On July 18, 2024, iHeartMedia decided to more vigorously compete for Spanish-language listeners and Hispanic ad dollars in a market that only recently saw the entry of Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) and has been dominated by Hispanic FM pioneer Beasley Media Group.
That gamble didn’t pay off. Come February 23, “Rumba” will be relegated to a pair of FM translators, making way for a big English-language Sports Talk expansion on a 100kw Class C1 signal audible in nearby Sarasota and Lakeland.
As first reported by Streamline Publishing’s Radio Ink, the big WRUB-FM 95.7 signal licensed to the Pinellas County city of Clearwater will soon become the FM home for Sports-focused WDAE-AM 620 and its two FM translators — W237CW at 95.3 MHz in Pinellas Park (covering Pinellas County and much of Tampa) and W275AZ at 102.9 MHz in Tampa (covering Ybor City and points east toward Brandon).
As such, the Spanish-language “Rumba” presentation mirroring iHeartMedia’s similarly branded WRUM-FM in Orlando will take W237CW and W273AZ, swapping its FM home with those of WDAE.
For iHeartMedia, the upgrade of WDAE comes as the Tampa Bay Rays begin the 2026 Major League Baseball season with the Sports Talker as its radio flagship partner.
Russell Robertson, iHeartMedia’s Tampa Market President, commented, “Expanding WDAE’s heritage brand strengthens our long-standing broadcast and marketing partnerships with the Tampa Bay Rays, Buccaneers, Lightning, Florida Gators, and USF Bulls. This evolution also reflects our continued commitment to serving Tampa Bay listeners across multiple platforms.”
The change for “Rumba” illustrates the challenge of attracting advertisers to Spanish-language radio, even in a market such as Tampa-St. Petersburg, where the percentage of Hispanics has continuously risen across the last 25 to 30 years. In Nielsen Audio’s Holiday ratings period for 2025, WRUB was the top-ranked Spanish-language radio station, placing ahead of Q-Broadcasting’s WTIS “La Mega Tampa Bay,” Beasley’s WYUU “92.5 Maxima” and SBS’s WSUN “El Zol 97.1,” respectively. However, WRUB was third in cume behind WSUN and WYUU, publicly available Nielsen data show.
While WSUN and WYUU are likely cheering the changes for “Rumba,” iHeartLatino SVP of Programming P.J. Gonzalez made it clear that the brand “will continue to deliver a vibrant, high-energy music mix tailored to Tampa Bay’s Latino community.” Miami-based syndicated air personality and iHeartLatino talent Enrique Santos anchors mornings, while Sarykarmen Rivera and Flip Rios remain local talent for Rumba.
Prior to July 2024, Rumba in the Tampa-St. Petersburg DMA was based at WRUB-FM 106.5 in Sarasota-Bradenton. Today, this is the home of hip-hop programming as “The Beat.” That programming previously aired on the 95.7 MHz signal under the WBTP call letters, prior to the “Rumba” arrival.
The 95.7 MHz signal has had nine call letters since signing on the air in 1963 and across the last 61 years has offered Beautiful Music, Disco, and, later Adult Contemporary programming as “W-Lite,” “Mix 96,” and “Star 95.7.” “The Beat” aired on the facility from October 2003 through July 2024.
