Where did The Shark go? Miami rock radio station following the trend
Where has The Shark jumped and what will alternative rock fans do now that the station has abruptly switched formats to sports talk?
Beginning immediately, all sports programming on WQAM 560 will be simulcast on Audacy-owned sister station 104.3 FM, which switches formats from alternative rock music to sports, Miami Herald sports writer Barry Jackson reported in his Sports Buzz column on Thursday.
“It was literally a rock station when I went to lunch and sports talk radio when I got back in my truck,” a Reddit user named RonmanEarl posted Thursday.
What happened to The Shark?
Reportedly, the switch happened after 1 p.m. Thursday, right after 104.3 The Shark broadcast Green Day’s 1997 rock ballad “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” and the opening moments of the 1990 oldie, “Man in the Box” by Alice in Chains. The plug was pulled on the Seattle grunge rockers as Miami sports chatter from a WQAM simulcast took over.
104.3 FM was home to The Shark, which branded itself “South Florida’s Alternative” since signing on to the airwaves in the former WAXY-FM space in August 2015 to the thrum of Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive.”
Now, instead of rock stalwarts like Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Twenty One Pilots, listeners will hear WQAM sports talk on the FM dial expanding the reach of University of Miami and Heat games. The boom and thwack of basketball and football rather than electric guitars and the basic chord progressions of the average Green Day song.
Rock listeners’ reaction
Some Shark listeners reacted with a mix of snark and snarl on social media posts on Reddit Thursday with comments ranging from “How will I listen to the same 5 alternative songs and RHCP now? This is truly tragic” to “I pretty much always anticipate having to travel at least to Orlando for most decent alt/indie/punk artists anyway, aside from the occasional Gramp’s show.”
Points to ponder. The Shark had replaced most of its local DJ and programmers with Audacy national staffers in September 2020, Radio Insight reported.
“Miami’s sports fans have an unrivaled passion, and they deserve a destination that matches their energy,” Audacy Regional President Claudia Menegus told Radio Insight on Thursday about the reasons for the format switch.
Rock’s waning ratings
That energy has largely dissipated for the rock radio format nationally in recent years. Gone are the years in the late-1970s and ‘80s when Miami-Fort Lauderdale rock stations like WSHE, 94.9 Zeta 4 and K-102 challenged contemporary pop station Y-100 100.7 for supremacy on the FM dial. Only Y-100 remains, 52 years after it signed on by airing soft rock duo Seals & Croft’s 1973 hit, “Diamond Girl.”
Even the Miami Dolphins’ perfect 1972 season couldn’t cut the power of rock — soft or otherwise.
Rock radio’s glory days
Fans of a certain age — read: boomers now in their 60s — recall Zeta 4 discount cards. Back in that era, the South Florida rock station at 94.9 on the FM dial played the contemporary rock hits of the day from acts like Led Zeppelin, Blondie, Eagles and Fleetwood Mac before the term “classic rock” was coined a couple decades later to compartmentalize the music.
Listeners who scored Zeta 4’s card proved their loyalty to the station and could use it to get discounts at participating merchants around the Miami area. That helped shave $4 off the cost of exorbitantly expensive vinyl LPs like the then-record high $15.98 list price of Fleetwood Mac’s double-LP “Tusk” set at a long gone North Miami Beach record store named Record Shack.
Who cares if many of these same Zeta listeners pulled into parking lots with rival rock station WSHE 103.5 FM’s bumper stickers on their Mustangs and Fiats? The stickers boasted the Miami-Fort Lauderdale station’s slogan, “She’s Only Rock ‘n Roll” in red, black and gray lettering.
Spin the dial and calendar to 2025 and alternative rock isn’t even among the Top 10 formats on radio anymore. Country, religion, news/talk, contemporary Christian and Spanish rank as the Top 5 formats, according to Inside Radio’s first quarter 2025 ratings. Classic rock (which isn’t quite the same as alt rock: Think Journey more than Jane’s Addiction) was No. 8. Sports was No. 9. Top 40 pop was No. 10.
Where to find Green Day
And mourn no more, Green Day fans.
In 2025 one doesn’t need a terrestrial radio station like The Shark to hear music of a favorite format. Want to relive “American Idiot?” Just stream Green Day, RHCP, Imagine Dragons on any number of platforms like Spotify, Apple Music or Amazon Music Unlimited.
Satellite radio offers alternative rock options, too.
Or just dial over to 105.9 on the FM dial for Miami’s Big 106, which still airs a classic hits format having moved on from the 1960s and ‘70s staples of yesteryear for pop and mainstream rock hits from the 1980s and 1990s.
This story was originally published August 9, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
