The post WRUF-AM/FM and Saga Communications, Inc. Announce Landmark Seven-Year Strategic Media Partnership first appeared on 103.7 The Gator.
]]>The University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (CJC) and Saga Communications, Inc. (Saga) today announced a new seven-year Joint Sales Agreement (JSA) and strategic partnership that will combine the strengths of one of the nation’s premier journalism and communications programs with one of America’s most respected broadcast media companies.
Beginning September 1, 2026, Saga will join the University of Florida in marketing the advertising inventory for WRUF-AM (ESPN 98.1 / 850 WRUF) and WRUF-FM (103.7 The Gator). In addition to managing commercial sales efforts, the partnership establishes a broad collaborative relationship between Saga and the College of Journalism and Communications focused on student learning, professional development, and innovation across the media industry.
The agreement extends beyond traditional sales representation by creating opportunities for students, faculty, and industry professionals to work together on initiatives involving broadcasting, media sales, digital media, audience development, sports media, content strategy, internships, mentorship, and other areas that prepare students for careers in an evolving media landscape.
“This partnership reflects our commitment to preparing students for successful careers while strengthening the future of local media. By combining the University of Florida’s educational mission with Saga Communications’ industry leadership, we are creating new opportunities for students to learn alongside professionals, serve our community and help shape the future of broadcasting.”, said Hub Brown, Dean and Professor of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.
The University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications has owned and operated commercial radio station WRUF since 1928, providing generations of students with hands-on experience in professional broadcasting while serving audiences throughout North Central Florida. WRUF-AM is the flagship station of the Florida Gators Radio Network, delivering live play-by-play coverage of Gator athletics, while WRUF-FM, 103.7 The Gator, operates as a 100,000-watt commercial country music station serving the Gainesville-Ocala market.
Saga brings decades of broadcast leadership to the partnership. The publicly traded media company owns and operates radio stations in medium and small markets throughout the United States and has earned a reputation for operational excellence, local programming, community engagement, and strong advertising performance. Saga has long emphasized markets anchored by state capitals and major universities, making the Gainesville-Ocala market a natural fit for the company’s continued growth strategy. Saga owns and operates WOGK-FM K Country and WYND-FM/WNDD-FM WIND FM in the Gainesville-Ocala market.
“This collaboration reflects Saga’s commitment to investing in our present and future by working with outstanding local media properties as well as investing in our next generation of media professionals.”, said Chris Forgy, President and Chief Executive Officer, Saga Communications
The partnership is expected to provide advertisers with expanded marketing resources, enhanced sales capabilities, and innovative opportunities to connect with audiences across broadcast, digital, sports, and emerging media platforms. At the same time, students within the College of Journalism and Communications will benefit from increased exposure to industry professionals, expanded experiential learning opportunities, and direct engagement with one of the nation’s leading broadcast organizations.
“The combination of WRUF’s rich history, the University of Florida’s academic excellence, and Saga’s proven success in local broadcasting creates an exceptional opportunity for our students, our advertisers, and our listeners.”, said Randy Wright, Executive Director of the University of Florida’s Division of Media Properties.
The Joint Sales Agreement will remain in effect for seven years, beginning September 1, 2026.
About the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications
The University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications is one of the nation’s leading programs in journalism, advertising, public relations, media production, telecommunications, and digital communications. Through its professional media properties—including WRUF-AM, WRUF-FM, WUFT-TV, WUFT-FM, and other platforms—the college provides students with unparalleled experiential learning opportunities while serving audiences throughout Florida.
About WRUF-AM/FM
Founded in 1928, WRUF has served North Central Florida for nearly a century as one of the region’s premier broadcast organizations. ESPN 98.1 / 850 WRUF is the flagship radio station for the Florida Gators Radio Network, providing live coverage of Florida athletics, while 103.7 The Gator is a 100,000-watt commercial country music station serving listeners throughout the Gainesville-Ocala region.
About Saga Communications
Saga Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SGA) is a publicly traded broadcast media company that owns and operates radio stations and digital media properties in 28 markets across the United States including 82 FM, 28 AM and 78 translators. Known for its strong local focus and operational excellence, Saga serves communities primarily in medium and small markets, with a strategic emphasis on state capital and major university markets. The company has built a reputation for delivering exceptional local programming, community service, and marketing solutions for advertisers.
Media Contacts
University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications
Randy Wright
Executive Director, Division of Media Properties
Email: randallcwright@ufl.edu
Saga Communications
Sam Bush
Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Email: sbush@sagacom.com
The post WRUF-AM/FM and Saga Communications, Inc. Announce Landmark Seven-Year Strategic Media Partnership first appeared on 103.7 The Gator.
