History Of WLLO
Thanks to Marc
Tyll for this history of WLLO.
WLLO-FM began operations in 1983 as WJRQ-FM
92.1 which was owned by Jim Johnson who had been a legendary broadcaster and
innovator in Tampa Bay radio. In 1986 the station became "Willo 92 Under
The Willow Tree". Although the ratings on "Willo" were
good, Jim Nieman, Arkelien’s Naples group sales manager, who was sent
to Gainesville to become general manager, had difficulty selling the demos in
Gainesville which had a median age of 26 due to the large student population at
the University of Florida. The Easy Listening format was attracting large
numbers in the 55+ demographic, a difficult sell since most of the ad agencies
wanted the coveted 25 - 54 demographic. Arkelien sold WLLO in 1987 to
well known Orlando radio news director, Reagan Smith
and his Gulf to Bay Broadcasting Corporation. Smith changed the call
letters to WFEZ-FM 92.1 for "EZ 92" and left the format
easy listening. However, WFEZ was experiencing the same difficulty as WLLO
in that the format was attracting the 55+ demographics which was virtually
impossible to sell in Gainesville. In 1984 Smith decided to switch the format
back to its original country roots and started calling it "Z-Country
92." Since Smith was operating the station absentee, no one locally at WFEZ
was in charge. The station suffered in its ability to attract any meaningful
advertising revenues, only billing approximately $2,500 per month with
operational expenses exceeding $6,000 monthly with a bare skeleton crew. The
monthly power bill alone was over $1,500. Smith decided he needed to do
something fast, so Jacksonville radio executive Marc
Tyll was hired as the station’s general manager and given the
responsibility of turning WFEZ around. Tyll had worked in Ocala and
Gainesville years earlier and was most recently the General Sales Manager at
Jacksonville’s WJAX-AM 690 and WAPE-FM 95.1. Tyll ascertained
the situation and determined a complete station overhaul was due. It was
determined the previous success 92.1 had experienced as a country station was
impossible to repeat since the market now had three FM country stations and it
didn’t make since to compete directly against the big FM stations. Tyll
determined there was a void in the market for Churban contemporary, and quickly
changed the format to hot adult contemporary during the day and Churban during
the night and weekends. Tony Downes, WFEZ mid-day on-air
personality, who had a long history with urban contemporary and dance formats,
was promoted to Programming Director and Operations Manager and the format
overhaul planning and implementation began. After
about three weeks into the new format, Downes approached Tyll and asked to go
full time Churban, stating early research was showing a strong following for the
Churban/dance music instead of the adult contemporary which was played during
weekdays. Tyll thought it over and consulted with Smith about the proposed
format adjustment and it was decided to go along with Downes proposal, so WFEZ
became full-time Churban as "Hot 92.1". The ratings soared and
quickly gained listeners from Gainesville in the 18-49 adult demographic.
"Hot 92.1" was even taking away listeners from long time CHR legend WYKS-FM
"Kiss 105". Former WRUF-FM Gainesville "Studio
104" producer and radio host, Professor Chuck Woods, joined
"Hot 92.1" as a programming consultant and host of the "Saturday
Hot Mix." As "Hot 92.1" ratings climbed and billing progressed to
an all time high, Smith promoted Tyll to Vice-President in addition to being the
station’s general manager and general sales manager. In 1990, in an effort to
enhance the station’s coverage, Tyll began conducting research to determine
how a power increase could be accomplished. Since 92.1 was too close to
co-channel 92.1 WJXR-FM, Maclenney, a frequency move was determined to be
the best alternative. Plans went onto place to move from 92.1 to 101.3. This
allowed a power increase from 1,700 watts to 19,300 watts, greatly enhancing
coverage in Gainesville and Ocala. Soon after the frequency move, Smith decided
to sell WFEZ to Atlanta broadcaster, Moe Negrin who bought and
sold stations through his company Bogi Broadcasting Company. Bogi
owned the station for less than a year before selling to Gainesville
Broadcasting of Connecticut, Inc., owned by Ken Dawson. Tyll left WFEZ
to take over management of News-Talk WTMC-AM 1290 in Ocala, and
Dawson hired Eric Jewell as WFEZ's new general manager. Jewell
transformed WFEZ from Churban Contemporary to Urban/Hip Hop. The call
letters were changed to WTMG and the signature "Hot" phrase was
replaced with "Magic." The new "Magic 101.3" became a
cult classic in the Gainesville/Ocala market. Dawson sold WTMG "Magic
101.3" to Albany, New York based Pamal Broadcasting in 2001 for
just over $4 million cash.
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