Tiger FM gives voice to Dunbar community

Writer: Sylvie Sparks
Published: Updated:
Dunbar
Rob Liddle, a Dunbar high school educator turned radio show host. CREDIT: WINK News

Hits from the 60s and 70s and high school sports are not exactly two things you’d expect to find on one radio station.

But Tiger FM here in Fort Myers has it all thanks to Rob Liddle, an educator at Dunbar High School, and his dedication to giving his students and their community their own platform.

Liddle founded Tiger FM a Dunbar athletics-focused radio station in 2015 after teaching at the school for six years.

“I liked Tiger because that’s our mascot and I work here. The call letters are WWDH so I thought, a lot of fun: Dunbar High,” Liddle said.

Liddle taught at the school for six years before going on air in 2015 to broadcast Tiger football and basketball games.

“Every time I came to Dunbar, I went around the community and drove around the community and then worked with a lot of the kids over the years. I just said there’s nothing that’s local for them, nothing local for the Dunbar community,” he said.

That community now rallies behind Tiger FM.

Jill Klausing has taught at Dunbar for 23 years and said her family regularly tunes in to Tiger FM.

“If I can’t make it to the game because I have a whole bunch of my own children, we all listen to it in the car on the way home just to know what is going on,” Klausing said.

The Tigers’ head football coach Sam Brown said his team loves having their own coverage, especially when the games are posted on YouTube.

“They can go back and sometimes if Hudl is down, they can go on YouTube and watch the game so they can go back and see what the commentators say about this particular play that they made. It’s all in good fun, but it makes kids feel great,” Brown said.

Right now, it’s primarily Liddle and fellow teachers who do the broadcasts, but students design the website.

Liddle, who teaches TV production, said he hopes to get more students involved in the future.

“I envision one day that kids can watch a TV screen here with microphones and do a play-by-play. we can teach them how to announce sports at Dunbar High School,” Liddle said.

When the Tigers aren’t on the field or on the court, Tiger FM is playing oldies, all curated by Liddle.

To listen to oldies or a Dunbar High athletic event, you can tune in to Tiger FM at 93.3 within about a 12-mile radius of Dunbar High School or online at TigerFM.com.

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