View source for WRBQ-FM

{{short description|Classic hits radio station in Tampa, Florida}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox radio station
| logo                = Wrbqlogo.png
| logo_size           = 175px
| name                = WRBQ-FM
| city                = [[Tampa, Florida]]
| area                = [[Tampa Bay Area]]
| branding            = ''Tampa Bay's Q105''
| rds                 =
| frequency           = 104.7 [[Megahertz|MHz]] {{HD Radio}}
| airdate             = {{Start date and age|1954|6}} (as WPKM)
| format              = [[Classic hits]]
| subchannels         = '''HD2:''' [[WJBR (AM)|WJBR]] simulcast
| erp                 = 100,000 [[watt]]s
| haat                = {{convert|174|m|ft|sp=us}}
| class               = C1
| licensing_authority = [[Federal Communications Commission|FCC]]
| facility_id         = 11943
| coordinates         =
| callsign_meaning    = Ralph Beaver (station engineer) Quality
| former_callsigns    = {{ubl|WPKM (1954–1972)|WEZX (1972–1973)}}
| owner               = [[Beasley Broadcast Group]]
| licensee            = Beasley Media Group Licenses, LLC
| sister_stations     = [[WPBB]], [[WJBR (AM)|WJBR]], [[WLLD]], [[WQYK-FM]], [[WYUU]]
| webcast             = {{listen live|http://myq105.com}}
| website             = [http://myq105.com myq105.com] 
}}

'''WRBQ-FM''' (104.7 [[Hertz|MHz]], "Q105") is a [[commercial radio|commercial]] [[radio station]] [[city of license|licensed]] to [[Tampa, Florida]], airing a [[classic hits]] [[radio format]].  Owned by the [[Beasley Broadcast Group]], its studios are on Executive Center Drive North, near Gandy Boulevard in [[St. Petersburg, Florida|St. Petersburg]].

WRBQ is a [[list of broadcast station classes|Class C1]] FM station with an [[effective radiated power]] (ERP) of 100,000 [[watt]]s, the maximum for most FM stations. The [[transmitter]] is on South 50th Street off South Tamiami Trail in [[Palm River-Clair Mel, Florida|Palm River-Clair Mel]].<ref>[https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?sr=Y&s=C&call=wrbq&nav=home Radio-Locator.com/WRBQ]</ref>  WRBQ broadcasts using [[HD Radio]] technology.  Its HD2 [[digital subchannel|subchannel]] airs an all-[[podcast]] format, [[simulcast]]ing [[sister station]] [[WJBR (AM)|WJBR]] [[1010 AM]].

==History==
=== WPKM and WEZX (1954–1973) ===
The station [[sign-on|signed on]] the air in {{start date and age|1954|6}}.<ref>''[[Broadcasting & Cable|Broadcasting Yearbook]] 1960'' [https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1960/BC-YB-1960-Radio.pdf page A-135]. Retrieved December 1, 2023.</ref>  Its original [[call sign]] was WPKM.  It was a rare stand-alone FM station, not associated with an AM or TV station.  It was owned by Frank Knorr, Jr.  The studios were in the Bayshore Royal Hotel.  Its power was only 10,500 watts, a fraction of its current output.

By the 1960s, it was airing a [[beautiful music]] format, playing quarter-hour sweeps of soft instrumental [[cover song]]s of popular adult music, along with [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] and [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] [[show tune]]s.  It switched its call letters in 1972 to WEZX to reflect its [[easy listening]] sounds.

=== Top 40 (1973–1993) ===
104.7 switched to a [[Top 40]] format as WRBQ ("Q105") on December 13, 1973. The first song on "Q105" was "[[If You're Ready (Come Go with Me)]]" by [[The Staple Singers]]. Beginning in 1977, popular [[disc jockey]] Cleveland Wheeler served as the morning host.

