Our thanks to Dick Wheeler for this rare holiday recording!

TOP STREAM 32Kbps (10KHz) Dick Eller, WFLA Tampa FL. December 25, 1965 (51:41) This Exhibit 'SCOPED (20:00) . . . as you sit back there and kinda moan over the meal, today . . . [Description by contributor Dick Wheeler] WFLA is a classic Florida radio station, having started around 1925, under different call letters, in Clearwater, Florida. In the early 1930s, under new ownership, it moved across the bay to Tampa, and acquired the new call letters WFLA. It became an early NBC radio network station, and remained with NBC continuously up through the time of this aircheck (and beyond). After Tampa's WALT successfully switched to Top-40 in the later 1950s, followed by WLCY around 1960, rumors began to circulate that WFLA was also considering a switch. Sure enough, sometime around 1962 WFLA made the switch to Top-40. But from the beginning, listeners noticed there was something different about WFLA's Top-40 playlist — it was clearly very conservative. It seemed like WFLA management wanted the high ratings that came with a successful Top-40 station, but they couldn't quite bring themselves to play some of the more hard-core selections from the Top-40. Notwithstanding, WFLA did appeal to a great many listeners, who remained fiercely loyal to it for many years. Style-wise, WFLA sounded very similar to other Top-40 stations of the time, complete with survey references, contests, and the various bells and whistles. This format was continued, with minor modifications, into the 1980s, when WFLA switched over to being a news/talk operation. This aircheck of DJ Dick Eller is from Christmas Day, 1965. MUSICAL PERFORMANCES WERE RESTORED FOR FIDELITY CONSIDERATIONS. THANKS TO STORMY HUNTER FOR HIS HELP WITH THE MUSIC.

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