WXTB
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| City | Clearwater, Florida |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Tampa Bay Area |
| Branding | 98 Rock |
| Slogan | Tampa Bay's Rock Station |
| Frequency | 97.9 MHz (also on HD Radio) |
| First air date | December 1967 (as WQXM) |
| Format |
Active rock HD2: News/talk (WFLA simulcast) |
| ERP | 100,000 watts |
| HAAT | 458 meters |
| Class | C |
| Facility ID | 11274 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 28°10′56.00″N 82°46′6.00″W / 28.1822222°N 82.7683333°W |
| Callsign meaning | W X Tampa Bay |
| Former callsigns | WQXM (1967–83) WZNE (1983–86) WKRL (1986–90) |
| Affiliations |
Compass Media Networks iHeartRadio Premiere Networks Premium Choice |
| Owner |
iHeartMedia, Inc. (Citicasters Licenses, Inc.) |
| Sister stations | WBTP, WDAE, WFLA, WFLZ-FM, WFUS, WHNZ, WMTX |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | 98rock |
WXTB (97.9 FM) – branded 98 Rock – is a commercial active rock radio station licensed to Clearwater, Florida, serving the Tampa Bay Area. Owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., WXTB serves as the local affiliate for Sixx Sense with Nikki Sixx and Skratch 'N Sniff. The WXTB studios are located in South Tampa, while the station transmitter resides in Holiday. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WXTB broadcasts over two HD Radio channels, and is available online via iHeartRadio.
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 1983, the station changed their call letters to WZNE and rebranded as "The New Z98 FM, Tampa Bay's Hottest Hits!". The station aired a AOR/CHR format until 1986, when it flipped to classic rock as WKRL.
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 New Year's Eve, 1989, that 98Rock, 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.
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Wikipedia