HOLLYWOOD, FLA. — Some 49 years ago, with a dominant market position thanks to ownership under Cecil Heftel, an upstart FM radio station with a huge promotional budget was sold to a Cleveland-headquartered operation co-owned by Norm Wain and Bob Weiss.
In October 2020, Wain died at the age of 92. Now, Weiss has passed away, his son — newly retired from Urban One/Raleigh — has shared with RBR+TVBR.
Robert Charles “Bob” Weiss was 91 years old and passed away at his home, peacefully, on Christmas Eve.
For nearly 18 years, Metroplex Communications further built WHYI “Y-100” in Fort Lauderdale into “America’s Megastation,” creating a ratings giant in South Florida that defeated one challenger in the early 1980s before evolving in the late 1980s from a new competitor led by Y-100’s most famous former Program Director.
It formally began in 1976 but truly came to fruition in August 1977, as newly formed Metroplex agreed to purchase both “Y-100” and KEZK-FM in St. Louis from the Heftel chain for $6.1 million. KEZK was sold in early 1983, while WFYV-FM in Jacksonville became a Metroplex property later that year. April 1985 saw Metroplex add an AM in Jacksonville to a group of stations that had grown to include an AM/FM combo in Washington, D.C.; two stations in Orlando; and an FM in Tampa-St. Petersburg. Later market entries in Buffalo, Charlotte and Cleveland would be seen, with the latter market involving WNCX-FM.
In November 1993, Metroplex agreed to a stock-based merger and assumption of debt with iHeartMedia predecessor Clear Channel Communications valued at $54 million. As such, Y-100 entered the iHeart family, along with WBGG “Big 105.9” and other stations including WMTX-FM in Tampa-St. Petersburg and KIOI-FM in San Francisco. The transaction closed in 1994, ending an era for Wain, Weiss and the stations they owned.
Tony Novia, a young Promotions Director fresh out of the University of Miami who would rise to VP/Operations Manager of Y-100 in the mid-1980s, tells RBR+TVBR that Weiss “lived a good, long life. And he knew good radio. Norman and Bob believed in me and gave me the money to buy out the Jacksons Victory Tour stop at the Orange Bowl [in 1984]. That resulted in the highest ratings and revenue in the history of the station, and for that I will forever be grateful.”
Weiss began his career in radio advertising in the late 1950s at WHK in Cleveland, just after it was purchased by John Kluge’s Metromedia. That experience would lead Weiss to team with Wain and Joseph Zingale on ownership of various stations that would include WIXY-AM in Cleveland, a highly regarded Top 40 in the 1960s that would serve as a key influence in David Gleason’s launch of the first American-style hit music station in Ecuador.
Outside of radio, Bob Weiss was also involved in land development and construction and enjoyed boating. This, says son Gary Weiss, led to his involvement in a Broward County, Fla.-based yacht chartering business.
Bob Weiss was a resident of Chapel Hill, N.C., after relocating from Ohio. In addition to son, Gary, he is survived by his wife of 69 years, Lee; and children Kathryn and Elizabeth.
He was born in Paterson, N.J., on May 13, 1934, and grew up in New Jersey and in Westchester County, N.Y. Weiss’ first move was to attend the University of Illinois, from which he graduated in 1956.
A memorial talk will be held at 3pm Eastern on Saturday, January 3, at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, 1445 Old Apex Road, Cary, N.C. For those who wish to tie in by Zoom: Meeting ID 651-051-7207, Passcode 566316.
