5 signal (WTBT is now WFUS
, "US 103-5" country music
). However, both frequencies would retain their transmitting locations and cities of license—after the swap, WDUV became licensed in New Port Richey
with transmitting facilities in Holiday
, while WTBT / WFUS, whose transmitter was located in Riverview
, became licensed in Bradenton. (That station has since been relicensed to Gulfport
.)
Shortly after the swap, Clear Channel would sell WDUV to its present owner, Cox Radio
.
A sample hour of music on WDUV includes songs such as the following:
Arbitron
Arbitron is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio audiences. It was founded as American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging with L.A. based Coffin, Cooper and Clay in the early 1950s...
in 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...
.
Broadcasting on 105.5 FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
, the station specializes in playing the "easy listening
Easy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...
" format, which announcers for the station describe as "continuous relaxing easy favorites." The format is actually a very gold
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
-leaning soft adult contemporary mix of music which once included one or two instrumentals per hour, having evolved from true "beautiful music". (As of recently, however, most, if not all, of the instrumentals were dropped.) Artists frequently heard on the station include Anne Murray
Anne Murray
Morna Anne Murray CC, ONS is a Canadian singer in pop, country and adult contemporary styles whose albums have sold over 54 million copies....
, The Carpenters
The Carpenters
Carpenters were an American vocal and instrumental duo, consisting of sister Karen and brother Richard Carpenter. The Carpenters were the #1 selling American music act of the 1970s. Though often referred to by the public as "The Carpenters", the duo's official name on authorized recordings and...
, Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana ."...
, Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
, Bread
Bread (band)
Bread was a rock band from Los Angeles, California. They placed 13 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart between 1970 and 1977 and were a prime example of what later was labeled soft rock....
, Carly Simon
Carly Simon
Carly Elisabeth Simon is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records, and has since been the recipient of two Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for her work...
, Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
, The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, The Mamas & the Papas
The Mamas & the Papas
The Mamas & the Papas were a Canadian/American vocal group of the 1960s . The group recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968 with a short reunion in 1971, releasing five albums and 11 Top 40 hit singles...
, and Natalie Cole
Natalie Cole
Natalie Maria Cole , is an American singer, songwriter and performer. The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, Cole rode to musical success in the mid-1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be ", "Inseparable" and "Our Love"...
.
WDUV is owned by 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....
, and is one of the highest-rated radio stations playing the "beautiful music
Beautiful music
Beautiful music is a mostly instrumental music format that was prominent in American radio from the 1960s through the 1980s...
" format in the Southern United States
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
. According to Arbitron, WDUV was the highest-rated radio station in Tampa Bay, beating out its nearest competitor, WFLA
WFLA-FM
WFLA-FM is a talk radio station broadcasting in Tallahassee, Florida. Its former format was urban contemporary until July 10, 2006....
, by nearly three full percentage points in the winter of 2008. Currently, WDUV has a 9% market share out of all the radio stations licensed for the Tampa area, sliding one percentage point from 2005.
History
Initially signing on in October 1963, WDUV was formerly licensed to BradentonBradenton, Florida
Bradenton is a city in Manatee County, Florida, United States. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's 2007 population to be 53,471. Bradenton is the largest Principal City of the Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2007 estimated population of 682,833...
in Manatee County
Manatee County, Florida
Manatee County is a county in the state of Florida. According to the 2010 census by the U.S. Census Bureau there are 322,833 people living in Manatee Country.Manatee County is part of the North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota Metropolitan Statistical Area...
and formerly broadcasted at 103.3 FM. The station originally shared the same studio facilities on Tamiami Trail
Tamiami Trail
The Tamiami Trail is the southernmost of U.S. Highway 41 from State Road 60 in Tampa to U.S. Route 1 in Miami. The road also has the hidden designation of State Road 90....
in Bradenton with WBRD
WBRD
WBRD is a radio station broadcasting a Regional Mexican format. Licensed to Palmetto, Florida, USA, the station serves the Bradenton area. The station is owned by Birach Broadcasting Corporation....
AM 1420 and the Bradenton news bureau of WXLT-TV
WWSB
WWSB Channel 40 is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Florida Suncoast that is licensed to Sarasota. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 24 from a transmitter on Rutland Road in the unincorporated Manatee County community of Rye, about 5 miles ESE of Parrish...
; at the time, all three stations were owned by the same family. In the early-1990s, WDUV relocated its frequency to 103.5 FM, to improve its coverage area in the Tampa Bay area. By the mid-1990s, WDUV would be acquired by Jacor Broadcasting (since absorbed by 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...
), who relocated its studios to St. Petersburg.
As recently as 1997, WDUV continued to play about 50 percent instrumental music.
In 1999, WDUV would swap its frequency with Classic rock
Classic rock
Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
station WTBT, moving from 103.5 to the stronger 105.5 signal (WTBT is now WFUS
WFUS
WFUS is a country music radio station in Tampa, Florida. It has been the flagship station of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers since 2004.WFUS is one of the eight stations in the Tampa Bay market owned by Clear Channel Communications....
