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This web site is part of David H. Citron's	and South Florida Radio History
* NOW IN OUR 12TH YEAR * ESTABLISHED DECEMBER 7, 1995 *

South Florida Radio History: A Short History of WFUN (790), South Miami Contact us if you're interested in advertising on a relevant page! Entire site copyright 1996-2007 by David Citron All rights reserved. First posted April 2, 2007.

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"I started out in Miami Radio when Rick Shaw was a foreign car"... WFUN deejay Bob Gordon Guest Deejay on WFUN, 1971 The South Florida Radio Pages need your support! Please click the button above to donate via PayPal. Thank you! Roby Yonge, who was probably better known for his stints at WQAM, WAXY-FM, and WABC (where he originated the "Paul McCartney is dead" rumors) also worked at WFUN. See Roby Yonge, The Big Kahuna. BACK ISSUES OF SOUTH FLORIDA RADIO NEWS

A Brief History of WFUN 790 Copyright 2007 by David H. Citron (South Miami, FL -- March, 2007) ... From around 1958 until 1976, WFUN was Miami Radio's legendary Top 40 station and the main competition for WQAM Tiger Radio. The web site of the Huntsville, Alabama Symphony Orchestra says that in April 1958, "radio programs broadcast on WFUN introduced children to the different sections of the orchestra." So that was before OUR South Miami WFUN. It was "the first competitor Top 40 station in the country to beat any of Todd Storz's stations" says Russ Oasis. "For the 10 years between 1958-1968 the Storz stations were a well run chain and the battle between WQAM and WFUN was observed by the entire country." Before the rock & roll era, WFUN had been a daytime-only station at 800 kilocycles on the AM dial. Then, in the late 1950's (possibly even before it was WFUN) the station moved down the dial to 790 and went full-time. They were licensed to the city of South Miami and located way out in the boonies on Sunset Drive. After the move to 790, WFUN had a directional signal to protect stations in Cuba and central Florida. Despite coverage limitations, especially to the southwest, WFUN competed strongly with WQAM throughout the 60s, and even won some ratings sweeps. During the late 60s and early 70s, pop music showed up on FM: "She's Only Rock 'n Roll" WSHE, WMYQ, and "Y-100" WHYI. In 1966, one of WFUN's former deejays used bits of the WFUN format to help create the short-lived sound of Swinging Radio England off the southeast coast of England. Top 40 on AM became more competitive, too, when WINZ briefly joined the fray. Ultimately many listeners moved to FM for music, and in 1976, WFUN was sold to Storer and briefly became easy listening, affiliated with the existing WLYF-FM, formerly WWPB. Then the former WFUN became the popular News/Talk WNWS and later middle-of-the-road station WMRZ, followed by WAXY which was brokered talk. (The best brokered station this market has ever had, IMHO.) Finally, "WAXY 790 The Ticket" sports is the current format of our former beloved South Miami radio station WFUN 790. In 1971, I was fortunate enough to be chosen Guest Deejay For The Day, and to appear on the WFUN 790 with Don Wright. You can read about it in Guest Deejay on WFUN. Both WFUN and WQAM played a prominent role in retired deejay Bob Gordon's autobiography, Invisible Tears: How Do You Keep the Music Playing?. You can read Bob's story about a WFUN bumper sticker promotion that got him into trouble in an excerpt from his book in Invisible Tears: Miami Radio, Through The Eyes And Ears Of DJ Bob Gordon, part of South Florida Radio History. Today, the WFUN call survives elsewhere. WFUN-AM is an news/talk station on 970 (ironically) in Ashtabula, Ohio, owned by Clear Channel. And there's a low power TV station in Miami, WFUN-LP. Plus "Foxy 95.5" WFUN-FM serves the St. Louis, Missouri market. There will probably be some disagreement among former deejays about some of the details of WFUN history, See March Radio News for info about the upcoming WFUN and 96x reunions in April 2007. and they'll get their chance to hash it out on April 21st, at their gala reunion of former WFUN employees (not just deejays) in Miami. See the article in March 2007 Radio News and also the WFUN Tribute Site for details. Thank you to Russ Oasis, Alan Polasky, Bob Gordon, and Wikipedia for some of the above info.

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Page hatched on: April 2, 2007

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