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| Broadcast area | Tampa Bay area |
| Frequency | 97.1MHz (HD Radio) |
| Branding | El Nuevo Zol 97.1 |
| Programming | |
| Language | Spanish |
| Format | Contemporary hit radio–Latin pop–reggaeton–tropical music |
| Subchannels | HD2:Regional Mexican “La Privada” |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
First air date | September 1, 1978 (47 years ago) (1978-09-01) |
Former call signs |
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Former frequencies | 106.3 MHz (1978–98) |
Call sign meaning | Originally used on WSUN (620 AM), nowWDAE |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 67136 |
| Class | C2 |
| ERP | 11,500 watts |
| HAAT | 224 meters (735 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 28°10′57.0″N82°46′5.0″W / 28.182500°N 82.768056°W /28.182500; -82.768056 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | WSUN Online WSUN-HD2 Online |
WSUN (97.1 FM) is acommercial radio station,licensed toHoliday, Florida, and serving theTampa Bay Area. The station is owned bySpanish Broadcasting System, and airs aSpanish contemporary hits format branded as "El Nuevo Zol 97.1". Thetransmitter site is off Dartmouth Drive in Holiday.[2]
The station signed on September 1, 1978, on the 106.3 FM frequency as WHBS, a station that served primarilyPasco and northernPinellas Counties. The station later became WVTY, then WLVU, carrying an easy listening format and lateradult contemporary. In 1998, the station would relocate to 97.1 FM (swapping frequencies withCitrus County'sWXOF), to better reach the Tampa Bay market. Soon afterward, Cox Radio would acquire WLVU in a swap (see below), and transfer its WSUN calls to FM, adopting anoldies format as "Oldies 97.1".
Mired with a subpar signal and being one of two oldies stations in the market (WYUU was the other) did not allow WSUN-FM to take off in the Tampa Bay area. While rumors of Cox flipping the station to 1980s music ran rampant, the station beganstunting with music from2001: A Space Odyssey. At 5:00 p.m. on November 3, 2000, the Tampa Bay area got its first taste of an alternative rock formatted station in many years with the debut of 97X. The first song, "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" byFuel was dedicated tomodern adult contemporaryWSSR andactive rockerWXTB, both of whom are owned by competitorClear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia).[3][4]
On January 18, 2013, the station relaunched itself with a listener-controlled format. The final song under the first "97X" era was the song they launched with, "Hemorrhage" by Fuel. At 10 a.m., the station beganstunting with a recorded loop of announcements promoting the new listener-controlled format.[5] At 5 pm, the station launched its listener-controlled format with "Best Of You" byFoo Fighters.[6] With this new direction, the audience controlled every song that played using special technology designed by LDR, or Listener Driven Radio.[7] LDR created a special app and website for WSUN that allowed listeners to take over the music live. In addition to the music voting features, the mobile app offered several other interactive elements. It allowed listeners to record audio using the app's 'Open Mic' option, sending it directly to the station for broadcasting, sign up for instant SMS, email, and Twitter alerts when their favorite songs were about to play, and share votes on social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Listeners could also earn social media ‘badges’ by interacting with the station. By 9 pm of that day, the station received 31,000 song votes; and over 1.7 million by January 28. In mid-2014, the listener voting feature was scaled back, now only allowing users to vote on select new/current songs (instead of the entire playlist, as before), the results of which are featured on daily "countdown" shows. The live voting feature is still occasionally employed during "After-Concert Takeovers", where listeners can vote on the order of songs from one or several artists who appeared in concert locally earlier, and during a Sunday night show featuring local artists. In about 2016, the voting way was changed. Before, listeners needed to press 'Play More/Less' button to hear the songs more or less frequently; the update allowed listeners to vote songs up or down.
The 24-hour interactive format has had a mix of compliments and complaints. Most of the complaints are about the axe of the "Morning X" show.[8][9]
In September 2014,iHeartMedia launched a local competitor to WSUN, branded "ALT 99.9" onWFUS-HD2, and relayed by 99.9 MHz FM translator W207BU, located inBayonet Point (the translator has since moved to 100.3 FM, now W262CP, and the station rebranded as "ALT 100.3"). On March 7, 2016, "ALT 100.3" was replaced with a simulcast of iHeartRadio'sWRUB in Bradenton.
