WAMA - A History
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WAMA-AM 860 Clearwater – Efrain Archilla-Roig bought Clearwater’s 500-watt directional daytimer WAZE-AM 860 from Three Rivers Communications, Inc. (Carl Marcocci, president) in 1982 and flipped its format from MOR/oldies to all-Spanish WAMA. The station’s studios also moved from Clearwater to 5203 N. Armenia in Tampa.
In 1986, Marcocci, looking for an AM to simulcast with his “Music of Your Life” WGUL-FM, re-acquired AM-860 from Roig and had it re-licensed to Dunedin. Roig then bought Tampa’s (already Spanish) WYOU-AM 1550 and moved the WAMA calls and format there. Offices and studios stayed on N. Armenia for a while, but eventually moved to 4107 W. Spruce Street.
Although it broadcasts 24/7 from a single stick at the former WYOU tower site on St. Paul Street in Tampa, WAMA’s 10,000-watt daytime power drops to 133 watts at night to protect clear channel stations CBE in Windsor, Ontario and XERUV-AM in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico.
In 1997, WAMA was licensed to WAMA, Inc. (ZGS Communications). After airing a Spanish sports/talk format (ESPN Deportes 1550 AM), AM-1550 dropped its ESPN affiliation in April 2013 and became La Ley 1550. Three years later, the station's broadcast license was transferred to Q Broadcasting Corporation (June 2016).
Other names from WAMA-AM 860 history include Victor Lanz (GM/PD/MD-1984), Victor Marrero (sales manager-1984), Lilia Lanz (promotions-1984), Manuel F. Torano (news director-1984), Arthur G. Karmgard (chief engineer-1984), and Carlos Weber (news director-1985).
Other names from WAMA-AM 1550 history include: Victor Lanz (GM), Sylvia Abreu (PD-1992), Pablo Plumey (air talent (1997-98), Ronald J. Gordon (founder of ZGS Communications), Oscar Rojas (GM), Rafael Santiago (sales), Norberto Vallejo (operations), Luis Briceno (PD), Carlos Jose Peralta (mornings), and Julio Obediete (GM).
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Station History
1982 - 2016 Other Tampa Bay Area Stations (History)
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