area branding 98 rock slogan tampa bay s rock station frequency 97.9 mhz also on hd radio first air date december 1967 format active rock hd2 news talk wfla simulcast erp 100 000 watts haat 458 meters class c facility id 11274 transmitter coordinates 28 10 56.00 n 82 46 6.00 w 28.1822222 n 82.7683333 w 28.1822222 ; 82.7683333 callsign meaning w x tampa bay former callsigns wqxm 1967 83 wzne 1983 86 wkrl 1986 90 affiliations compass media networks iheartradio premiere networks premium choice owner iheartmedia inc. citicasters licenses inc. sister stations wbtp wdae wfla wflz fm wfus whnz wmtx webcast listen live website 98rock . com wxtb 97.9 fm branded 98 rock is a commercial active rock radio station licensed to clearwater florida serving the tampa bay area . owned by iheartmedia inc. wxtb serves as the local affiliate for sixx sense with nikki sixx and skratch n sniff . the wxtb studios are located in south tampa while the station transmitter resides in holiday . in addition to a standard analog transmission wxtb broadcasts over two hd radio channels and is available online via iheartradio . 1 2 3 contents 1 history 2 notable on air staff 3 concerts 4 references 5 external links history edit the station signed on the air in december 1967 as wqxm with a beautiful music format with owners john t. rutledge and joseph s. field with jerry reeves as music director and station manager until the sale of the station to plough broadcasting in 1975 switching to an aor format under the name 98 rock your album station in 1977 . in 1983 the station changed their call letters to wzne and rebranded as the new z98 fm tampa bay s hottest hits . the station aired a aor chr format until 1986 . the wkrl classic rock format lasted from 1986 until late december 1989 when the signal went silent briefly and then led zeppelin s stairway to heaven began playing in constant rotation eventually lasting for 24 hours as an early form of stunting . finally the repetition gave way to the announcement on new year s eve 1989 that 98rock now controlled by great american broadcasting would be the first all led zeppelin format station in the country playing the band s entire catalog in its entirety as well as solo efforts by the bandmates and their other music related projects . wkrl received national coverage from mtv to cbs and many other outlets and was the first station to get worldwide coverage for a true artist flip where a broadcaster based its entire business on one group or solo artist . two weeks unfolded with conjecture from various news outlets as to how long this format could last given that all studio zeppelin recordings available at the time added up to less than 10 hours of continuous play . the station responded over the following week by adding a few classic acts such as the rolling stones and van halen . with the bells of ac dc s hells bells playing in the background a major announcement came at noon on january 18 1990 that the station would be changing its call letters to wxtb and the station would be relaunched as the new 98 rocks the bay or the new 98 rock . 4 5 new program director gregory mull brought in from 96 k rock in fort myers to replace the outgoing beau raines immediately reorganized the on air personality list . brian smith and bruce barber morning d.j.s who trailed in the ratings were released and replaced by tommy sea bass sebastian who stunted his first few weeks as buck maui and was also the voice of the popular character the big chief meteorologist . ted kamikaze cannarozzi was assumed to do the 10 am to 2 pm slot . scott ledger and austin keys kept their afternoon and evening spots respectively . kelli k.c. casey ron big rig michaels and peter mcclaren rounded out the schedule . in late 1990 98rock launched what would turn into a 15 year tradition the livestock annual rock festival . a fusion of live aid and woodstock . livestock was the brainchild of both greg and tom . each weekend long livestock event brought well known national acts such as soundgarden and tesla together with lesser known bands hoping for a chance at success . in keeping with the charitable spirit of live aid and other rock benefits bands donated their performance time and a portion of the gate proceeds were donated to charities such as greenpeace . as the station rose in the ratings books wxtb took over local promotional opportunities at the rock it club and killian s rock cafe in ybor city . meanwhile wxtb gained a huge piece of the morning show market with the everly popular sea bass and marla morning show . the new 98 rock became a ratings success . in 2000 the station moved its studios from feather sound corporate center to new owner clear channel s broadcast complex in southwest tampa in an attempt to consolidate overall operations of clear channel stations in the area . on january 18 2010 at noon wxtb replayed its format launch from 20 years earlier including the final countdown in which soundbites from phone calls many of which