WFLZ/Tampa: Celebrating 20 Years!

In 1988 plans were formed to create a radio station that would dramatically alter the landscape of Tampa radio for years to come. Jacor Broadcasting had just purchased two Tampa properties, WFLZ-FM and WFLA-AM, Oldies and News/Talk stations respectively. Edens Broadcasting was already entrenched in the market with CHR powerhouse WRBQ/Q105, which virtually owned the market across the board. One year later, then Jacor VP of Programming Randy Michaels decided it was time to go to war with the incumbent CHR and The Power Pig was born at WFLZ. What ensued thereafter is the stuff legend is made of.

In September of 2009, WFLZ/Tampa will celebrate its 20th Anniversary…and what a 20 years it’s been! The station’s storied past is as vivid as it is memorable. From its early and rebellious days as The Power Pig through its New Music Revolution and Hit Music Channel days, the spirit, energy and attitude that was formed back in the day has lived with the station through the vibrant perspectives of its talent and programming leaders.
In our August magazine issue of FMQB, we pay homage to a radio station without peer that grew up without borders. It was almost as much fun writing about the history of FLZ as it must have been experiencing it, as recounted by the passionate voices who contributed to this piece. We trace WFLZ’s lineage from its early roots as the Power Pig with leaders like Randy Michaels, Marc Chase, BJ Harris, Jeff Kapugi and Bubba The Love Sponge, through its maturing stages of The New Music Revolution to its current position as the Hit Music Channel, captained by PD Tommy Chuck.
There are only a precious few career experiences that have a profound impact on individuals, and in some cases, an entire industry. The Power Pig era was definitely one of those career altering experiences for many of the people we contacted in assembling the history of WFLZ, and especially from the ones you’ll be reading from shortly. We were truly amazed by the inspiration in their voices and we could almost imagine the sparkle in their eyes when they related the anecdotes about the Power Pig days and their experiences of WFLZ in general. In this week’s eQB we present poignant excerpts from the full length article which appears exclusively in FMQB’s August 2009 magazine. The sentiments expressed below are a mere fraction of the full article, but the weight of the words is reflective of a seamless attitude from person to person of just how profound of an affect this special radio station had on this collection of very fortunate radio professionals. 

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eQB presents excerpts from the August FMQB magazine Cover Story: WFLZ/Tampa Celebrating 20 Years! 

Randy Michaels (former Jacor VP Programming, CEO; current COO, Tribune Company)
“The Power Pig was a real good radio station. There may have been some better stations technically but there’s never been a better attack plan. It was as thorough as you can get. It was about attacking an opponent’s weakness by using its strength. We used the strength of Q105 to bury them. We used their arrogance. We used their commercial success. We attacked on all levels. One of the Jacor mantras was to plan calmly and attack emotionally. You let your competitor see the emotion; in fact you try to distract your competitor just like a magician waving his right hand when he’s doing a drop with his left. The Power Pig really spawned a lot of imitators in all formats. What the Power Pig did may have been nasty, but it also played right into what Q105 had done to other people, and made fun of it. It was more aggressive, but also lighthearted and very self deprecating. All we said that first year was ‘this can’t last; we’re just a small band of renegades having fun while it lasts!’

Bubba The Love Sponge (former Power Pig/FLZ nights; current Sirius-XM Satellite Radio afternoons and Cox syndicated mornings)
“It was the most exciting time in my radio career. It’s what every aspiring radio jock wants to be a part of. As all of us fellow Power Piggers look back, I’m sure each one of us misses those days. The Power Pig was something that has been done only a handful of times in this business. It was a radio station that had remarkable talent assembled by the best programmers ever. With the pussification and hub-and-spoke voice-tracking mentality of modern day radio, a management and programming team of Randy Michaels, Marc Chase, BJ Harris, Jeff Kapugi and others will never be assembled again. These men didn’t over-think and water down the product. We were told to go on-air, have fun and be outrageous.
They would fix it if we messed up. Man, I really miss those days and every single person that ever walked through (or in some cases drove motorcycles through) the hallways of the Power Pig.”

Marc Chase (former Power Pig/, PD, OM; current President, Tribune Interactive)
“The Power Pig’s beginning was the perfect end to the 80’s, a decade of decadence. Personally, it was the start of another step in some truly amazing relationships. I can’t describe how much fun the day to day battles in the trenches were because of the people I was fighting alongside with were fantastic: Rhino, Randy, TO, Bobby, Bo, BJ, Booger, Bubba, Tim and Tom, Hawk and Marty, Jomama, Big Woody, Boner, Jack Harris, Dr. Don, Jason “Dumpy” Dixon, Elvis, Dale Doe, Buckwheat,  Dave “The Bat” Mann, John “Rock-n-Roll” Anthony, Jennifer Jordan, Courtney Campbell, Stan The Man, Matt The Bratt, Magic Marko, Doovers, Big Gator, Armando, Ragman, Darcel, Gabe, Martin Giles, Tedd Webb, Paul Turner, Jeff Lawrence, Stretch Marx, Beaver Stevens, Russell the Love Muscle, Russell The Business Muscle, Guido, Mike and Pat, Ganoot, Missy, Chuckles, GayBob, Naynay The Shrimp Girl, Gary McHenry, Beaver Stevens, Fink, Kirkendall, Wilson, Paul, CG, Albl—the original “Bob N. Boner”, Hardin Long, Heywood Jablowmee, Hugh Chardon, anyone who ever wore pink Zuba’s, pink bowling shirts or carried the FLZ banner, and certainly two incredible friends that are snouts up but still oinking and boinking in our hearts: Big D and Brian James. Love you all! My life is better because you were in it…at least most days.” 

