With Christmas come and gone, the stunting continues on 98.7 WBRN-FM Holmes Beach/Tampa as the station is now “98.7 Donald-FM“.
Attempting “to make radio great again”, the station is airing money themed songs such as Pink Floyd’s “Money”, Notorious B.I.G. “Mo Money Mo Problems”, Calloway “I Wanna Be Rich”, and Dire Straits “Money For Nothing”. No word yet on when the permanent format will debut.
Original Report 12/12: Beasley Media’s “98.7 No Rules Rock” WBRN-FM Holmes Beach/Tampa has dropped the Bubba The Love Sponge show and the station’s Rock format for commercial-free Christmas music as “Santa 98.7“.
WBRN-FM previously used the same stunt in 2014 prior to the addition of Bubba and relaunch of the station as “Bubba 98.7” in February 2015. The station relaunched as “98.7 No Rules Rock” last December in an attempt to gain traction. WBRN-FM ranked 21st in the Tampa market with a 1.2 share in the November 2016 Nielsen Audio ratings.
Bubba is set to go to trial against Nielsen in May 2017 over his alleged ratings tampering efforts.
Beasley has released the following statement in regards to the change:
December 12, 2016 – Naples, FL — Beasley Media Group has decided to make a format adjustment on WBRN-FM in Tampa, Florida.
As a result of this decision, The Bubba the Love Sponge® Show will no longer be carried by Beasley in the Tampa, Florida market.
Beasley looks forward to continuing its relationship with Bubba and The Bubba the Love Sponge® Show on WRXK / 96K-ROCK in Ft. Myers, Florida.
