History of WXRA
Thanks to Marc Tyll
for this history of WXRA.
The current authorized and issued construction permit for WFBI-FM began
on July 7, 1998 when area resident and long time broadcaster Marc Tyll
(Tillery) filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission to
amend the FM Table of Allotments to add a second commercial FM broadcast
station on 99.3 MHz at Cedar Key, Florida. Cedar Key already had one
station - WRGO-FM
102.7 - which began broadcast service in the Summer of 1996 and had long
since moved its studios to Crystal River, leaving Cedar Key with no local
radio station catering to the needs of Cedar Key. Tyll wanted to bring
true local radio service to the small fishing community with the idea of
retiring to the area, living the “good life” on a sail boat while
operating the small FM station. Within of a week of the Commission
accepting Tyll’s petition for filing, another group - Levy County
Broadcasters, Inc. counter petitioned for the same 99.3 frequency at Gulf
Hammock as that community‘s first radio service. Because of the short
distance between Gulf Hammock and Cedar Key, it was determined the 99.3
frequency would not fit at both locations at the same time, therefore the
FCC offered Tyll an alternate FM channel for Cedar Key, eliminating
any potential short-spacing conflicts. Once the alternate 100.1 MHz
channel was assigned to Cedar Key, Levy County Broadcasters dropped its
petition to allot the 99.3 channel to Gulf Hammock, and immediately filed
a new petition for rule making to assign the same channel to Inglis as
that community’s second FM service. The channel was eventually assigned
to Inglis and was placed on the FCC auction block with an opening bid of
$60,000. Several applicants participated in the auction, but the winning
bid went to George S. Flinn, Jr., a medical doctor from Tennessee.
Although unconfirmed, it is rumored Flinn paid the FCC nearly $1 million
for the Inglis construction permit. The CP was issued on September
6, 2006 and the call letters WFWW were assigned. However, on October 9,
2006 the call letters were changed to WFBI for Flinn Broadcasting, Inc..
Furthermore, because of a potential short spacing conflict with radio
station WQYK-FM 99.5 Saint Petersburg, a 100,000 watt Tampa Bay station,
the FCC required the WFBI tower location to be site restricted to an area
approximately 5 miles North of Inglis-Yankeetown. No one really knows what
the format with be on the new WFBI-FM 99.3, but it is speculated among the
local broadcasters, advertisers and others that the new format will
be country since the market has been without a local country outlet ever
since WXOF dropped its country format in favor of classic rock in early
2004.
WFBI-FM 99.3 Inglis-Ocala signed on the air July 11, 2008 with a blend of
classic rock and select non-hit classic rock album cuts resembling a
"Triple A" (Adult album alternative) presentation. The station
is billing itself as "99.3 The Pig". There are no local
live announcers. Programming is completely computer automated and
originates from the transmitter site just a few miles North of Dunnellon.
The signal extends from Inglis to Ocala and South towards Crystal River.
On August 3rd, WFBI ended its stunting as "The
Pig 99.3" and began broadcasting a contemporary Christian format from
Air 1 Radio Network, a division of K-Love Radio. The new moniker is "Air
One 99.3" (www.air1.com). Also on
Aug 3, 2008 WFBI became WXRA.
|
