Reviewed by Peter Berk, President and Chief Media Strategist, Berk Marketing · Last updated 31 October 2026
Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater
Three pro teams on three different stations, a sports signal that moved to FM this year, and a bay that divides the market into two commutes. Berk Marketing buys Tampa Bay for advertisers and represents no station in it.
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Short answer. Tampa Bay spreads its sports across the dial. WDAE carries the Rays and since February 2026 is on 95.7 FM as well as 620 AM, the Buccaneers are on 98 Rock, and the Lightning are on 102.5 The Bone. WFLA 970 is the talk station, and there is no all-news station. On the music side 105.5 The Dove, 93.3 FLZ, 99.5 QYK, 107.3 The Eagle and Magic 94.9 are the big signals. Hillsborough and Pinellas are separated by the bay, winter residents swell the population, and Sarasota is rated on its own. The practical entry point is about five thousand dollars a week.
Station by station
The table below lists the commercial signals most plans here start from. Our top 100 markets page lists every market we buy, and radio stations by market covers the largest markets in full.
The market at a glance
The commercial stations most Tampa Bay plans start from. Formats and owners as of October 2026.
| Station | Dial | Branding | Format | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WFLA-AM | 970 AM | Newsradio WFLA | Talk | iHeartMedia |
| WHPT-FM | 102.5 FM | 102.5 The Bone | Hot Talk | Cox Media Group |
| WDAE-AM / WDAE-FM | 620 AM / 95.7 FM | 95.7 WDAE | Sports | iHeartMedia |
| WXTB-FM | 97.9 FM | 98 Rock | Active Rock | iHeartMedia |
| WDUV-FM | 105.5 FM | 105.5 The Dove | Soft AC | Cox Media Group |
| WFLZ-FM | 93.3 FM | 93.3 FLZ | CHR | iHeartMedia |
| WQYK-FM | 99.5 FM | 99.5 QYK | Country | Beasley |
| WXGL-FM | 107.3 FM | 107.3 The Eagle | Classic Hits | Cox Media Group |
| WWRM-FM | 94.9 FM | Magic 94.9 | AC | Cox Media Group |
| WRBQ-FM | 104.7 FM | Q105 | Classic Hits | Beasley |
Stations change formats and owners often, so we confirm every station against the current Nielsen book before a proposal goes out. A plan built for you shows the current audience for each station on it.
How Tampa listens
The teams decide the sports station. The Rays are on WDAE, the Buccaneers on 98 Rock, and the Lightning on The Bone. Two of those are not sports stations at all for most of the day, so a Tampa sports schedule is really a game schedule: which team, which season, and which broadcasts. Buying one station all year rarely follows the audience.
WDAE moved to FM. In February 2026 WDAE began a full simulcast on 95.7 FM. A sports station that lived on AM now reaches a younger audience on a strong FM signal, which makes it a better general sports buy than it was a year ago.
The bay splits the commute, and winter adds people. Hillsborough and Pinellas are joined by bridges, and the commute patterns follow them. Seasonal residents arrive from roughly January to April. Sarasota and Bradenton are rated as a separate market even though many Tampa signals reach them, so a Gulf Coast advertiser plans both deliberately.
The listener is following a game or a conversation, so fewer commercials a day do the job. In Tampa Bay that means WDAE for sports, The Bone for personality talk and the Lightning, and WFLA for talk.
The listener is half attending, so the message needs repeating, which means weight on one station rather than money spread across four. The Dove, 93.3 FLZ, 99.5 QYK and The Eagle each reach a large habitual audience bought for frequency.
Why format decides frequency, in full, is on the local radio advertising page.
Money
iHeartMedia owns WFLA, WDAE, 98 Rock and 93.3 FLZ, Cox Media Group has The Bone, The Dove, The Eagle and Magic 94.9, and Beasley holds 99.5 QYK and Q105. Each group prices its stations as a package built for its own inventory. We buy the station, negotiate each group against the others, and take remnant inventory where it exists.
The practical entry point for a terrestrial campaign here is about five thousand dollars a week, the same floor as every market we buy, and it needs to run long enough to build frequency rather than a week or two to see what happens. What sets the rate, what moves it and how remnant inventory changes the arithmetic is covered on the radio advertising costs page.
Berk Marketing represents advertisers and holds no Tampa inventory. We go to the stations and the groups for availability and price, negotiate each against the others, write and produce the commercial in house, place the schedule and track what it returns by station. Where a station has unsold airtime, we buy it as remnant, typically 40 to 60% below the published rate card, and you are refunded or credited for any spot that does not run.
Fit
Worth knowing first
We work with advertisers who have not already been in contact with a radio station’s sales rep. We are not in the business of taking clients away from stations, and once an advertiser has been quoted directly, our ability to bring remnant pricing on that station is compromised.
The consequence lands on you rather than on us. If Tampa is on your list and you have not spoken to anyone yet, that is exactly when this is worth a call.
We will run a competitive monitoring report at no charge and with no obligation. It shows which Tampa stations your competitors are on, at what times of day, how many spots, and it includes the actual audio of their commercials.
In many cases nothing shows up at all, and that is worth knowing too.
Get the ReportQuestions
For a considered purchase, WDAE or The Bone bought properly usually does more than a music station. For a broad consumer offer, one music station with enough weight beats several bought lightly. Your season and which side of the bay you serve come first.
The Rays are on WDAE 620 AM and 95.7 FM, the Buccaneers on 98 Rock 97.9, and the Lightning on 102.5 The Bone.
Many Tampa signals carry into Sarasota and Bradenton, but that area is rated as its own market, so its listeners are not counted in the Tampa numbers. If it matters to you, we plan it on purpose.
Plan on about five thousand dollars a week as the practical entry point for a terrestrial schedule, run long enough to build frequency. The rate on any one Tampa station depends on daypart, season and how much inventory is unsold, and remnant airtime can bring it down considerably. What sets a rate is covered on our radio advertising costs page.
No. Berk Marketing represents advertisers and holds no inventory on any Tampa station. We negotiate with every group on your behalf and are paid to get the schedule right for you, not to fill a station’s airtime.
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Berk Marketing represents advertisers, not radio stations or media companies.