BJ Harris (former Power Pig/FLZ mornings, MD, PD; current mornings, KALC/Denver)
“Like anything that becomes legendary you don’t realize it when you’re in the moment, so I don’t think anyone thought we were making history at the time. But looking back, you realize you just experienced something very special with some amazing talent and radio minds. More so than the station itself it’s the people I had the chance to meet, develop a relationship with, fire paintball guns with, paint buses with, house paint with, leave old cars on the side of the highway with, ride scooters in the hall ways with, etc. That makes my memories of the Power Pig priceless. Too many people to name! (RIP Brian James, you were the voice)! Marc Chase and Randy Michaels gave me the chance and I’ll always be grateful.  Needless to say, it now seems ‘very special.’”

Dom Theodore (former Power Pig/FLZ nights, MD, PD; current SVP Programming, CBS Radio)
“Our programming assistant Dennis ‘Big D’ Clark once said, ‘Domino, do you know what makes this place work? We’re all misfits. You, me, everyone here, we’re all misfits.’ That may describe it best. There was something special about the collection of people at that station during those years. We were a quirky, creative group that never took ourselves seriously and the atmosphere always had an irreverent renegade feel. The place had what I can only describe as a ‘soul.’ The station was a living, breathing thing and we all had our little piece of it. It was a very special time with a special group of people and I’m so grateful to have been there during that time.”

Jeff Kapugi (former FLZ late nights, PD; current VP Interactive Content, Tribune Company)
“There were so many talented people that worked with and for me at FLZ.  I will say that every day was a learning experience and every day was fun.  It didn’t feel like I was going in to ‘work’.  It was a lifestyle and what we did and that vibe and magic was because of the team that worked there.”

 

 

Toby Knapp (former FLZ afternoons; current APD/afternoons, WIHT Washington, DC)
“You know all that bullshit they tell you to motivate you? Like ‘AFDI’ or ‘Protect the license and have fun’ or ‘work hard and play harder’ or ‘create excitement’ or ‘break eggs to make omelets’ or ‘the only rule is there are no rules?’ At FLZ all that stuff was real. Everywhere else, they’re just empty feel good words. We practiced what we preached. We had no slogans. We had no rules. We had fun everyday and were unapologetic about it. We didn’t worry about where the edge of the envelope was. We pushed it to find where it used to be. We were encouraged to blaze new trails. We were expected to be just a hair past the edge, a Paxil away from crazy and we were rewarded for it. Some stations are slick, some are pretty. We knew we were the big fat obnoxious, misunderstood, and sometimes unwanted, kids in the room and we wouldn’t have had it any other way. It’s called personality. FLZ had it.  No one else could be what we were because they were worried about making suits happy. We were worried about entertaining. Therein lies the difference.”

Kane (current afternoons WFLZ and mornings WIHT Washington, DC)
“Being a part of FLZ was inspirational. It’s hard to explain to non-FLZ staffers or non-radio people. They tilt their heads when they realize you’re talking about a radio station and not a human being. It sucks you in. You’re proud of everything you do because that’s what you were taught. The hallways have swagger and attitude. Nobody who works for that station leaves it behind when they walk out the door. You don’t work for 93-3; it somehow gets in your body.” 

 

Stan Priest (former FLZ super-mixer; current PD, WKSS Hartford)
“It’s a kind of dirty you can’t wash off…LOL. It was soooo much fun! Off the charts craziness! People would not believe most of the stories in the PC world we live in today. I wonder if the statutes of limitations are up yet?  It was an experience I will cherish for the rest of my life.
I only later learned the extent of the radio genius of Randy Michaels and Marc Chase. The education I was exposed to was so rare and unique, money couldn’t buy that.”

 

Tom Owens (former Jacor SVP Programming; current EVP Content Development, Clear Channel)
“Marc Chase originally did an amazing job in creating a product that set new standards in the emphasis of personalities, colorful content and competitive aggression. Like any highly visible and successful innovation, the Power Pig rattled conventional thinking and reminded everyone that the only way to really know where the edges used to be is to push the envelope. Beyond remaining our leading Tampa performer and one of our best CHRs nationally, WFLZ has a special place with all of us who recall the excitement and immediate success of its launch.” 

Tommy Chuck (current WFLZ PD)
“I was very aware of the history of FLZ before I arrived here. It’s a station I’d grown up following and listening to, and even today almost three years in, there’s really not a day that goes by that I don’t drive to work thinking, ‘Holy crap! I can’t believe I’m in charge of this radio station.’ I try to keep some things scattered about the office to visually remind me of where the station came from. There’s a Power Pig bumper sticker, a Vote Power Pig For Governor button, a picture above the door of the seventh birthday party for the station where it has the whole staff around a big birthday cake…there’s all kind of random things like that we all use to keep us in check and remind us of the history of how we’re blessed by being a part of it. I hope the legacy is that FLZ is always here. No matter how much distribution platforms change, and time moves on with ownership, management and air personality changes, 933FLZ will always be bigger than all of us. It’s the ‘IT’ station. Different and cool. We’re not LA or New York, but a lot of people say we’re one of the three biggest Top 40 stations in America. New York, LA and FLZ! That’s humbling and  I hope we can continue to be successful for many years to come.”

Click Here To See WFLZ Celebrating 20 Years In Photos

[eQB Content By Fred Deane & Bob Burke]