WINV-AM 1560
Silent as of
Jan. 17, 2007
Beverly Hills
Original Call Letters: WYSE
Originally Licensed: Sep.
1, 1965
Original City of License: Inverness
Original Frequency: 1560
Origin of Call Letters: Location; INVerness
Original Power: 5,000
watts
Original Location:
Original Format: Country
Network
Affiliation(s):
Owner(s): 1965-Fleet
and Fleet Broadcasting
1978-OZ
Broadcasting
1984-Robert
Stoher
1985-Comco,
Incorporated
1987-Webb
Broadcasting
1997-WGUL-FM,
Inc ($5,000)
History Of Call Letters and Formats:
WYSE-1965-Country
"The Only One to Turn To"
WYSE-1978-Middle of the Road
"AM
1560"
WKIQ-1984-Adult
Contemporary "1560
Q"
WINV-1987-Country "Citrus County Country"
WINV-1993-Off the air
WINV-1997-Adult
Standards "The
Music of Your Life"
WINV-1997-Talk
"Talk Radio AM 1560"
WINV-2007-Silent
History Of WINV-AM
Thanks to Marc
Tyll for this history of WINV.
WINV-AM 1560 began operations in 1965 as
WYSE, operating with 1,000 watts daytime on 1560 kilohertz. Jack and
Nellie Fleet, the original owners, formed Fleet and Fleet Broadcasting
with the idea of bringing Citrus County's first and only radio
station. It would be four years later before the area would get its second radio
station, and first FM station, WTRS-FM 102.3,
Dunnellon. The Fleets increased power to 5,000 watts in 1977, enhancing their
coverage into West Citrus County, giving better coverage into Crystal River and
Homosassa Springs. WYSE programmed a country and western format catering
to Inverness and Citrus County with a compliment of news and public affairs
interspersed with select talk programming including a "Swap Shop"
program heard weekdays at noon where listeners could call in and buy, sell or
trade items.
The Fleet�s sold WYSE in 1978 to OZ
Broadcasting, headed by John O�Donnell who changed the format
to "Middle of The Road". WYSE featured an afternoon local
organ music program originating "live" from the popular Crystal
River Lounge. The program could be heard weekday afternoons from 2:00 PM to
3:00 PM. O�Donnell also wanted to add Paul Harvey and asked ABC
Radio to allow WYSE to add the popular news commentator, but ABC
declined since WTRS-FM already had the exclusive area rights to carry Paul
Harvey News and Comment, The Rest of the Story and ABC/Entertainment
radio. WYSE was an ABC/Information affiliate. O�Donnell
became angry with ABC and dropped all ABC news programming,
replacing it with CBS World News. O�Donnell eliminated most of the
talk on WYSE, stating "...listeners want to hear music, not some
disc jockey talking over records..." In a way, O�Donnell
originated the concept of "More Music, Less Talk" commonly heard on
adult formatted stations today. In 1984 O�Donnell and his partner John
Zimmerman sold WYSE to Robert Stoher. Stoher would later own WQBQ-AM
1410, Leesburg, WRGO-FM Cedar Key, WWGO-FM Ocala, WHBO-AM
Tampa and other stations around the state. Stoher changed the call letters to WKIQ
and reformatted the new WKIQ-AM 1560 as an Adult Contemporary station,
dropping CBS World News and once again adding ABC News to AM 1560,
this time ABC/Contemporary. Stoher owned WKIQ for about a year
calling it "...a real dog in need of much attention..."
Stoher sold WKIQ to Walter E. Windsor of Comco, Inc. in
1985. Windsor had previously served as General Manager and part owner of WFTV
channel 9 in Orlando and formed Comco in 1984 after selling his
interest in channel 9. Comco later purchased WRYO-FM 98.5 which
became WKTK-FM 98.5. Gary Granger was hired as General Manager of WKIQ,
and later became founder and general manager of "Coast- to-Coast 98.5"
WKTK-FM. Originally the plan was to re-locate the WRYO studios to
Inverness at the WKIQ studio location, creating and AM-FM combo. Comco
sold WKIQ to a local group, Webb Broadcasting, in 1987 who
switched WKIQ from Adult Contemporary to Country under the call letters WINV
for Inverness. In 1993 the station went off the air when Webb Broadcasting
decided to sell the station. WINV was sold to Palm Harbor broadcaster,
and former Philadelphia disc jockey, Carl Marcocci who owned WGUL-AM
and FM, Tampa Bay's "Music of Your Life" station. WINV
began simulcasting "The Gull", bringing Al Ham's Music of
Your Life to Citrus County, switching to News-Talk, then switching back to
"Music of Your Life:"
Marcocci later purchased WAVQ-FM 104.3 Inglis and began simulcasting the
"Music of Your Life" on FM 104.3 and WINV, covering all of
Citrus County and West Florida as well as North Tampa Bay with programming
originating from the studios of WGUL-AM 860 Dunedin (Palm Harbor).
Later, WINV's city of license was changed to Beverly Hills after Beverly
Hills only FM station was re-licensed to Spring Hill, and the studios were moved
to Palm Harbor. The WINV tower and transmitter site remains at the
original location in Inverness, broadcasting with 5,000 watts daytime on 1560
kilohertz playing the "Music of Your Life" throughout Citrus County.
WINV went silent Jan. 17, 2007
Names in WINV History
Jack Fleet-1965-1978-Owner
Nellie Fleet-1965-1978-Owner
John O�Donnell-1978-1984-Owner
John Zimmerman-1978-1984-Owner
Robert D.
Stoher-1984-1985-Owner
Betty Stoher-1984-1985-Owner
Gary Granger-1985-1986-General
Manager
Walter E.
Windsor-1985-1987-Owner In
Memory
Jerry Webb-1987-1993-Owner
Jack Webb-1987-1993-Owner
Steve Shurdell-1993
Carl
Marcocci-1997-2006-CEO/Chairman-WGUL-FM,
Inc In
Memory
David Marcocci-1997-General Manager/Program
Director-WGUL-FM,
Inc
Margie McNeal-1997-Sales Director-WGUL-FM,
Inc
David Allan-1997-News Director-WGUL-FM,
Inc
Dave Tarry-1997-Cheif Engineer-WGUL-FM,
Inc
Dennis Miller
Lance Uzar
Doc Redwater
Denny Bateman
Ron Goss
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