On July 22, 2016, the station changed its call sign to the current WSUN.
On August 11, 2016, WSUN began simulcasting onWHPT-HD2. As of August 6, 2019, WSUN began simulcasting onWPOI-HD2.
In 2019, Cox Media Group transferred WSUN, along withOrlando sister stationWPYO, to CXR Radio, LLC, a divestiture trust run by Elliot B. Evers.[10] The transfer followed the sale of the remainder of Cox Media Group fromCox Enterprises toApollo Global Management;[11] Cox had owned six FM stations in Tampa Bay, one over the FCC limit of five, and the sale eliminated thisgrandfathered status.[12]
On February 9, 2022,Spanish Broadcasting System announced they would purchase WSUN and WPYO from CXR Radio for $12.5 million. The deal marked SBS’ entry into both markets.[13]
On March 14, 2022, WSUN began simulcasting on St. Petersburg translator W248CA (97.5 FM), which is fed by WPOI-HD2. The translator formerly relayedWTMP (1150 AM), and is owned by NIA Broadcasting, Inc.[14] On April 26, WSUN announced they will drop the alternative format and "97X" branding the following day at noon; "97X" continues to be heard on WWRM-HD2, WPOI-HD2 and translator W248CA. At the promised time, WSUN began stunting with a loop of a redirecting message for "97X" listeners to W248CA, WPOI-HD2 and WWRM-HD2, as well as the station's mobile apps and online stream. On April 29, SBS officially closed on their purchase of WSUN, and shifted the stunting to a loop of songs featured in their newSpanish contemporary hits format, which debuted on May 9, as "El Nuevo Zol 97.1".[15][16]
The "WSUN" calls have been used in the St. Petersburg area since 1927, whenWSUN signed on, then a time-share withWFLA. The station moved to its longtime 620 kHz frequency in 1929, and got the frequency all to itself in 1941, when WFLA moved to 940 kHz (then to 970 shortly afterward). From the 1960s into the 1980s, WSUN was known as a leadingcountry music formatted station, benefiting from its signal that covered all of Florida's Gulf Coast by day and reached intoTexas by night.
Owned by the city ofSt. Petersburg throughout most of its early life, the city sold WSUN radio and its television counterpart,WSUN-TV, to Hy Levinson, a Detroit broadcaster and owner of that city'sWCAR radio. In 1970, WSUN-TV would go dark, while WSUN radio and its then-sister,WQXM-FM, would be sold to the broadcasting arm of pharmaceutical companyPlough, Inc. In the mid-1980s, Plough would sell WSUN and WQXM separately, with WSUN being sold toTaft Broadcasting, then-owner ofWTSP television andWYNF-FM.
In the late 1980s, WSUN flipped to all-news, following its purchase byCBS Radio from Taft. It then later flipped to a news-talk format, which remained after its purchase from Cox Broadcasting in the 1990s. In 1998, Cox swapped its 620 AM signal for the 97.1 signal owned by the Concord Broadcasting Group, whose easy-listening station, WLVU-FM, moved from 106.3 to 97.1 shortly before the swap. After the move to FM, WSUN-FM adopted an oldies format as "Oldies 97.1", while Concord changed 620's calls to WSAA, and became a simulcast ofBay News 9. (It would later be sold toClear Channel Communications, becoming the new frequency forWDAE).[1]
The97X Green Room is an annual series of compilation albums of live music recorded for WSUN-FM's Green Room series. All albums contain acoustic versions of popular songs from artists heard on the station. It was released for sale primarily at Tampa Bay areaBest Buy locations, although later volumes were made available at other locations. Proceeds from the first album's sales benefitedAudubon of Florida's Coastal Islands Sanctuaries Program. For subsequent albums, proceeds from the sales benefitThe Nature Conservancy. The albums' goal is to provide exclusive acoustic performances and to help raise money and awareness to the needs of environment inFlorida.
The latest installment in the series, Volume 7, released on September 8, 2011, includes performances byFoster the People,A Day to Remember,Silversun Pickups,Manchester Orchestra, Matt Schultz fromCage the Elephant,Sick Puppies,Young the Giant,The Joy Formidable andGrouplove.[18]