BY TAMECA JOHNSON
Freelance Writer

WTMP as we know it is no more.  The station has been sold.  The announcement came Wednesday and has left many people angry and in shock.

The station had been up for sale for several years after Straightway Radio took over operations from Tama Broadcasting. The sale means the city of Tampa no longer has a radio station that targets the adult Black community with R&B and Classic Soul music.

It also means the city and surrounding areas can no longer hear The Tom Joyner Morning Show, The Michael Baisden Show, Honest Opinion with Hakim Aquil and Jarvis El-Amin, The Citizens’ Report with Jetie B. Wilds or Sunday Gospel with Randall C.  In essence, Tampa’s Black community has lost one of the few voices it had.

“This is not a good thing,” says Alex Jordann, the station’s former Programming Director.  “WTMP is a business, but it isn’t a business to our listeners, it’s a part of the landscape of their lives.”

Community Activist Michelle Patty hosted a Sunday morning gospel show and was at the station when management broke the news.  “The station is 57 years old.  It’s like losing a relative.  I grew up on WTMP.  This leaves a huge void in the African American community.”

El-Amin agrees.  “There is now nothing to connect us.”   He says if we look at the bigger picture, the loss is much greater.  “Politicians are in trouble.  How are they going to get their message out now?  The community is in trouble.  This is a wake-up call for leadership.”

James Ransom, representing TOBA, who is familiar with an effort by some to finance/purchase WTMP in the past said, “that effort failed because the seller’s price was too high. The seller had the license, but no other assets (no building, land or towers). Another party controlled that,” he explained.

There is no word on who bought the station or what type of programming the new owners will provide, but there are reports it will not be geared towards the Black community.[private]

The right to obtain another local station with the same format is through a Lease Management Agreement (LMA), and that will cost approximately $200,000-250,000. That will allow the local community to return to the same R&B format with programs like the Tom Joyner Morning Show, Ransom further stated.

“Anybody that is interested in investing all or a portion of that amount to reestablish that format should send a letter to P. O. Box 3485, Tampa, FL 33601, Attn: James Ransom.”

“There are lessons to be learned here,” says Jordann. “If we don’t value and support the things that are important, we lose them.”[/private]