By day, WTMP is powered at 10,000 watts. But to protect other stations on 1150 AM from interference, at night it greatly reduces power to 500 watts. It uses a directional antenna with a three-tower array. WTMP's AM transmitter is on Cavacade Drive in Egypt Lake.[2] Programming is also heard on two FM translators: W271DL on 102.1 MHz in Egypt Lake and W225CQ on 92.9 MHz in Tampa.[3]
WTMP signed on the air in December 1954; 69 years ago (1954-12).[4] It began as a daytimer powered at 1,000 watts and required to go off the air at sunset. It was owned by Rounsaville of Tampa, Inc. From its start, it aired programming for Tampa's African-American community, a mix of R&B, Urban Gospel, talk and news. Noted R&B vocalist and Tampa native King Coleman got his start as a disc jockey on WTMP in the 1950s.
In the late 1990s, the station, then-owned by Broadcast Capital, was bought by Tama Broadcasting, which has headquarters in Tampa. Long controlled by the Cherry family, Tama also owns stations in Daytona Beach, Jacksonville, Savannah, Georgia and Greenville, South Carolina, as well as newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Pierce. The owner went on to buy the then-WGUL in 2002 and made it a hip hop-urban station as WTMP-FM. It featured the syndicated show Russ Parr in the Morning. Even after a format change to rhythmic oldies, the FM station did not do well due to its rimshot signal, so it ended up as a simulcast of WTMP a year later. The rimshot signal, which barely reaches the Hillsborough County line from its transmitter southeast of Brooksville, also couldn't be moved closer to Tampa or upgraded with changes to the tower or transmitter power, due to interference issues with other stations broadcasting on 96.1 and nearby frequencies.
At 3pm on September 2, 2011, after a 57-year run, WTMP's legacy as an R&B outlet came to an abrupt end. Davidson Media Group took over operation of the station under a local marketing agreement (LMA) from Tama, which filed for bankruptcy protection and placed the station in court-ordered receivership. Davidson then flipped the combo to a SpanishTropical music format. All of WTMP's airstaff and syndicated shows were already pink-slipped a day before the flip.[5] The Tropical format lasted only three years.
It was announced that WTMP would return to an Urban AC format on May 1, 2014.[6] The two stations were split from common operation with the flip, as the operation of WTMP was taken over by WestCoast Media, while the FM was retained by Davidson.[7]
On March 14, 2016, WTMP flipped to classic hip hop as "Boomin' 1150".[8]
Both WTMP 1150 AM and WTMP-FM 96.1 were purchased out of bankruptcy by Neal Ardman's NIA Broadcasting, Inc. effective May 18, 2017. The purchase price was $500,000. In March, 2022, one of WTMP's translators moved from 97.5 to 102.1 MHz.[9]
On October 1, 2022, WTMP added a translator at 92.9 MHz to boost its coverage into downtown Tampa on the FM dial. This is the first time since the station was on 97.5FM that the station could be heard on FM in and around Tampa.
