WFLZ-FM

WFLZ-FM

City of license	Tampa, Florida
Broadcast area	Tampa Bay area, Florida Suncoast, Nature Coast, Central Florida
Branding	93.3 FLZ
Slogan	Tampa Bay's Hit Music Channel
Frequency	93.3 MHz (also on HD Radio) 93.3 HD-2 (93-3 FLZ HD-2 "Club Phusion") for dance music
First air date	1948 (as WFLA-FM)
Format	CHR/Pop (Dance "Club Phusion" on HD2)
ERP	100,000 watts
HAAT	472 meters
Class	C
Facility ID	29732
Callsign meaning	nod to original callsign WFLA Z was used on former Z-93 branding
Former callsigns	WFLA-FM (1948-1981) WOJC (1981-1984) WFLA-FM (1984-1985) WPDS (1985-1987)
Owner	Clear Channel
Sister stations	WBTP, WDAE, WFLA, WFUS, WHNZ, WMTX, WXTB, WTVT
Webcast	Listen Live
Website	933flz.com

WFLZ-FM (93.3 FM, "93-3 FLZ") is a CHR/Pop station broadcasting in the Tampa Bay area, Florida, USA. The station was the flagship station for the MJ Morning Show hosted by Todd Schnitt, which was also played on other Clear Channel FM stations in Florida and Missouri. The station has a class C signal operating at 100,000 watts effective radiated power, and is one of the most powerful FM radio stations in Florida, covering four of the state's radio markets.

WFLZ currently broadcasts in HD format. 93.3 HD-1 simulcasts the analog WFLZ-FM 93.3 MHz ("93-3 FLZ HD-1 Hit music"), whereas 93.3 HD-2 exclusively broadcasts dance music ("93-3 FLZ HD-2 Club Phusion").

History

Early decades

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. The station was owned by The Tampa Tribune, which also owned WFLA and WFLA-TV in Tampa. In 1966, the Tribune and its three stations were sold to Richmond Newspapers, which became Media General in 1969.

In 1981, after spending most of its early life as a beautiful music station, it changed to a country format, as WOJC, "Orange Country 93". However, it was unable to compete against country powerhouses at the time, WSUN and WQYK-FM.

In the mid-1980s, it changed again to a more-conventional adult contemporary format, bringing back the WFLA-FM calls and using the name "93 FLA". While it was a little more successful, it still faced competition from WNLT and WIQI.

It was then reformatted into WPDS ("Paradise 93"), a soft adult contemporary formatted station, but this too was unsuccessful.

WFLA-FM and its AM sister, WFLA-AM, were purchased by Jacor Broadcasting in 1988. It changed its calls to WFLZ and soon changed to oldies, as "Z93". Competing against WHBO, it lasted only a year.

WFLZ would flip to Top 40 in 1989 to compete against local CHR Q105. The station became "Power 93" or "The Power Pig", and aggressively targeted Q105 with promotions such as handing out "Screw The Q" t-shirts at various on the street events.

93-3 FLZ

In March 1995, The Power Pig dropped its aggressive image and change to "93-3 FLZ". Its slogan was "The New Music Revolution". FLZ disc jockey Bubba soon syndicated to WJBT in Jacksonville for 2 hours. In 1996, Jacor Communications absorbed Citicasters, Inc, and WXTB and what is now WFUS. For a few months, WFLZ simulcasted on KHTS-FM 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-FM. 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 sold 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 that oversaw their old rivals at WFLZ.

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 Calta 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 operations manager BJ Harris left WFLZ for Cincinnati to do afternoons and PD work. MJ remained at mornings on WFLZ, turning it into The MJ Morning Show. The next year, MJ started his own afternoon show The Schnitt Show on Clear Channel's heritage talker in Miami, WIOD, shortly following the September 11 attacks in 2001. MJ/Schnitt continued to do the show from Tampa despite the Miami broadcast. Three months later, the show was added locally to WFLA. Upon the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' victory at the Super Bowl, WFLZ changed its branding to 93.3 B-U-C temporarily. In 2004 it earned the "CHR Station of the Year" and "CHR Personality of the Year" (for Kane) awards in the Radio Music Awards. 93.3 FLZ remains the most listened to radio station in the Tampa Bay area with close to 800,000 people tuning in each week.

On January 19, 2012, Clear Channel announced that after 18 years, the MJ Morning Show would be cancelled. The final broadcast will be February 17, 2012. Clear Channel announced that the Kane Show, based out of Washington, DC, would take over the morning spot.

Meet Ball Concerts

In 2009, the station conducted its first "Meet Ball" concert on Valentine's Weekend. In 2009 the performing artist was Gavin DeGraw, in 2010 it was Kris Allen and in 2011 it was Paper Tongues. While this event highlights a national recording artist/group, it is also a popular singles mingle event which draws over 1,000 people.

Jingle Ball Concerts

In 2009, the station conducted its first "Jingle Ball" concert which is now held annually in December. The performing artists were Pitbull, The Fray, Jordin Sparks, Sean Kingston, Boys Like Girls, We The Kings, Kesha, Jason Derulo, Adam Lambert, 3OH!3 and Iyaz. In 2010 the performers were Maroon 5, B.o.B, Enrique Iglesias, Bruno Mars, Train, Shontelle, Dev, Mike Posner and The Ready Set.

The Pig Pen Social Network

In 2006, 93.3 FLZ created a social networking site called "The Pig Pen". The station promoted the Pig Pen as the "local" version of MySpace. The name "Pig Pen" was probably taken from WFLZ's previous station image "The Power Pig." In 2009 this social networking site was discontinued.

Nicollette Sheridan Incident

On January 31, 2007, the station was fined $10,000 by the Federal Communications Commission (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.

Controversy with Britney Spears

When it comes to poking fun at celebrities at a Top 40 station, WFLZ is famous for it. One of the celebrities the station has targeted is Britney Spears.

The first incident began on June 18, 2007, when the station made headlines after the MJ Morning Show placed at least three outdoor advertisements (2 in the Tampa Bay area, one in Jacksonville) featuring Internet photos of Spears with her shaved head, along with the face of Kelli and the slogans "Total Nut Jobs", "Shock Therapy" and "Certifiable". The advertisements were placed on billboards owned by WFLZ's sister company Clear Channel Outdoor. Evidently being notified about the billboards, Spears and her representatives were not pleased, and threatened to sue Clear Channel if they were not removed immediately. Clear Channel consented and they were removed the following day. The decision to have them removed had Kelli upset that his employers caved in to legal pressure from Spears' representatives.

The second flack would flare up again in January 2009, when the station made headlines by being one of the first to play Spears' controversial single "If You Seek Amy". The title, when said quickly sounds like the singer is spelling out an obscenity, f-u-c-k, followed by the word "me". The station broadcast an edited version, and even created a version with morning host MJ Kelli saying "MJ" in place of "Amy"; however, due to the intended nature of the song, groups such as the Parents Television Council still went through and filed complaints.

External links

• 93.3 FLZ website
• 93.3 FLZ Facebook Fan Page
• 93.3 FLZ Twitter Feed
• 93.3 FLZ YouTube Channel
• The Power Pig WFLZ Tribute site. 200+ audio clips, stories, pictures and more.
• Query the FCC's FM station database for WFLZ
• Radio-Locator information on WFLZ
• Query Arbitron's FM station database for WFLZ