The station hired [[Scott Shannon]] as program director in 1981. Shannon and Wheeler soon developed the first [[morning zoo]] radio show in the U.S. The two decided to work up a wilder show together, with plenty of comedy and characters.  It was founded on their own playful, irreverent, and provocative interaction, with spontaneous bits of parody leavened with straight news. They called the show the ''Q Morning Zoo'', and it quickly became a hit. At its height, it had 85 people working to produce it.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://tbo.com/news/recalling-the-days-of-q-morning-zoo-245349 |title=Recalling the days of Q Morning Zoo |last=Belcher |first=Walt |date=July 21, 2011 |newspaper=The Tampa Tribune }}</ref> Dave Saint, [[Jack Harris (broadcaster)|Jack Harris]], Bill Garcia, Uncle Johnny, Alan O’Brien, Tedd Webb, Pat McKay, Steve Kelly, and Mason Dixon were all involved with the station as on-air personalities. Q105 quickly overtook [[WWRM|WLCY-FM]], which had signed on three years earlier with an [[Broadcast automation|automated]] [[contemporary hit radio|contemporary hits]] format.
[[File:WRBQ-FM Q105.jpg|thumb|left|The WRBQ-FM, Q105 team (left to right, Andy, Stephen, and Andrew) at the Gasparilla Distance Classic Expo in February 2020.]]
According to engineer Ralph Beaver, the station's [[call sign]] was created when they were looking for a set of unique call letters and tossing out ideas, he suggested ‘RB’ (which happened to be his initials). Southern Broadcasting, which then owned the station, had just signed on [[WRVQ]] in [[Richmond, Virginia]], and ‘RB’ was available, creating a call sign that sounded similar to its sister station.

When it began its Top 40 format, WRBQ-FM was owned by Southern Broadcasting. In 1978, the station was purchased by [[Harte-Hanks]], then in 1983, by Edens Broadcasting, headed by former Southern Broadcasting and Harte-Hanks executive Gary Edens. WRBQ added an AM [[simulcast]] on [[WWMI|1380 AM]] that same year.

For 20 years, Q105 was a [[contemporary hit radio|Mainstream Top 40/CHR]] station and dominated the ratings in Tampa. The station maintained its popularity until September 1989, when crosstown Oldies station [[WFLZ-FM]] changed to an aggressive Top 40/CHR format called ''Power 93, The Power Pig''. Part of WFLZ's plan was to mock and belittle Q105.  WFLZ had billboards all over Tampa saying "Screw The Q" with the letter "Q" and a large red [[screw]] through it. Q105 had faced competition beforehand against crosstown [[WXTB|WZNE]] (''Z98'') for a short period of time during the mid-1980s, but it prevailed.

Q105 continued on against The Power Pig for a few more years, but was unable to regain the ratings the station once enjoyed.  WRBQ tried moving slightly in a rhythmic direction (much like WFLZ) in April 1990, and then moved towards an adult lean in February 1993.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1993/RR-1993-02-05.pdf#page=3 |access-date=2023-09-18|title=WRBQ Taps Brian Thomas As New PD|pages=3}}</ref> In addition, Edens was also running into financial trouble, partially related due to the fallout from WFLZ's competition. In January 1992, WRBQ (AM) split from the simulcast and flipped to the satellite-fed [[urban AC]] service "[[The Touch (radio network)|The Touch]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/90s/1992/Billboard-1992-02-01.pdf#page=75 |access-date=2023-09-18|title=Vox Jox|pages=75}}</ref> Also in 1992, Edens decided to sell all of its stations.  WRBQ-AM-FM were purchased by [[iHeartMedia|Clear Channel Communications]] in July of that year.<ref>[https://www.proquest.com/docview/262883957  "Q-105, sister station are sold"], ''St. Petersburg Times'' (April 1, 1992) [https://www.proquest.com/docview/262883957]</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_LRIEAAAAMBAJ|title=Billboard|date=1992-07-11|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|language=en}}</ref>

