Programming
The station's local morning show, "AM Tampa Bay," is hosted by veteran broadcasters Jack Harris and Tedd Webb along with co-host Corey Dylan. The station is also the home and flagship for nationally syndicated afternoon host Todd Schnitt ("The Schnitt Show"). The balance of the station's weekday lineup includes nationally syndicated programs hosted by Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Mark Levin, as well as Coast to Coast AM. Saturday programming includes "Reel Animals," an outdoors sports show hosted by Mike Anderson; a home improvement show hosted by David Bell with local experts; Dave Zeplowitz's nationally syndicated "Cigar Dave Show," which originates from WFLA's studios; and Tony "Fatso" Siciliano's "On The Grill," a cooking show that also originates from WFLA studios and can be heard on XM Satellite Radio. The Sunday lineup features "The Florida Gardening Show," hosted by Mark Govan, followed by "Ask An Attorney" with Joe Pippen, and the "Duncan Duo Real Estate Show" hosted by Andrew Duncan.
National news is provided by Fox News Radio. At one time, WFLA boasted having live, local newscasts around the clock; in recent years, local newscasts have been limited to 5 a.m.-7 p.m. weekdays, and 6 a.m.-1 p.m. weekends. As of April 2012, the weekday on-air news staff includes anchors Martin Giles (morning drive), Steve Hall (middays), Bill Cole (afternoon drive), and Dennis Pavluk (early evenings), with Hal Lamb as the weekend anchor. Sharon Parker, Gordon Byrd, and Ryan Lang report for the station. Dozens of newscasters have been behind the microphone over the years; most prominent are Giles, Hall and Parker, each having been with the station for more than 20 years, as was former news director Don Richards (d. 2008). Another prominent long-time personality is traffic reporter Gary McHenry, who has been a part of the station since the 1970s and provides updates during morning and afternoon drive.
The station is the home of University of South Florida Bulls football games. Jim Louk is the play-by-play announcer, and Mark Robinson serves as color analyst. Jim Lighthall and Justin Pawlowski serve as pregame, halftime and postgame hosts. It also carries other sports programming on a case-by-case basis when there are scheduling conflicts with sports events on its sister stations, WDAE (620 AM) and WHNZ (1250 AM), which hold the rights to Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Tampa Bay Rays, Tampa Bay Storm and University of Florida broadcasts.
WFLA provides news coverage for other Clear Channel stations in the Tampa Bay market, and its anchors and reporters often are heard elsewhere in the state, providing reports and sometimes complete newscasts for those markets. WFLA also serves as a hub for the Florida News Network. Clear Channel's corporate director of news/talk programming, Senior Vice President Gabe Hobbs, was based at WFLA's studios until January 2009, when he and nearly 2,000 other Clear Channel employees nationwide were laid off in a cost-cutting measure. Hobbs had been with the company for more than 25 years; his position was eliminated.
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Famous quotes containing the word programming:
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