, "US 103-5" country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
). However, both frequencies would retain their transmitting locations and cities of license—after the swap, WDUV became licensed in New Port Richey
New Port Richey, Florida
New Port Richey is a city in Pasco County, Florida, United States. It is a suburban city included in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area...
with transmitting facilities in Holiday
Holiday, Florida
Holiday , is a census-designated place in Pasco County, Florida, United States. It is a suburb included in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 21,904 at the 2000 census.The name Holiday, like the names of many towns, comes from a spark...
, while WTBT / WFUS, whose transmitter was located in Riverview
Riverview, Florida
Riverview, the name of three places in the U.S. state of Florida, may refer to:* Riverview, Duval County, Florida* Riverview, Escambia County, Florida* Riverview, Hillsborough County, Florida...
, became licensed in Bradenton. (That station has since been relicensed to Gulfport
Gulfport, Florida
Gulfport is a city in Pinellas County, Florida and a suburb of St. Petersburg. The population of Gulfport was 12,527 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau was 12,740. Gulfport is part of the Tampa-St...
.)
Shortly after the swap, Clear Channel would sell WDUV to its present owner, 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....
.
Personalities and Music
WDUV's popular morning show, which airs from 6 to 10 a.m., is hosted by radio personality Dick Ring. The remainder of the broadcasting day is generally automated and without disk jockeys—which was how WDUV operated for most of its life on the air.A sample hour of music on WDUV includes songs such as the following:
- "My Guy" - Mary WellsMary WellsMary Esther Wells was an American singer who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s...
- "Careless WhisperCareless Whisper"Careless Whisper" is a 1984 single by George Michael , released by Epic Records in the UK, Japan, and other countries; and by Columbia Records in North America. The song was George Michael's first solo single although he was still performing in Wham! at the time...
" - Wham!WHAM!Wham! were a short-lived British musical duo formed by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley in the early 1980s. They were briefly known in the United States as Wham! UK due to a naming conflict with an American band.... - "Have You Seen Her?" - The Chi-LitesThe Chi-LitesThe Chi-Lites are a Chicago-based smooth soul vocal quartet from the early 1970s, one of the few from the period not to come from Memphis or Philadelphia...
- "Who'll Stop The Rain" - Creedence Clearwater RevivalCreedence Clearwater RevivalCreedence Clearwater Revival was an American rock band that gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a number of successful singles drawn from various albums....
- "(Last Night) I Didn't Get To Sleep At All" - The 5th Dimension
- "Leavin' On A Jet Plane" - Peter, Paul & Mary
- "You Are The Woman" - FirefallFirefallFirefall is a rock band that formed in Boulder, Colorado in 1974. It was founded by Rick Roberts, who had been in the Flying Burrito Brothers, and Jock Bartley, who had been Tommy Bolin's replacement in Zephyr. The band's biggest hit single, "You Are the Woman", peaked at #9 on the Billboard charts...
- "I Just Called To Say I Love You" - Stevie WonderStevie WonderStevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
- "Nadia's ThemeNadia's Theme"Nadia's Theme" is a piece of music composed by Barry De Vorzon and Perry Botkin, Jr. that serves as the theme music to the American television soap opera The Young and the Restless.-Origins:...
(The Young And The Restless)" - Barry DeVorzon & Perry Botkin - "Eres TúEres tú (Mocedades song)"Eres tú" is a popular Spanish language song written in 1973 by Juan Carlos Calderón and performed by the Spanish band Mocedades, with Amaya Uranga on lead.This song was chosen as Spain's entry in the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest...
" - MocedadesMocedadesMocedades is a Spanish singing group from the Basque Country, probably best known for representing Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1973 with the song "Eres Tú"... - "Any Day NowAny Day Now (1962 song)"Any Day Now" is the title of a popular song written by songwriters Burt Bacharach and Bob Hilliard in 1962. The song has been recorded by numerous artists over the years, including notable versions by Chuck Jackson in 1962, Alan Price in 1965, Elvis Presley in 1969, and Ronnie Milsap in...
" - Ronnie MilsapRonnie MilsapRonnie Lee Milsap is an American country music singer and pianist. He was one of country’s most popular and influential performers of the 1970s and 1980s... - "Do You Want To Know A Secret" - The BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
- "We've Only Just Begun" - The CarpentersThe CarpentersCarpenters were an American vocal and instrumental duo, consisting of sister Karen and brother Richard Carpenter. The Carpenters were the #1 selling American music act of the 1970s. Though often referred to by the public as "The Carpenters", the duo's official name on authorized recordings and...
- "Surfer Girl" - The Beach BoysThe Beach BoysThe Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
- "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You" - Glenn MedeirosGlenn MedeirosGlenn Alan Medeiros is a Hispanic Hawaiian singer and rapper who was a teenage star in the 1980s.-Biography:...
- "FernandoFernando (song)"Fernando" is a song by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was the group's first non-album single and was released in November 1975 through Polar Music. Lead vocals were sung by Anni-Frid Lyngstad...
" - ABBAABBAABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog... - "Since I Don't Have YouSince I Don't Have You"Since I Don't Have You" is a song by the doo-wop group The Skyliners. Released in 1958, the single reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and also the top five of the R&B chart...
" - The SkylinersThe SkylinersThe Skyliners are an American doo-wop group from Pittsburgh fronted by Jimmy Beaumont. The original lineup also included Wally Lester, Jack Taylor, Joe Verscharen, Louis M. Tutino and Janet Vogel...