History
The station signed on the air in December 1967 as WQXM with a beautiful music format with owners John T. Rutledge and Joseph S. Field, with Jerry Reeves as music director and station manager until the sale of the station to Plough Broadcasting in 1975, switching to an AOR format under the name 98 Rock, Your Album Station in 1977. In July 1983, the station changed its call letters to WZNE and rebranded it as Z98, Tampa Bay's Hottest Hits. The station briefly first adopted a hybrid AOR/Top 40 format at first before the station made a format transition to mainstream Top 40/CHR by the following year. After changing its format towards mainstream, the station tried to compete against Tampa Bay's dominant CHR leader WRBQ-FM, but it was a short battle. This only lasted until January 6, 1986, when the station flipped to a classic rock format as Classic Rock 97.9 WKRL leaving WRBQ the only CHR station in the Tampa market throughout the remainder of the 1980s. [2]
WKRL lasted until December 30, 1989, when the signal went silent briefly, and then Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" began playing in constant rotation, eventually lasting for 24 hours, as an early form of stunting. Finally, the repetition gave way to the announcement on December 31, 1989, that WKRL, now controlled by Great American Broadcasting, would be the first all-Led Zeppelin format station in the country, playing the band's entire catalog in its entirety as well as solo efforts by the bandmates and their other music-related projects. WKRL received national coverage from MTV to CBS and many other outlets, and was the first station to get worldwide coverage for a true "artist flip", where a broadcaster based its entire business on one group or solo artist. [3]
Two weeks unfolded with conjecture from various news outlets as to how long this format could last, given that all studio Zeppelin recordings available at the time added up to less than 10 hours of continuous play. The station responded over the following week by adding a few classic acts such as Pink Floyd, ZZ Top, The Rolling Stones, and Van Halen. With the bells of AC/DC's "Hells Bells" playing in the background, a major announcement came at noon on January 18, 1990, that the station would be changing its call letters to WXTB, and the station would be relaunched as The New 98 Rocks The Bay! or simply just known as The New 98 Rock. [4] [5] [6]
New program director Gregory Mull, brought in from 96 K-Rock in Fort Myers to replace the outgoing Beau Raines, immediately reorganized the on-air personality list. Brian Smith and Bruce Barber, morning DJs who trailed in the ratings, both were released and replaced by morning newcomer Tommy "Seabass" Sebastian, who stunted his first few weeks as "Buck Maui" and is also the voice of the popular character "The Big Chief Meteorologist". Teddy "Ted Kamikaze" Cannarozzi was assigned to do the 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. slot. Scott "The Ledge" Ledger and Austin Keyes kept their afternoon and evening spots, respectively. Marla "Stone" Stonecipher, Kelli "K.C." Casey, Ronnie "Big Rig" Michaels, Heather McCoy, and Peter McLaren rounded out the schedule, and to complete the station Gregory hired Joe Kelly to become the official voice of WXTB.
In late 1990, 98 Rock launched what would turn into a 15-year tradition-the "Livestock" annual rock festival. A fusion of "Live Aid" and "Woodstock", Livestock was the brainchild of Mull and Sebastian. Each weekend-long Livestock event brought well-known national acts such as Soundgarden and Tesla together with lesser-known bands hoping for a chance at success. In keeping with the charitable spirit of Live Aid and other rock benefits, bands donated their performance time and a portion of the gate proceeds were donated to charities such as Greenpeace.
As the station rose in the ratings books, WXTB took over local promotional opportunities at The Rock-It Club and Killian's Rock Cafe in Ybor City. Meanwhile, WXTB gained a huge piece of the morning show market with the Seabass and Marla morning show. The new 98 Rock became a ratings success.
In 2000, the station moved its studios from Feather Sound Corporate Center to new owner iHeartMedia (then known as Clear Channel Communications)'s broadcast complex in southwest Tampa in an attempt to consolidate overall operations of Clear Channel stations in the area.
On January 18, 2010, at noon, WXTB replayed its format launch from 20 years earlier, including the final countdown in which soundbites from phone calls, many of which trashed then-rival WYNF, were played. The first four songs played after the launch ("Hells Bells" by AC/DC, "Kickstart My Heart" by Mötley Crüe, "Paradise City" by Guns N' Roses, and "Hot for Teacher" by Van Halen) were played again in tribute to the current format's 20th anniversary, along with original bumpers.
In April 2017, WXTB was named the new flagship station of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Radio Network, taking over for sister station WFUS. [7] For the first time in Buccaneers history, game days featured seven-and-a-half-hours of team programming completely on the FM dial, including pre- and post-game shows bookending the action on the field.
Starting with the 2022-23 season, due to NFL+, 98 Rock’s coverage will be blacked out except within the station’s coverage area. Pre and postgame coverage will continue to be available nationwide. A message regarding the blackout featuring various 98 Rock personalities will play for those streaming outside the coverage area.
