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History of WGUL-FM
Thanks to Marc
Tyll for this history of WGUL-FM.
The Gull Group was in the process
of selling its WGUL-FM 96.1 in Dade City and WAVQ-FM 104.3 in
Inglis. Simultaneously Marcocci was about to close on the purchase of the
construction permit for WBKX-FM 96.3, Yankeetown. From this point on
things get a little more interesting. Through a series of frequency moves around
the state, designed to allow each participating station to increase its power, WXOF
traded frequencies with WLVU-FM 106.3, Holiday (North Tampa Bay). There
were a total of five stations involved which included stations WRRX-FM 97.7,
Micanopy (now WSKY-FM 97.3);
WKZY-FM 106.3, Cross City (now on 106.9); WLVU-FM 106.3 Holiday
(now WSUN-FM 97.1); WLQH-FM 97.3
Chiefland (now WNDN-FM 107.9); and WXOF-FM 97.1 Beverly Hills
(which moved to 106.3). Before the frequency trades, all five of the affected
stations were 6,000 watt class A FM channels. As a result of the channel moves, WXOF
was able to take advantage of increasing its power to 25,000 watts on 106.3,
while the Holiday station, WLVU (now WSUN-FM 97X), increased its
power to 50,000 watts on 97.1. The new Country Fox 106.3 began broadcasting in
May 1998. Within a few months, Marcocci closed on the construction permit for
WBKX-FM
96.3 Yankeetown, and upon completing the station construction, the call
letters WXOF and The Country Fox programming moved to the 96.3 frequency.
Marcocci had also sold WGUL-FM 96.1 (now WTMP-FM) Dade City to
Mega Communications which became WMGG-FM. Upon completion of the sale of WGUL-FM
96.1, Marcocci moved the WGUL-FM call letters to the former WXOF
frequency on 106.3 where The Music of Your Life could be heard throughout
Citrus, Marion, Hernando and parts of Levy and Pasco counties. In 2004, in an
effort to move the WGUL-FM signal closer to the Tampa Bay market, The
Gull Group filed an application to change the city of license from Beverly
Hills to Spring Hill, located near Brooksville, about 20 miles South of
Homosassa Springs on U. S. Highway 19. However, since WGUL-FM was Beverly
Hills only radio station, WINV-AM 1560 Inverness was re-licensed to
Beverly Hills, leaving Inverness with WJUF-FM 90.1. A year later, The
Gull Group sold its WGUL-AM 860 Dunedin and WLSS-AM 930
Sarasota to Salem Communications for $9.6 million. Before the sale, WGUL-FM
had no separate studio and had been re-broadcasting WGUL-AM’s
programming from Tampa Bay. With the WGUL-AM sale complete, and the WGUL
call letters remaining with the AM station going to Salem as part of the sale,
Marcocci decided to switch the WGUL-FM format to Scott
Shannon’s True
Oldies programming with new call letters WJQB. Today WJQB
" True Oldies 106.3" can be heard from Southwest Ocala to
Crystal River all the way down to North Tampa Bay, covering Palm Harbor, New
Port Richey, Tarpon Springs, Brooksville, Dade City and most of Florida’s Gulf
Coast playing the best of the top 40 favorites of the 50s, and 60s.
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