WLLD
  Logos for WLLD's primary and secondary channels. |
|
| City | Lakeland, Florida |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Tampa Bay Area |
| Branding | WiLD 94.1 |
| Frequency | 94.1 MHz (also on HD Radio) 94.1-2: Radio Disney |
| First air date | 1967 (as WVFM) |
| Format | CHR/Rhythmic |
| ERP | 100,000 watts |
| HAAT | 455 meters |
| Class | C |
| Facility ID | 51987 |
| Callsign meaning | Wild LakeLanD (city of license; Originally spelled as Wild with the first L substituting for I when it was on 98.7, now WBRN-FM) |
| Former callsigns | WVFM (1967-1988) WEZY (1988-1995) WSJT (1995-2009) |
| Owner |
Beasley Broadcast Group (Beasley Media Group, LLC) |
| Sister stations | WBRN-FM, WHFS, WQYK-FM, WRBQ-FM, WYUU |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | wild941.com |
WLLD is a Rhythmic Contemporary Hits-formatted radio station licensed to Lakeland, Florida that serves the Tampa Bay area in Florida, and is owned by Beasley Broadcast Group. Although the target audience of WiLD 94.1 is mainly people of ages 18–49, its main competitors are currently iHeartMedia's combo of Top 40 WFLZ ("93-3 FLZ"), and Urban Contemporary WBTP ("95.7 The Beat"), along with Cox's Top 40 WPOI ("Hot 101.5"). WLLD's transmitting facilities are in southeastern Hillsborough County, near the "Four Corners" while its studios are in St. Petersburg. The station can be picked up as far as Cape Coral, Leesburg, Orlando and Okeechobee.
94.1 began broadcasting as WVFM in 1967 and aired an Easy Listening format for almost three decades, and changed its calls to WEZY in 1988. WEZY later evolved from pure Beautiful Music into Soft AC before changing to Smooth Jazz WSJT on July 1, 1995.
The kayfabe line is that the station was started by two friends, Josh and Brian, who had been drinking on Josh's father's boat claiming to have pirated radio waves. The duo bragged of their contraband and irregulated airwaves until they were bought and turned into what is now the station that is broadcast today. In reality, the station just had a very small budget to start with, often resulting in the same songs playing over and over again. Tone Lōc's "Wild Thing" was the first song the station had played over the air. The fictional friends would claim to have allegiance toward the song during their drunken stupor and continued to play the song repeatedly over the course of days. For the first few days the station was on the air, the song continued to be played in an effort to spark word of mouth attention.
...
Wikipedia