(I used to write a bi-weekly column, RadioRadio, for Players magazine in the Tampa Bay area. The following story appeared in 1990.)

Profile: Mark Larson

By Bob Andelman

Mark Larson has been heating up - and pissing off - a lot of people lately and he couldn't be happier.

"I've always been real opinionated," says the WFLA (970 AM) morning talk host. "I like to talk. I enjoy conversation. When you feel strongly about something, you have no trouble getting your point of view across."

It seems like Larson, 35, has been getting noticed a lot more on the eve of his first anniversary as a talk show personality. The Tampa Tribune wrote about his unsentimental remarks when he commented on a man who attempted suicide by jumping off the Sunshine Skyway. A TV station went live on the air with him as he took calls regarding the Iraq crisis. He's no Bob Lassiter yet, but Larson is definitely learning the game.

Lassiter - the former star of WFLA now working in Chicago - was the man who gave Larson his first talk show exposure, however inadvertently. When convicted serial killer Ted Bundy was executed, Lassiter heard a comment that Larson made on the air at WFLA's sister station, WFLZ (93.3 FM) when Larson was still working as a disc jockey. He had complained of all the money being spent on death row inmates when children and the elderly are going hungry. Lassiter took Larson to task, saying his FM counterpart knew nothing about being charitable. Larson happened to be listening to FLA in between spinning records - an old habit - and he stormed into Lassiter's studio with a list of charities FLZ had contributed to or raised money for under his guidance.

"I went in on a break on the AM and talked to him," remembers Larson. "The break ended and he made a motion for me to sit down and we got into a screaming match. It was truly my indoctrination - taking on Bob Lassiter."

If you missed that moment, it was true radio theater. Imagine the scene: two radio hosts working at sister stations for the same company across the hall from each other. One leaves his microphone, bursts into the other's studio and goes head-to-head with him on the air. It was also a classic political match-up, Lassiter the ultra-liberal vs. Larson the ultra-conservative.

"It ended in a stalemate," says Larson, which is exactly the way I remember it as well.

Larson had a better relationship with the late Dick Norman, the last regular host of the 9 a.m.-noon slot before Larson took over in September of '89. "Dick and I, politically, are pretty linear," says Larson. "If I had to hold up a mentor, it would be Dick."

Anyone who goes back a few years in Tampa Bay may know Larson from several radio stations. A veteran of 18 years in the business - stops on the way to Tampa included his hometown of Indianapolis, Rockford, IL, Little Rock, AK, Baton Rouge and New Orleans - Larson came to WYNF as music director in 1980 when the station was playing Top 40 tunes. Larson held down the 6-10 p.m. airshift then. He was promoted to program director in 1985, the year prior to the station's acquisition by CBS. During that year he was most notably responsible for bringing Russ Albums back to the Bay area from San Diego. (Albums had been a staple at the old 98 Rock.)

Following a three-month layoff, Larson became production manager at the old WPDS - "Paradise 93.3" - now the Power Pig. "I called that 'Manilow 93,'" jokes Larson. "It was really relaxing to go to that after leaving 95."

It was during his days at boring old Paradise that Larson first developed the habit of monitoring WFLA's talk shows during Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand songs. When PDS became WFLZ and Z93 "Good Time Oldies," Larson became program director. He stayed on with the station for a month when it turned pig and went Top 40 - a complete cycle for Larson since he started with YNF a decade ago.

"I enjoyed working with the Power Pig but they had an opening on FLA," he says. "I've always been a talk freak. I tried it and I liked it. When you do music radio, the focus is on the music. People pay little attention to what the DJ says. What we (talk show hosts) are are radio columnists. We're paid to give our opinions. We're editorialists every day."

Larson, who runs a commercial recording studio in St. Petersburg on the side - he's the voice of Champion TV, Hungry Howie's Pizza, Sutherlin Toyota and Lokey Motors - says talk radio pays infinitely more money than do music formats.

"No question," he says. "Because - with the exception of morning show hosts - you're paying the individual to be the focus point of your program. When I was PD I was getting jocks for a dime a dozen in this town. If I told you what I was paying at YNF and 93, it'd be obscene."

There Larson goes again - offending somebody, somewhere.

Letters, We Get Letters! James L. Green, Jr. of Tampa wrote in to challenge readers of this column to listen to the Bay area's two black-oriented radio stations, WTMP and WRXB, for a week. "We know whites listen to black R&B and rap," he writes. "We also know there is a large black population in the Tampa Bay area. I hope you will listen to WTMP and WRXB for one week and ask young black and white listeners what they feel these two black urban (stations) can do to increase their listenership."