trashed wynf were played . the first four songs played after the launch hells bells by ac dc kickstart my heart by m tley cr e paradise city by guns n roses and hot for teacher by van halen were played again in tribute to the current format s 20th anniversary along with original bumpers . the station covers the tampa bay market as a whole . however the station also covers areas of levy county and marion county part of the gainesville ocala radio market . notable on air staff edit wxtb fm was the home of the top rated sea bass & marla morning show and later the flagship of the former regional radio host todd clem better known as bubba the love sponge . bubba arrived on the air for the mornings at a time when the station was struggling to find a morning personality to replace the popular sea bass . bubba had handled nights for contemporary hit station wflz 93.3 the power pig . a huge backlash followed for months where bubba s urban influenced broadcast style conflicted with the radical surfer sea bass and the hard rock listener mentality . following a record setting fine assessed by the federal communications commission in february 2004 over alleged indecent content he was fired and his morning show ceased the syndication by affiliated stations mainly throughout the southeast . citation needed wxtb was home to the sea bass morning show hosted by tom sebastian during 1990 93 . marla stone was added to make sea bass & marla from 1993 to 1995 . sea bass departed at the height of the morning show s popularity . the station brought in former rival wynf pd charlie logan to replace sea bass . charlie and marla teamed for less than one year ; marla was paired with others as well . the morning drive slot was picked up by lex and terry who covered it until december 2009 . concerts edit livestock concert series ; now retired 98rockfest new annual concert series world s largest barbecue concert series ; now retired guavaween references edit sixx sense radio stations . sixx sense . retrieved 12 march 2015 . where to hear skratch n sniff skratch n sniff . skratch n sniff . retrieved 12 march 2015 . find stations . hd radio . retrieved 12 march 2015 . http www.americanradiohistory.com archive randr 1990s 1990 rr 1990 01 19.pdf http www.americanradiohistory.com archive billboard 90s 1990 bb 1990 01 27.pdf external links edit official website query the fcc s fm station database for wxtb radio locator information on wxtb query nielsen audio s fm station database for wxtb v t e radio stations in the tampa st. petersburg clearwater florida market by am frequency 570 620 680 760 820 860 910 970 1010 1040 1110 1150 1250 1300 1340 1350 1380 1400 1450 1470 1500 1520 1550 1590 1620 by fm frequency 88.5 88.9 89.7 90.5 91.1 91.5 92.5 93.3 94.1 94.9 95.7 96.1 96.7 97.1 97.9 98.7 99.5 99.9 100.7 101.5 102.5 103.5 104.7 105.5 106.3 106.5 107.3 noaa weather radio frequency 162.450 162.550 by callsign kec38 khb32 wama wbtp wbrn fm wbvm wcie wdae wdcf wduv wfla wflz wfus wges wghr wgul whbo whfs whnz whpt wkes wlcc wlld wmgg wmnf wmtx wpoi wpso wqbn wqyk fm wrbq fm wrub wrxb wsun wtan wtbn wtwd wtis wtmp wtmp fm wusf wwba wwjb wwmi wwrm wxgl wxjb wxtb wxyb wyfe wyuu wzhr wzph lp bulls radio defunct wfti fm 91.7 fm satellite radio local traffic weather xm channel 228 sirius channel 158 florida radio markets daytona beach fort myers naples marco island ft. pierce stuart vero beach ft. walton beach gainesville ocala jacksonville lakeland winter haven melbourne titusville cocoa miami ft. lauderdale orlando panama city pensacola sarasota bradenton tallahassee tampa st.petersburg clearwater west palm beach boca raton other florida radio regions florida keys lake city sebring see also list of radio stations in florida v t e active rock radio stations in the state of florida by frequency 93.7 96.1 97.9 101.1 101.5 by callsign wjrr wrxk fm wtkx fm wxnx wxtb by community of license bonita springs fort myers clearwater tampa bay cocoa beach orlando pensacola sanibel fort myers see also adult contemporary classic hits college country news talk npr oldies religious rock sports top 40 urban other radio stations in florida v t e iheartmedia corporate officers bob pittman chairman ceo board of directors lowry mays irving azoff b. j. red mccombs j. c. watts john h. williams radio stations list of radio stations owned by iheartmedia radio networks fox sports radio premiere networks premium choice total traffic and weather network miscellaneous clear channel outdoor clear channel uk iheartradio list of programming syndicated by iheartmedia mediabase radio computing services retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wxtb & oldid 721599428 categories hd radio stationsactive rock radio stations in the united statesiheartmedia radio stationsradio stations established in 1967radio stations in the tampa bay areahidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from march 2015 navigation menu 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