{"id":9573,"date":"2011-09-01T15:06:34","date_gmt":"2011-09-01T19:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=9573"},"modified":"2011-09-01T14:13:16","modified_gmt":"2011-09-01T18:13:16","slug":"wtmp%e2%80%99s-format-to-change-because-station-is-sold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=9573","title":{"rendered":"WTMP\u2019s Format To Change Because Station Is Sold"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY TAMECA JOHNSON<\/strong>
\nFreelance Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n

WTMP as we know it is no more.\u00a0 The station has been sold.\u00a0 The announcement came Wednesday and has left many people angry and in shock.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

It also means the city and surrounding areas can no longer hear The Tom Joyner Morning Show<\/em>, The Michael Baisden Show<\/em>, Honest Opinion<\/em> with Hakim Aquil<\/strong> and Jarvis El-Amin<\/strong>, The Citizens\u2019 Report<\/em> with Jetie B. Wilds<\/strong> or Sunday Gospel<\/em> with Randall C<\/strong>.\u00a0 In essence, Tampa\u2019s Black community has lost one of the few voices it had.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a good thing,\u201d says Alex Jordann<\/strong>, the station\u2019s former Programming Director.\u00a0 \u201cWTMP is a business, but it isn\u2019t a business to our listeners, it\u2019s a part of the landscape of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Community Activist Michelle Patty<\/strong> hosted a Sunday morning gospel show and was at the station when management broke the news.\u00a0 \u201cThe station is 57 years old.\u00a0 It\u2019s like losing a relative.\u00a0 I grew up on WTMP.\u00a0 This leaves a huge void in the African American community.\u201d
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

El-Amin<\/strong> agrees.\u00a0 \u201cThere is now nothing to connect us.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 He says if we look at the bigger picture, the loss is much greater.\u00a0 \u201cPoliticians are in trouble.\u00a0 How are they going to get their message out now?\u00a0 The community is in trouble.\u00a0 This is a wake-up call for leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

James Ransom<\/strong>, representing TOBA, who is familiar with an effort by some to finance\/purchase WTMP in the past said, \u201cthat effort failed because the seller\u2019s price was too high. The seller had the license, but no other assets (no building, land or towers). Another party controlled that,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

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]<\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/em>, Ransom<\/strong> further stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnybody 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<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are lessons to be learned here,\u201d says Jordann<\/strong>. \u201cIf we don\u2019t value and support the things that are important, we lose them.\u201d[\/private]<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY TAMECA JOHNSON Freelance Writer WTMP as we know it is no more.\u00a0 The station has been sold.\u00a0 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9573\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}