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]]>The post Tropical Storm Nicole first appeared on 103.7 The Gator.
]]>Read more from the Florida Storms team about the state’s worst affected areas.
Thursday at 1:45 p.m.:
WILBUR-BY-THE-SEA, Fla. (AP) — Tropical Storm Nicole sent multiple homes toppling into the Atlantic Ocean Thursday and threatened a row of high rise condominiums in places where Hurricane Ian washed away the beach and destroyed seawalls only weeks ago.
“Multiple coastal homes in Wilbur-by-the-Sea have collapsed and several other properties are at imminent risk,” Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said in a social media message. He said most bridges to the beachside properties have been closed to all but essential personnel and a curfew was put into effect.
Wilbur-by-the-Sea is an unincorporated community on a barrier island with only beachfront homes. Next door in Daytona Beach Shores, a strip of high-rise condominiums were evacuated ahead of Nicole’s landfall, and while they remained standing after the storm, their future depends on safety reviews.
The homeowners association at the Marbella condominiums had just spent $240,000 to temporarily rebuild the seawall Ian destroyed in September, said Connie Hale Gellner, whose family owns a unit there. Live video from the building’s cameras showed Nicole’s storm surge taking it all way.
Thursday at 12:50 p.m.: The Putnam County town of Welaka, located south of Palatka on the St. Johns River, is seeing heavy flooding as high tide approaches later this afternoon.
Thursday at 11:33 a.m.: A livestream of the Flagler Beach Pier late Thursday morning showed storm surge pushing well past the normal high tide lines.
Thursday at 10:37 a.m.: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivered an update just before 10:30 a.m. and said more than 300,000 customers are now without power statewide.
Thursday at 9:15 a.m.: The strongest winds in north central Florida are ahead in the next few hours. Alachua County just made this announcement: “Thankfully we had a fairly uneventful evening. We are expecting the strongest TS Nicole winds to happen today between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. with gusts of up to 40 to 60 miles per hour. Rainfall is expected to be approximately 2 inches. Currently, the center of the storm is approaching Orlando.”
Update, Thursday at 9:15 a.m.: The strongest winds in north central Florida are ahead in the next few hours. Alachua County just made this announcement: “Thankfully we had a fairly uneventful evening. We are expecting the strongest TS Nicole winds to happen today between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. with gusts of up to 40 to 60 miles per hour. Rainfall is expected to be approximately 2 inches. Currently, the center of the storm is approaching Orlando.”
Thursday at 9:05 a.m.: Power outages across Florida are nearing 250,000, with a small handful of those in the north central Florida area.
Clay Electric reports about 14,000 outages in its service area, with the most so far in Clay, Lake and Putnam counties.
Thursday at 7:55 a.m.:
Tropical Storm Nicole made landfall as a hurricane along the east coast of Florida early Thursday and is such a sprawling storm that it covered nearly the entire state and reached into Georgia, the Carolinas and Alabama. A large area of the storm-weary peninsula was being hit with strong winds and heavy rain, with damaging storm surge in a few coastal areas.
The rare November hurricane prompted officials to shut down airports and theme parks and order evacuations in areas that included former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club. Authorities warned that Nicole’s storm surge could further erode many beaches hit by Hurricane Ian in September.
Tropical storm force winds extended as far as 450 miles (720 kilometers) from the center in some directions as Nicole turned northward over central Florida Thursday morning. It could briefly emerge over the northeastern corner of the Gulf of Mexico Thursday afternoon before moving over the Florida Panhandle and Georgia, forecasters said.
Robbie Berg, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami advised people to understand that hazards from Tropical Storm Nicole “will exist across the state of Florida today.”
The storm left south Florida sunny and calm as it moved north, could dump as much as 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain over Blue Ridge Mountains by Friday, forecasters said.
Nicole made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane around Vero Beach at about 3 a.m. Thursday before its maximum sustained winds dropped to 60 mph (100 kph), the Miami-based center said. The storm was centered about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southeast of Orlando. It was moving west-northwest near 14 mph (22 kph).
Officials in Daytona Beach Shores deemed unsafe at least a half dozen, multi-story, coastal residential buildings already damaged by Hurricane Ian and now threatened by Nicole. At some locations, authorities went door-to-door telling people to grab their possessions and leave.
A few tornadoes were possible through early Thursday across east-central to northeast Florida, the forecasters said. Flash and urban flooding will be possible, along with renewed river rises on the St. Johns River, across the Florida Peninsula on Thursday. Heavy rainfall will spread northward across portions of the southeast, eastern Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic, and New England through Saturday.
