by Terry "The Bird" Slane

By the mid-1970’s, country music was a thriving success in Central Florida.  Country music radio stations were flooding the airwaves with a new breed of country singer, Texas Outlaw Country, as it was called…an unexpected deviation from the traditional Nashville sounds of Faron Young, Tom T. Hall and Loretta Lynn.   Central Florida could boast at least a half-dozen established radio stations, from Orlando to Lakeland, Bartow and Tampa.   But on January 29, 1977, a new sound for country radio would begin making waves of its own, because at 12-noon that day, 50,000 watt AM station WGTO introduced Polk County and all of Central Florida to an exciting new style and sound.  And the next morning, brand new WGTO billboards sprang the surprising news on Polk County residents… WGTO was now playing the best country music on the dial, and the sleeping giant was wide awake!

From 1981 "Orange Blossom Jamboree" newspaper insert.

The original air staff in January 1977 consisted of Program Director John Terry, Dave Campbell and Terry Slane, with news from Jim Greenfield and within a month, Mike McCoy would come on board. Later, Jacki West would join the staff and would soon become Central Florida’s most popular “lady radio”.   Before long, another well known Central Florida air talent, Jim Maloy, would join forces, and WGTO’s legendary rise to dominance was now in full swing.   At the time, WGTO was only a daytime station, playing tunes from sunrise to sunset.  But soon, the FCC granted WGTO night time power as well, and Crazy Bob Fuller was the first night time announcer.  Eventually, Patti Jordan would handle overnights as “PJ the DJ”.

WGTO’s program philosophy was simple…have fun and play the hits!  The station wasn’t the least bit hesitant to play new up-and-coming artists, usually with great fanfare.  The station was the very first in America to break the Kendalls classic “Heaven’s Just A Sin Away”, Terri Gibb’s “Somebody’s Knockin’” …and one of the very first to play superstars like Randy Travis and John Anderson.  Listeners to WGTO knew they could expect to hear some new singers some local singers and a bunch of well-established superstars.  The music mix was magic, the announcers had fun on the air, and the listeners switched on in droves.  One of Central Florida’s most successful radio promotions, the WGTO Roadmaster, hit the highway with cash for WGTO bumper stickers, and shortly those bumper stickers were showing up everywhere. 

Customized GTO T-shirt

In addition to quadrupling their audience in a one-year period, professional awards came quickly as well.  In its first year as a country station, WGTO earned BillBoard Magazine’s “Station of the Year” award for small market stations.  Then, Terry Slane was named one of the Country Music Association’s Deejay of the Year winners.  By then the station was a solid number one in the Polk County Arbitron ratings…and was beginning to show up in the ratings in Orlando and Tampa as well.  The format was hot, the music was exciting, and you could just about always count on goodtime fun on-the-air.  Turn on WGTO and you’d soon be hearing a Florida singer…like Judy Bailey, John Anderson, Gary Stewart, the Bellamy Brothers, Jim Stafford, Tammy Wynette….the list goes on and on. Local artists contributed greatly to WGTO’s music plan, including Carl Chambers, Gary Goodnight, Brenda Kay Perry and others.   Nashville record executive Ken VanDurand still talks about WGTO as one of the best radio stations to ever play country music.  And while it no longer broadcasts country music, and no longer is situated in Cypress Gardens, the station is still on the air with talk-sports.  Many listeners still remember when that sleeping giant woke up with a Waylon Jennings song.  They called it “Great Country Music”….and it was.