WYND - A History
WYND-AM 1280 Sarasota – Gulf Coast Broadcasting Co. (George S. Shaffer (president/GM), signed WYND on the air in December 1961. It was a daytimer with a big band format that operated with two directional towers and a power of 500 watts from tower site studios at 2101 Hammock Place. The big band sound didn't last very long. In August 1963, the station flipped to country. That format lasted a little longer than the previous one.
WYND began pumping Top 40 (Surf Row Radio) in 1966. That's the format that most people remember. A glance at its weekly printed music chart reveals that it probably listed more Florida recording artists and groups than any other station in the state. Sadly, the Top 40 format was dropped for country in 1980 and WYND's calls became WWZZ (WZ-1280) in 1981.
Other owners of WYND included Republic Investments, Inc. (Ken Hart, president/GM-1966), Trend Broadcasting (Lowell "Bud" Paxson, president-1969), and R&J Broadcasting (Jay Epstein, president/GM-1973).
Other names from WYND history include Phil Bender (sales manager-1963), George Roberts (PD-1963), Harry Tilley (chief engineer-1963), Bob Chambers (music director-1963; PD-1964), Carl Brenner (president of Gulf Coast Broadcasting-1964), Richard Doudna (GM-1964), James Rankin (sales manager-1964; PD-1965), Beth Putnam (promotions-1964), Harold Fultz (news director-1964), Emory R. Hill (president Gulf Coast Broadcasting-1965), Emil H. Levy (GM-1964), Duane Green (news director-1965), Johnny Dark (PD/MD 1966-1968), Jerry Spinn (station manager-1967), Pepper Lipsync (James Wayman-1967), Edward J. Carlisle (president of Republic Investments-1969), Jim Rinehart (sales manager; GM-1969), Bert Parks (sales manager-1969), Connie Rutter (promotions-1969), John Ruba (news director-1969), Lee Young (chief engineer-1969), Ron Maniscalco (PD-1970), Hal Levin (GM-1971), Harry Tilley (chief engineer-1971), Jim Mikels (PD-1971), David Gladin (chief engineer-1972), Steve Summers (1973), Douglas Gardner (sales manager-1975), Paul Mazo (chief engineer-1975), Carl Avandell (Carl Strandell- PD/music director-1975), Herb Kraft (1977), Thurman Taylor (chief engineer-1977), Robert Van Beynum (music director-1978), Frank DeBlasio (station manager-1979), Dave Allison (PD-1979), Gary Herron (PD-1980), Dave Kay (music director-1980), Fuzzy Cook (operations-1980), Al Martin (news director-1980), Lee Graham (chief engineer-1980), Easy Jack Dillon (mornings), Mike Rivers (mornings), Marjorie Schmidt (engineering), Butch “The Weird Beard” Luke, Glen Hill, Bobby Jaye, Bob Partee, and Dennis Waters.
(Please contact us if you have additional information to share about WYND.)
Station History
1961 - 1981 Other Tampa Bay Area Stations (History)
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