Large swells generated by Nicole will affect the northwestern Bahamas, the east coast of Florida, and much of the southeastern United States coast over the next few days. The storm was expected to weaken into a tropical depression over Georgia on Thursday night or early Friday.
Nicole became a hurricane Wednesday evening as it slammed into Grand Bahama Island, having made landfall just hours earlier on Great Abaco island as a tropical storm. It was the first storm to hit the Bahamas since Hurricane Dorian, a Category 5 storm that devastated the archipelago in 2019.
For storm-weary Floridians, it is only the third November hurricane to hit their shores since recordkeeping began in 1853. The previous ones were the 1935 Yankee Hurricane and Hurricane Kate in 1985.
Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s club and home, was in one of the evacuation zones, built about a quarter-mile inland from the ocean. The main buildings sit on a small rise that is about 15 feet (4.6 meters) above sea level and the property has survived numerous stronger hurricanes since it was built nearly a century ago. The resort’s security office hung up Wednesday when an Associated Press reporter asked whether the club was being evacuated, and there was no sign of evacuation by Wednesday afternoon.
There is no penalty for ignoring an evacuation order, but rescue crews will not respond if it puts their members at risk.
Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort announced they likely would not open as scheduled Thursday.
At a news conference Wednesday in Tallahassee, Gov. Ron DeSantis said that winds were the biggest concern and significant power outages could occur, but that 16,000 linemen were on standby to restore power as well as 600 guardsmen and seven search and rescue teams.
“It will affect huge parts of the state of Florida all day,” DeSantis said of the storm’s expected landing.
Almost two dozen school districts were closing schools for the storm and 15 shelters had opened along Florida’s east coast, the governor said.
Forty-five of Florida’s 67 counties were under a state of emergency declaration.
Warnings and watches were issued for many parts of Florida, including the southwestern Gulf coastline that was devastated by Hurricane Ian, which struck as a Category 4 storm. The storm destroyed homes and damaged crops, including orange groves, across the state — damage that many are still dealing with. Ian brought storm surge of up to 13 feet (4 meters), causing widespread destruction.
As of 7 a.m. Wednesday, Tropical Storm Nicole is located east of the Bahamas moving westward at 13 mph. Tropical Storm force winds are expected to increase along the Florida Atlantic coast this morning and will continue spread across the Peninsula this afternoon and evening. Nicole is forecast to make landfall late this evening in SE Florida as a hurricane with winds up to 75 mph. Along with increasing winds through this evening, dangerous storm surge up to 5 feet is possible into the overnight hours.
Hurricane Warnings are still posted along the east-central Florida coast as well as Storm Surge Warnings for most of the coastline. Residents are highly encouraged to finish preparations as soon as possible, and stay sheltered during the storm.
Nicole will likely track across the central Peninsula Thursday morning then possibly move into the NE Gulf of Mexico Thursday afternoon with sustained winds up to 50 mph. Most of the Florida Peninsula is under Tropical Storm Warnings and will experience several inches of rain, local flooding, possible power outages, and isolated tornadoes during the day.
By Thursday evening, Nicole is forecast to move quickly through the Panhandle closer to Tallahassee with sustained winds up to 40 mph. Flooding rains are possible through the central and eastern Panhandle along with storm surge inundations up to 3 feet along the Big Bend Coast.
Nicole will be closely monitored and continuous updates will be provided today and all day Thursday until the storm and impacts finally move out of Florida tomorrow night. Unnecessary travel is highly discouraged during this time.
Florida Gator Athletics
All home Gator athletic events scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be held as planned. The University Athletic Association will continue to work with UF, local and state officials to monitor Tropical Storm Nicole.
The post Tropical Storm Nicole first appeared on 103.7 The Gator.
]]>The post Local Vocal Spotlight Submission first appeared on 103.7 The Gator.
]]>There are amazing singers, artists and musicians RIGHT HERE and The Gator wants to showcase the amazing talent in our area with The Gator’s Local Vocal Spotlight.
The Gator’s Local Vocal Spotlight is a chance to hear local music!
Submit the form below for the chance to be a Local Vocal Spotlight with a featured a profile on our website, social media and more.
Discover new songs, learn about the artists Check out the Gator Local Vocal’s section CLICK HERE
SUBMIT THE FORM BELOW FOR CHANCES TO BE THE NEXT LOCAL VOCAL SPOTLIGHT
[contact-form-7 id=”358″ title=”Local Vocal”]
*WRUF Contest Rules and Regulations Apply
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