WVTY AM & FM - A History
WVTY-AM 1470 Dunedin & WVTY-FM 106.3 Holiday – Radio engineer Gary Hess led a trio of investors (VarieTY Broadcasting, Inc.) to buy Lowell W. “Bud” Paxson’s WWQT-AM and WHBS-FM in 1983. The group also included Martin Spector of Miami, founder of Spec’s music stores. Hess was the managing partner and served as general manager, while Spector was the investor with the deep pockets. Offices and studios were located on Springer Drive in Port Richey.
The AM became WFNN with programming from ABC’s TalkRadio lineup before flipping to country. The FM became Variety 106, using Spector’s own personal record collection to create the station’s 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s all-vocal music library. Both stations adopted the WVTY call letters in 1984 and eventually began airing a simulcast country format as Your Country 106.
When the ownership group sold the stations in 1985 to the Times Publishing Company, publisher of the Erie (Pennsylvania) Times News, the AM and FM calls switched to WLVU.
Other names from WVTY history include Michael S. Raymond (GM-1986), John Boswell (PD-1986), Sue Campbell (general sales manager-1986), Mark Brewer (news director-1986), and Terry Brennen (chief engineer-1986).
(Please contact us if you have additional information to share about WVTY.)
Station History
1984 - 1986 Other Tampa Bay Area Stations (History)
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