The glove has been thrown down. I'm as curious as Mr. Green to hear your comments on TMP and RXB. Do you listen? What attracts you? What deters you? What would make you listen more often? Send your thoughts on these and any other radio subjects to: RadioRadio, c/o Players, P.O. Box 1867, Pinellas Park, Florida 34664. The fax machine is also available: (813) 578-1414.

Incidentally, the volume and intelligence of your letters has been quite impressive. Thank you.

Batter Up! Congratulations to former WTKN host Nanci Donnellan for landing the afternoon drive position at Tampa Bay's first all-sports radio station, WPLA (910 AM). Nanci signed on with "Talkin' Sports" on Monday (Aug. 20) after an absence of several months from local airwaves. Her first guest was top-notch: Hugh Culverhouse, owner of the Bucs.

As AM gets more specialized and talk-oriented, an all-sports station was perhaps inevitable. We anticipate an all-children's network will be announced soon.

Under Siege! Ron & Ron get so much attention in this town!

The Aug. 17 edition of The Florida Catholic, in a front-page story by Kathy Subko, reports a number of parishioners have initiated letter writing campaigns to advertisers on the WYNF morning show. They're upset about "Catholic Jeopardy," a popular game show parody created by "Fast" Eddie Yarb.

Letters have been sent to McDonalds, Chrysler, GTE, AT&T and Ace Auto Parts. More on this as - or if - it develops.

Oink This! We frequently pass along relevant radio tidbits from national publications. The following excerpts come from interviews in The Pulse of Radio, a radio management weekly.

First are comments from Randy Michaels, chief operating offer and executive vice president of Jacor Communications, owner of WFLZ (93.3 FM) - the Power Pig - and WFLA (970 AM).

Question: I guess the most obvious question must relate to the Power Pig. Tell us about your initial strategy.

Michaels: ... We sort of applied the Willie Sutton theory - you know, the bank robber who, when asked, "Why do you robbed banks?" said, "That's where the money is." We all thought we should attack WRBQ (Q105) because that's where the money was.

Question: The blackmail story used on the air - did you actually offer (Q105) money not to have you change formats?

Michaels: We regarded it as a joke, but we did. ... It was all sort of theatre of the mind. We intended - since we were trashing the old format anyway - to take a week and just play with their heads. We were only putting it on the air so they could hear it in their cars. What we really didn't expect, because we thought it was really inside stuff, was that the whole market got into it. When we went on, it's all you could hear. The buzz that it created in town, an oldies station with a three share, all of a sudden was what everybody was talking about. This whole ransom thing got a lot of press and incredible local buzz. The day we went Top 40, we had a huge audience.

Question: Why was the station so successful - did Q105 play into your hands?

Michaels: Far more than we expected them to. Our initial thought was we might get a seven or an eight out of the box and drop them to a 10. Q105, even more than we realized, was the victim of a lot of internal power struggles and didn't seem able to react. When they did react, it was all the wrong stuff. They were so broad, we were able to reposition strengths and take advantage of their weaknesses. They really did not react. In that way, they sure did play into our hands. I don't believe that internally they thought anything could happen to them.

Question: Do you think you'll need to change the culture of the station over time to continue with the success?

Michaels: We're doing it now. Sure. We have always had plans to evolve it, and we are evolving it ... We also toned the station down a little bit. It will evolve further. There's no question that as Q105 pounds themselves into a tighter and tighter pigeonhole, we are broadening, both musically and with respect to what goes on between the records.

And now a few anecdotes from Michael J. Faherty, executive VP-Radio of Cox Enterprises' Broadcasting Division. Cox owns WSUN (620 AM) and WWRM (107 FM) in Tampa Bay.

Question: The format change (at WSUN) in Tampa got a little publicity recently.

Faherty: ... Two years ago, when CBS acquired it, they made it into a news/talk radio station, which is their expertise around the country in AM radio. I don't fault them for that. What they left behind was a number of people who are regular listeners to the AM dial, who missed the Country format. We found out these people were there and were still potential listeners. We decided we could do better in the Country music format than we could by keeping it news/talk. ... The station is off to a terrific start. I think it's going to be a very big success.

Question: You played some games with the introduction of the format. What was the intention of that?

Faherty: We took over the station at 12:01 a.m. July 1. We figured the only people who would be listening were the other broadcasters in the market, so we went to two hours of Christmas music and then Talknet for 10 hours. About 12 noon on Sunday we went to the real format - Country music. We wanted to make the announcement in the middle of the day, so we had to do something from midnight to noon. From midnight to 2:00 a.m. in Tampa/St. Petersburg is not exactly prime time and we decided just to have a little fun.