WPLP
Encyclopedia
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 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...
metropolitan area. It began broadcasting at 570 AM on December 4, 1978. Its image name was "News/Talk 57 WPLP: The Talk of Tampa Bay."
The 570 dial position in Tampa Bay began in 1966 as WFSO (not related to the New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
State-based current station using those call letters
WFSO
WFSO is a Christian radio station licensed to Olivebridge, New York in north central Ulster County at the foothills of the Catskill Mountains. The station broadcasts on 88.3 MHz FM with 100 Watts from a tower in Olivebridge. WFSO is the full-service NCE flagship of Redeemer Broadcasting, Inc., a...
), a low-power, daytime-only station operated by Elwyn Johnson and his son Dan. http://www.radioyears.com/other/details.cfm?lid=13&id=463 Under the image name of "Big 57," WFSO was a Top 40 station that evolved in the early 1970s into hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
. The station was purchased in 1978 and converted to WPLP.
The owners of the new talk station station was a conglomerate of three investors, including Paul Bilzerian, who would later go on to become a corporate raider, http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/access/50670913.html?dids=50670913:50670913&FMT=FT&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Nov+2%2C+1991&author=JOHN+CRADDOCK&pub=St.+Petersburg+Times&edition=&startpage=1.A&desc=A+resigned+Bilzerian+prepares+for+prison and Michael Spears http://www.teddwebb.com/showcase/where_are_they_now/michael_spears.html, a Dallas radio personality. Bilzerian and the other two investors bickered over finances http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE2DF113AF937A15756C0A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=3 and soon the station went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, to be reacquired by Dan Johnson. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE2DF113AF937A15756C0A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=3
By 1984, the station was owned as a standalone AM by Guy Gannett Broadcasting, and broadcast out of a modified trailer
Mobile home
Mobile homes or static caravans are prefabricated homes built in factories, rather than on site, and then taken to the place where they will be occupied...
that sat off the then-unpaved 82nd Avenue North in 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:...
, and on the edge of a swamp
Swamp
A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...
; the dirt road and swampy location were the objects of frequent jokes on WPLP and other stations (who nicknamed it "Plop 57" in a corruption of its call letters). It was an affiliate of CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
and of Larry King
Larry King
Lawrence Harvey "Larry" King is an American television and radio host whose work has been recognized with awards including two Peabodys and ten Cable ACE Awards....
's syndicated late-night radio show. Popular local personalities over its ten-year history included John Eastman, Dave Scott, Richard Shanks, Tim Coles, Tedd Webb, Ken Charles, Don Richards (a newscaster who was also the station's program director) Nanci Donnellan, Valerie Geller
Valerie Geller
Valerie Geller is an International Broadcast Consultant, Author, public speaker, communications coach and trainer working throughout the world to help broadcasters build their audiences...
, Gordon Byrd, Chuck Harder
Chuck Harder
Chuck Harder was a former radio disk jockey turned talk show host in White Springs, Florida, USA. He is originally from Elgin, Illinois. He is no longer on the air.-Early radio career:...
, David Fowler, Rick Samples, and Bob Lassiter
Bob Lassiter
Bob Lassiter, also known as "Mad Dog", was a controversial and highly influential American radio talk show host in the 1980s and '90s...
. Among the news people who cut their teeth at WPLP in the early days are: John McConnell, Terry McElhatton, Dave Hayes and Steve Triggs.
Although WPLP was the first talk radio
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
station in Tampa Bay, it struggled in the market. It briefly (August 1981-December 1982) had competition in WNSI
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:...
at AM 1380, but when NSI changed its format WPLP went head-to-head with WFLA
WFLA (AM)
WFLA is an AM radio station in Tampa, Florida, serving the Arbitron Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater market with additional listenership to the east in the adjacent Lakeland-Winter Haven market and to the south in the adjacent Sarasota-Bradenton market...
, a station with a more powerful signal and larger budget that routinely beat WPLP in the ratings. It was only in the mid-80s, when Fowler and Lassiter arrived, that WPLP became genuinely competitive. Fowler and his morning-show competition at WFLA (first Jack Ellery, then Dick Norman
Dick Norman
Dick Norman is a professional tennis player. He has achieved a degree of folk popularity among tennis fans due to his height , his left-handed power game and, in the last few years, his age .Turning professional in 1991, Norman notched up only his 14th Grand Slam...
) swapped ratings victories, while Bob Lassiter
Bob Lassiter
Bob Lassiter, also known as "Mad Dog", was a controversial and highly influential American radio talk show host in the 1980s and '90s...
won his timeslots in every Arbitron
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...
ratings book with double his competitors' numbers before departing for WFLA in September 1987.
WPLP was what is known as a "pig" in the radio industry: a low-budget station with little financial success and a poor signal—one that didn't even reach as far as 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....
in inclement weather (partly because Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n state radio broadcast at 570 AM, in violation of the international broadcast regulations; the station received an FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
variance to broadcast at 5,000 watts in 1986, but Cuban interference remained a problem). Despite Gannett and the staff's best efforts, WPLP had a tremendously hard time selling advertising time. Their target audience was Tampa Bay's sizable population of retirees; while that audience gave the station a loyal following, it was outside the 25-54 age group that is the most important demographic for advertisers. Yet even when Lassiter ruled the airwaves, its sales staff had a very few clients (and those were often threatened with boycotts by opponents of the controversial and caustic Lassiter).
Throughout most of 1987, Gannett was in negotiations with Susquehanna Radio Corporation
Susquehanna Radio Corporation
The Susquehanna Radio Corporation was a media corporation which operated from 1941 to 2006 that was headquartered in York, Pennsylvania. The company was a unit of Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff, a conglomerate more widely known for the Pfaltzgraff kitchenware line than its broadcasting pursuits.Some of...
to purchase WPLP. Susquehanna finally took possession of the station on March 4, 1988, fired several staffers (including Fowler and Richards), and applied for new call letters. Within one month, WPLP had ceased to exist. All but one (John Eastman) of its air staff had been released, new offices and studio were found in St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
, and the station had become WTKN, which subsequently plummeted into ratings insignificance with shares below 1 percent.
Today, following further sales to other owners, the 570 frequency is occupied by WTBN
WTBN
WTBN is a radio station broadcasting a religious format. Licensed to Pinellas Park, Florida, USA, it serves the Tampa Bay area. The station is currently owned by Salem Communications. WTBN's programming can also be heard on WTWD 910 AM, licensed in Plant City, Florida, serving the eastern portion...
, a religious radio station owned by Salem Communications
Salem Communications
Salem Communications is a U.S. radio broadcaster, Internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher specializing in evangelical Christian and conservative political talk radio. It owns 99 commercial radio stations, 65 of which are in the top 25 markets. Salem is the fifth largest U.S....
.