WHPT 102.5 (Pre-Bone)

[exboardop]

^ pretty much

And the stupid names, I remember the first time I heard they re-named it "the bone", I thought to myself, are you ------- kidding me? And turned 107.3 into "the eagle", ridiculous.

And as bad as clear channel playlists are, cox's are worse.

[Norm Rosen]

WQSR during the mid 70's

I even remember when 102.5 was "Quad One-Oh-Two-And-A-Half", quadriphonic album-oriented-rock.  I never owned any quad equipment, but format-wise, that was a tremendous station.  Great jocks, great music.  But times change...

[dwtpa97]

Yes, it was a fantastic station.

[rfrus]

How about when 102.5 was WYAK with studio and transmitter at 5th st and Central Avenue in Sarasota. The tower on City Island that is now used by 1450/1280 was the 102.5 tower when it was located in a junk yard on 5th st just west of Central avenue in Sarasota. I was working for WSPB-AM/FM when we bought that tower and moved it to City Island in 1970.

[badjef]

How about when 102.5 was WYAK with studio and transmitter at 5th st and Central Avenue in Sarasota. The tower on City Island that is now used by 1450/1280 was the 102.5 tower when it was located in a junk yard on 5th st just west of Central avenue in Sarasota. I was working for WSPB-AM/FM when we bought that tower and moved it to City Island in 1970.

I'm confused:

Where was the 1450 antenna - before City Island?
Was 106.3 separate from 1450?
Was 1220 and 102.5 co-owned?
Was 1220 always at Birky?

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

[MusicMan11]

annie sommers was the PD at the Bay and hosted the acoustic brunch. Great lady who sadly passed away a couple years ago. Knew her in orlando where i believe she started the acoustic show on WMMO where she was the music director. Loved that show........


RIP annie....

[flwfg]

The original tower for 1450 was on the eastern end of where the building used to be on City Island...I have an old photo / post card showing it there..It was a much narrower self supporting tower, and I'm sure one of the reasons going to the 102.5 tower was height as well as width to handle the FM (106.3) antenna better.

When they were together as WQSA am 1220 and WQSR 102.5 FM they were located in the same building on Birkey... Prior to that back in the 60's it was known as WSAF but I'm not sure of location, but might assume it was same as the 2 directional towers were there for quite a while...

[rfrus]

The original 1450 tower was only 170 feet and the FM was side mounted. The 102.5 tower was purchased to move the FM higher. I remember very well being out there the night they took the 4-bay, horizontal only, FM antenna off the AM tower. The transmission line between bays was bent while bringing it down and had to be repaired before putting the antenna back up on the new tower.

102.5 had gone silent. WYAK was bought by 1220 WSAF in about 1967 and simulcast WSAF for a while as WSAF-AM/FM. They thought so little of FM that they signed the FM off at sunset along with the AM. When the FM transmitter was struck by lightning, they didnt get it repaired and stopped paying rent on the 102.5 transmitter site on 5th St just West of Central Avenue in Sarasota. Thats when WSPB bought the tower and moved it to City Island.

BTW WSPB signend on December 7, 1939 on 1420 with 250 watts day and 100 watts night. I have the original RCA 250D transmitter. I saved it from being thrown in the dumpster. Its in great condition. Later that year they were allowed to go to 250 watts fulltime. They were moved to 1450 in the great frequency shift in 1941. They were granted 1kw along with all of the other class IV AM stations in 1960 and operated 1kw day, 250 watts night until all Class IV stations were granted 1kw fulltime.