LAKE WALES, FLA. — Polk County, Fla., has been one of the fastest-growing areas of the U.S. for years. Home to such cities as Lakeland and Winter Haven, with attractions including Legoland and businesses including Publix Super Markets headquartered there, the region between Orlando and Tampa remains highly popular with those seeking a better life.
Those individuals include first-generation Mexican and Central Americans who have flocked to the area for service-oriented and agricultural jobs. This explains why Tomás Martinez and his wife, Mercedes Soler, have made good on their promise to bring a Regional Mexican brand they already operate in an adjacent market to the U.S. 92 corridor.
WTWD-AM 910 in Plant City, Fla., and 125-watt FM translator W271CY at 102.1 MHz in Lakeland — short-spaced to Orlando’s “ALT 102.1” — is no longer tied to the “Faith Talk” service Salem Media Group operates in Tampa Bay. As of Thursday, the signals are airing “La Numero Uno.”
It’s thanks to the closing of a $700,000 transaction consummated in September between Solmart Media, which Martinez owns and operates, and Salem. “We looked into a half dozen prospective broadcast properties before deciding that the Salem Media Group station offered the highest potential to reach the widest audience in the demo we serve,” Martinez said.
While the FM translator’s signal is small, WTWD has a much bigger signal pattern thanks to a three-tower array that puts its Class B 5kw signal over most of Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties in addition to its home terrain in Polk County.
Jorgenson Broadcast Brokerage represented Salem in this deal.
With the format change, WTWD and W271CY share the format and branding of WTMY-AM and W256DI in Sarasota.
Mornings will feature the Uforia-syndicated El Bueno, La Mala y El Feo, from TelevisaUnivision, and some local programming in other dayparts.