=== Country (1993–2002) ===
At 1:05&nbsp;p.m. on April 2, 1993, after playing "[[Real Love (Jody Watley song)|Real Love]]" by [[Jody Watley]] and "[[Happy Trails (song)|Happy Trails]]" by [[Roy Rogers]], WRBQ-FM flipped to a [[country music|country]] format, which began with a weekend of all-[[Garth Brooks]] music.  The country station kept the "Q105" name and logo (albeit colored in a red, white and blue motif).<ref>[https://www.proquest.com/docview/262948684  "Struggling Q-105 drops Top 40 to head for the country"], ''St. Petersburg Times'' (April 3, 1993) [https://www.proquest.com/docview/262948684]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1993/RR-1993-04-09.pdf#page=18 |access-date=2023-09-18|title=Street Talk|pages=18|date=1993-04-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url-status = live| archive-url = https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/gr0i4FiAvMM| archive-date = 2021-12-05| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr0i4FiAvMM| title = WRBQ Tampa - Q105 Format Change to Country - 1993 | website=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.radioyears.com/other/memorabilia_details.cfm?mem=2451&id=13|title=Radio Years.com|website=www.radioyears.com|access-date=2016-03-24}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wA4EAAAAMBAJ&q=Q104+St.+Louis&pg=PA72 | title=Billboard| date=1997-02-08}}</ref> The switch to country was an immediate ratings success, climbing from 13th place to 2nd, beating every station except then-rival (now sister station) country competitor [[WQYK-FM]]. WRBQ was briefly renamed "105 The Bee" in the late 1990s.  It continued as a successful country radio station until the early 2000s.

In February 1999, as a result of the merger of Clear Channel and Jacor, WRBQ was sold to [[Infinity Broadcasting]], later [[CBS Radio]], and became WQYK's sister station. (Its AM counterpart was sold to [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] and flipped to "[[Radio Disney]]".)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_AQ4EAAAAMBAJ|title=Billboard|date=1999-02-27|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|language=en}}</ref>

=== Oldies (2002–2005) ===
Former WRBQ Program Director Mason Dixon was Program Director of sister station [[WYUU]], an oldies station, with a weaker signal than WRBQ and most other Tampa FM stations.  Dixon lobbied Infinity management to move the oldies format to WRBQ.  On April 18, 2002, WRBQ and WYUU swapped formats.<ref>[https://www.proquest.com/docview/263713568  "Two stations to switch locations, letters"], ''St. Petersburg Times'' (April 16, 2002)</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/2000s/2002/RR-2002-04-19.pdf#page=5 |access-date=2023-09-18| title=WRBQ, WYUU Swap Formats in Tampa|pages=5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tbo.com/lifestyles/life/2008/mar/23/good-ol-times-mason-dixon-marks-30-years-on-the-ai-ar-137400/|title=Good 'Ol Times: Mason Dixon Marks 30 Years On The Air|website=TBO.com|access-date=2016-03-24}}</ref> WYUU became "Country 92.5", while WRBQ became an oldies station as “Oldies 104.7”, playing many of the 1970s and 80s hits it once played when they were current.  (WYUU has since flipped to [[Spanish-language]] contemporary hits.)

=== Classic Hits (2005–present) ===
The station returned to the "Q105" branding in July 2005. By 2010, the station removed songs from the 1960s and added more 1980s titles, making the transition to [[classic hits]] ("The Greatest Hits of All Time").

In 2008, Scott Walker was hired to be WRBQ's on-air Program Director and midday host.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/48769/scott-walker-to-wrbq-pd-post|title=Scott Walker To WRBQ PD Post|website=All Access|access-date=2016-03-24}}</ref> This was done to allow Mason Dixon to focus entirely on his morning show duties. In 2013, Brian Thomas programmed WRBQ and sister station WQYK for a short period of time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.radiofacts.com/brian-thomas-named-vp-of-programming-for-cbs-radio-tampa/|title=Brian Thomas Named VP of Programming for CBS Radio Tampa|date=2012-05-09|website=Radiofacts.com - Music, DJs, Radio Stations, R&B, Hip Hop|access-date=2016-03-24}}</ref> Tee Gentry later took over programming duties on an interim basis.  Ted Cannarozzi became the official PD in January 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/96112/ted-cannarozzi-named-wrbq-program-director/|title=Ted Cannarozzi Named WRBQ Program Director|website=RadioInsight|date=19 January 2016 |language=en-US|access-date=2016-03-24}}</ref>

