WFUS (103.5 FM) is a

commercial radio Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship, for example. It was the United States' first model ...

station licensed to Gulfport, Florida. It airs a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

format and is one of the eight stations in the

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater i ...

radio market owned by

iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

. It carries ''

The Bobby Bones Show ''The Bobby Bones Show'' is an American, nationally syndicated country music radio show aired during the morning hours. The Bobby Bones Show, which originally aired from Austin, Texas, now broadcasts from studios at WSIX-FM in Nashville. Premie ...

'' syndicated from

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

in morning

drive time Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this c ...

. The studios are on Feather Sound Drive in Clearwater. WFUS is a Class C0 FM station with an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...

(ERP) of 68,000 watts. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is on Colonnade Vista Drive in Riverview. WFUS broadcasts using

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcast, simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD R ...

technology. Its HD2

subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compressi ...

carries the

classic hip hop Classic hip hop is a music radio format focusing primarily on hip hop music from the 1980s, 1990s, and the early to mid-2000s. Although stations with such a format date back as far as 2004, the format was first popularized in October 2014, after ...

format of co-owned WBTP (106.5 FM).

History

WBRD-FM and WDUV

The station

signed on A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio broadcasting, radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonw ...

the air in . It originally broadcast on 103.3 MHz and its

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

was WBRD-FM, with those call letters referring to the

city of license In U.S., Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broadcast ...

Bradenton Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698, up from 49,546 at the 2010 census. It is a principal city in the Sarasota metropolitan area. Dow ...

. At first, WBRD-FM mostly

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

its

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

WBRD (1420 AM). They were owned by Sunshine State Broadcasting. After the first year, WBRD-FM switched to a beautiful music format. It was largely

automated Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...

, playing quarter hour sweeps of soft, instrumental

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s of popular adult music, along with Broadway and

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

show tune A show tune is a song originally written as part of the score of a work of musical theatre or musical film, especially if the piece in question has become a standard, more or less detached in most people's minds from the original context. Th ...

s. In 1973, it changed its call letters to WDUV and began calling itself "The Dove." Over time, it added more soft vocals and removed some of the instrumentals. WDUV continued to play

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...

music into the 1990s, when other beautiful stations had switched to more contemporary formats.

Move to 103.5 FM

In the early 1990s, WDUV relocated its frequency to 103.5 FM, to improve its coverage area in the Tampa Bay area. A couple of years later, WDUV was acquired by

Jacor Jacor Communications was a media corporation, existing between 1987 and 1999, which owned many radio stations in the United States. In 1998, Jacor was purchased by Clear Channel Communications, now iHeartMedia, for $2.8 billion. Jacor Communicat ...

Broadcasting. Jacor relocated the studios to

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

. On April 5, 1999, at Midnight, WDUV swapped its frequency with

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

station WTBT. WDUV moved from 103.5 to 105.5 FM and WTBT took the 103.5 dial position. However, both frequencies retained their transmitting locations and cities of license. After the swap, WDUV became licensed to

New Port Richey 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. The population was counted at 16,728 in the 2020 census. History ...

with transmitting facilities in

Holiday A holiday is a day or other period of time set aside for festivals or recreation. ''Public holidays'' are set by public authorities and vary by state or region. Religious holidays are set by religious organisations for their members and are often ...

, while WTBT, whose transmitter was located in Riverview, became licensed to Bradenton. (In the 2000s, the city of license changed again to Gulfport.) Shortly after the swap,

Clear Channel Communications iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

sold WDUV to its present owner,

Cox Radio CMG Media Corporation (doing business as Cox Media Group) is an American media conglomerate principally owned by Apollo Global Management in conjunction with Cox Enterprises, which maintains a 29% minority stake in the company. The company p ...

. Because WDUV is aimed at an older audience, Cox saw more potential gain with WTBT at 103.5. The station formerly went by "Thunder 103.5" as a classic rock station that started on March 14, 1995, on 105.5 FM. Popular radio personality Ron Diaz was the morning drive host at that time. Towards the end of the classic rock format, WTBT was the Tampa

affiliate Affiliation or affiliate may refer to: * Affiliate (commerce), a legal form of entity relationship used in Business Law * Affiliation (family law), a legal form of family relationship * Affiliate marketing * Affiliate network or affiliation platfo ...

for ''

The Bob and Tom Show ''The Bob & Tom Show'' is a syndicated US radio program established by Bob Kevoian and Tom Griswold at radio station WFBQ in Indianapolis, Indiana, March 7, 1983, and syndicated nationally since January 6, 1995. Originally syndicated by Pre ...

'' syndicated from

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

Flip to Country

On April 13, 2005, WTBT flipped to its current country format as WFUS. It called itself "US 103.5". Its main competition is veteran country outlet WQYK 99.5 FM, owned by the

Beasley Broadcast Group Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc., based in Naples, Florida, is an owner/operator of radio stations in the United States. , the company owns 57 stations under the Beasley Media Group name. History The company was founded in 1961 by George G. Bea ...

. That left

WHPT WHPT (102.5 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Sarasota, Florida, and serving the Tampa Bay area. Owned by Cox Media Group, it broadcasts a hot talk format. It is also the flagship station for Tampa Bay Lightning hockey and carrie ...

102.5 FM The following radio stations broadcast on FM broadcasting, FM frequency 102.5 MHz: Argentina * 2001 (radio station), 2001 in Punta Alta, Buenos Aires * Cero (radio station), Cero in Deán Funes, Córdoba * Continental Santa Fe in Santa Fe ...

as the market's only classic rock station at that time.

(then known as Clear Channel Communications) later relaunched the classic rock format as "Thunder Across The Bay", operating on

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater ( two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tr ...

s at 94.5 FM (Gulfport), 99.1 FM (Holiday), 105.9 FM (Tampa), and on WMTX-HD2. In August 2014, WFUS's HD2 subchannel's format changed to "Soft EZ Oldies", a format meant to compete with market leader WDUV. Prior to that, the HD2 subchannel was classic rock, branded as "Thunder 103.5 HD2". In September 2014, WFUS-HD2 flipped once again, as

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

-formatted "ALT 99-9", meant to compete with

's WSUN 97.1 FM. "ALT" was also broadcast on FM translator W207BU at 99.9 MHz, located in Bayonet Point. On November 7, 2014, at Noon, W207BU moved from 99.9 MHz to 100.3 MHz to eliminate interference with

WXJB WXJB (99.9 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Homosassa, Florida and serving the Nature Coast. It airs a news-talk radio format and is owned and operated by Hernando Broadcasting Company, Inc. The broadcast license is held by Ge ...

in Brooksville. The station then re-branded as "ALT 100.3". The translator also changed call letters, and is now identifying as W262CP. On March 14, 2016, the "ALT" format was replaced with a rebroadcast of iHeart's Sarasota-based tropical/Latin pop-formatted WRUB "Rumba 106.5". WFUS was the official

flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyal ...

of the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

NFL team from 2004 to 2016. Games are now airing on co-owned

active rock Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge o ...

station WXTB 97.9 FM.

References

External links

* * * {{coord, 27.820, N, 82.261, W, type:landmark_region:US_source:FCC, display=title FUS Radio stations established in 1963 1963 establishments in Florida IHeartMedia radio stations