WYUU - A History
WYUU-FM 92.5 Safety Harbor – Entercom’s WYUU came on the air in 1989 and was formerly Dan Johnson’s classical station Classics 92 WXCR. In 1998, it and sister station WLLD-FM joined the Infinity cluster after CBS coughed up $75 million for the pair.
For the first 13 years, WYUU programmed oldies (U92). Then in 2002, as a result of swapping formats with sister station WRBQ, it flipped to country and was branded Outlaw Country 92.5.
By 2005, the country-rock hybrid was running third in the race for the market’s country audience – the result of Clear Channel’s classic rock Thunder 103.5 WTBT switching to country as U.S. 103.5 WFUS. Another station in the Infinity stable, WQYK, was also playing country, plus there was competition from outside signals coming into the market – notably Polk County’s WPCV and Sarasota’s WCTQ.
Following a broadcast of the Indianapolis Brickyard 400 NASCAR race in August 2005, 50,000 watt WYUU flipped to Spanish as La Nueva 92.5, the first FM to serve some 450,000 Hispanics who live in the Bay Area. Its music format featured a mix of tropical, salsa, Spanish top 40, merengue, bachata, and reggaeton. In October, 2008, the outlet changed to a more rhythmic format and re-branded Maxima 92.5.
In a multi-station swap, WYUU was acquired by the Beasley Broadcast Group from CBS in late 2014. In 2015, the station added some English pop music to their playlist, making them a rhythmic-leaning Latin pop station.
Some names from WYUU’s U-92 oldies years include Mason Dixon (PD, mornings), Bill Connolly, Jo Jo Walker (nights), Bob O (Bob O’Brien, music director), Dennis Andersen (ops manager), “Marvelous” Marvin Boone, Dwayne Baby Love (overnights), Steve “Hurricane” Andrews, Dave Mann (afternoons), Fast Freddie (sports), Charlie Ochs (GM), Scott Robbins (PD), Dave Collins, Marc Haze, John Kelly, Rico Blanco, Charlie Mills, Pat Brooks, Drew Rashbaum (GM), Harvey A. Pearlman (GM), Jeff Laurence (afternoons), Phil St. Bernard (nights), Brian Holmes, Jack Miller and Cleveland Wheeler (mornings).
Some names from WYUU Outlaw Country 92.5 include Dave Morgan, Jay Roberts (music director), Mike Culotta (operations manager), Barbara Anne, Rick Allen, Joey Steele, Bevis, Brenda Blass, Kevin Summers, Mike “Cowhead” Calta and Brent Mitchell (“Cowhead & Brent”, mornings).
Some names from WYUU La Nueva 92.5 and 92.5 Maxima include Rico Blanco (PD), Luis-Diaz Albertini (VP/GM), George Mier (PD), “El Traketeo” (mornings show with co-hosts Joseito, Maria Ruiz, Pablo Plumey, Eulides Nunez, Daniel Pol, and Juan Fernando), Ana Maria Bayer (mid-days), Nandy Davila (mornings), Carlos Jose Peralta (music director), Jewelz (mid-days), Gabriel Castro (production director), and Enrique Alamo.
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Station History
1989 - 2018 Other Tampa Bay Area Stations (History)
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