In recent years, WRBQ-FM has brought back [[jingle]]s from its Top 40 days.  These include cuts from the "Positron", "Outstanding", "The Rock", "FM", "The Flame Thrower", "Warp Factor", "Red Hot", "Power Station", "Skywave," "Turbo Z," and "Z World" packages, all from [[JAM Creative Productions]].  The Q105 jingle melody, in its present incarnation, was modeled after that of "Z100," [[WHTZ]] in New York. (The jingles have since been discontinued.)

On October 2, 2014, CBS Radio announced that it would trade all of the company's radio stations in [[Charlotte, NC|Charlotte]] and Tampa (including WRBQ), as well as [[WIP (AM)|WIP]] in [[Philadelphia]], to the [[Beasley Broadcast Group]].  This was in exchange for five stations in [[Miami]] and Philadelphia.<ref name=radio-cbsbeasley>[http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/90319/cbs-and-beasley-swap-philadelphiamiami-for-charlottetampa/ CBS And Beasley Swap Philadelphia/Miami For Charlotte/Tampa] from Radio Insight (October 2, 2014)</ref> The swap was completed on December 1, 2014.<ref name=ri-cbsbeasleycomplete>{{cite news|last1=Venta|first1=Lance|title=CBS Beasley Deal Closes|url=http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/91003/cbsbeasley-swap-updates/|access-date=December 1, 2014|work=RadioInsight|date=December 1, 2014}}</ref>

On October 5, 2020, the station announced the return of the ''MJ Morning Show'', which originally aired on WFLZ from 1994 until 2012.  The MJ in the show's title is MJ Kelli, who is also known as [[conservative talk]] radio host [[Todd Schnitt]], his real name.  The addition of the MJ Morning Show resulted in Mason Dixon moving back to the afternoon [[drive time]] slot.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tampabay.com/life-culture/2020/10/06/mj-morning-show-returns-to-tampa-bay-radio/|title=MJ Morning Show returns to Tampa Bay radio|website=Tampa Bay Times|access-date=2020-11-01}}</ref> In October 2022, Dixon departed the station as part of nation-wide layoffs by Beasley Media Group.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://radioinsight.com/headlines/243706/layoffs-ongoing-at-beasley-media-group/ | title=More Names from the Beasley Media Layoffs as Additional Markets Affected | date=12 October 2022 }}</ref. In 2024 the Q105 management team found themselves embroiled in controversy for letting go of radio personality Froggy, Mike Cusimano. The lay offs were speculated to occur largely because Froggy had information about inappropriate conduct amongst the Beasley Media group/ Q105 Management.

===Buccaneers broadcasts===
At one time, WRBQ was the [[flagship (broadcasting)|flagship]] radio station for the [[Tampa Bay Buccaneers]] of the [[National Football League]].  That may have made it the first Top 40 station in the U.S. to carry live [[play-by-play]] [[sporting event]]s.  [[Jesse Ventura]], the former [[professional wrestler]] and [[actor]] who later became [[governor of Minnesota]], was one of the team's [[color analyst]]s.

Buccaneers broadcasts are now heard on [[WXTB]], an [[active rock]] station owned by [[iHeartMedia]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://myq105.com Q105 official website]
*{{FM station data|11943|WRBQ-FM}}

{{Tampa Bay Radio}}
{{Classic Hits Radio Stations in Florida}}
{{Beasley Broadcast Group}}

[[Category:Radio stations in the Tampa Bay area|RBQ-FM]]
[[Category:Classic hits radio stations in the United States]]
[[Category:Beasley Broadcast Group radio stations|RBQ-FM]]
[[Category:1954 establishments in Florida]]
[[Category:Radio stations established in 1954]]