Sixteen days after Fort Myers Broadcasting Company Spanish CHR “97.7 Latino” WTLQ-FM Punta Rassa/Fort Myers moved its programming to Sun Broadcasting’s 93.7 WHEL Sanibel due to engineering issues related to Hurricane Ian and an earlier fire at its transmitter site, the station has returned back to its own frequency.
That allows Sun’s Country “Hell Yeah 93.7” format to resume operations. WTLQ-FM’s transmitter site sustained damage first in an August fire and then from the storm surge from Ian. By placing the programming on the low-rated 93.7 signal in the aftermath of the Hurricane, the company was able to continue to provide information to the Spanish speaking community in the market. Now with the 97.7 back to full operation, both brands have returned to their regular frequencies.
Original Report 10/5: A pair of disasters over the past few months has led to a frequency shift in Fort Myers FL as Fort Myers Broadcasting Company Spanish CHR “97.7 Latino” WTLQ-FM Punta Rassa has moved to Sun Broadcasting’s 93.7 WHEL Sanibel replacing Country “Hell Yeah 93.7“.
The tower site utilized by WTLQ-FM, three other stations, and a couple of translators sustained significant damage in an August fire. WTLQ-FM had been utilizing the lower-powered transmitter of one of the company’s translators to continue operating until the site received significant damage from the storm surge of Hurricane Ian last week.
WHEL resumed operations on Tuesday evening with the Latino programming after being off since Ian’s landfall last week. The station likely did not even need to change studios as both FMBC and Sun operate from the same facility in Fort Myers.
WTLQ-FM ranked sixth in the Fort Myers market with a 3.8 share in the August 2022 Nielsen Audio ratings. WHEL was fourteenth with a 1.5 as one of three Country stations in the market. The station had flipped to Country in September 2020 first as “Trump Country 93.7” before rebranding as “Hell Yeah 93.7” that December.
