In 1925, the station first signed on as WGHB in Clearwater. By 1927, its call sign changed to WFLA and it moved from 1130 kilocycles to 590. It shared the frequency with another Tampa-area station, WSUN, before they both moved together to 620 AM in 1929, sharing time on that frequency. WFLA and WSUN were network affiliates of the NBC Red Network. The carried dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows and big band broadcasts during the "Golden Age of Radio." The two stations were owned by the Clearwater and St. Petersburg Chambers of Congress. In January 1941, WFLA moved to 940 AM, then to its present 970 AM that March. From 1945 to 1949, the station carried a Southern gospel show, which featured legendary bass singer J. D. Sumner and The Sunny South Quartet. Once network programming had shifted from radio to television, WFLA began a full servicemiddle of the road format of popular adult music, news and sports. It later tried Top 40 and Adult Contemporary music. In the 1980s, listeners shifted to FM to hear music, so WFLA increased the talk programming. In 1986, it had made the transition to all-talk. It has been the market leader in this format ever since, and usually is among the top five stations in the market, according to Arbitron ratings. At one time, WFLA and its FM radio sister were owned by Media General, the parent company of The Tampa Tribune and WFLA-TV. In the 1980s, federal regulations forced Media General to divest the radio stations because of its other local media holdings. The radio stations were sold to Blair Broadcasting in late 1982. Sconnix Communications of Charleston, South Carolina, bought WFLA and what was then WPDS from Blair Broadcasting in 1987, and Jacor Communications purchased WFLA from Sconnix in 1988. In 1989, the station moved from Jackson Street in downtown Tampa to its present location at 4002 W. Gandy Blvd., in south Tampa. Another Clear Channel property in Tallahassee now uses the calls, WFLA-FM. WFLA gave national hosts Glenn Beck and Lionel their starts in talk radio. Other prominent alumni, from the days when the station concentrated on local programming, include Bob Lassiter, Jay Marvin, Dick Norman, Chuck Harder, Jack Ellery and Freddy Mertz. Other former hosts include Al Gardner, Mark Larsen, Daniel Ruth, Mark Beiro, Paul Gonzalez and Mel Berman. Over the years, AM Tampa Bay has also had three female co-hosts; Sharon Taylor, who was let go after ten years, Allyson Turner, who left less than a year after she was hired, and Corey Dylan, who was promoted to her own show at sister station, WMTX, after four years on WFLA. Longtime news anchors and reporters Steve Hall and Sharon Parker were laid off in a 2019 iHeart media round of layoffs.
Programming
WFLA primarily airs nationally syndicated programming, with the exception of the station's local morning show, AM Tampa Bay, and early evenings. The morning show is hosted by broadcasters Jack Harris with Aaron Jacobson, Katie Butchino, Natalie Aquilia, Kay Long and. In the early evenings, Ryan Gorman hosts PM Tampa Bay. The station is also the home and flagship for nationally syndicated afternoon host Todd Schnitt, whose show is delayed until late in the evening for the live airing of Sean Hannity. The station's weekday lineup also includes nationally syndicated programs hosted by Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh as well as Coast to Coast AM with George Noory. WFLA provides local newscasts on both weekdays and weekends. Evening and overnight newscasts are pre-recorded broadcasts focusing on Florida news. National news is provided by Fox News Radio and NBC News Radio. The station serves as the flagship for the Tampa Bay LightningNHL hockey team. It carries other sports programming on a case-by-case basis when there are scheduling conflicts with sports events on its sister stations, WDAE and WHNZ. WFLA provides news coverage for other iHeartMedia stations in the Tampa Bay market, and its anchors and reporters often are heard elsewhere in the state, providing reports and oftentimes complete newscasts for those markets. WFLA also serves as a hub for the Florida News Network.
