 Despite Gannett and the staff's best efforts, WPLP had a tremendously hard time selling advertising time.Their target audience was Tampa Bay's sizable population of retirees; while that audience gave the station a loyal following, it was outside the 25-54 age group that is the most important demographic for advertisers.Yet even when Lassiter ruled the airwaves, its sales staff had a very few clients (and those were often threatened with boycotts by opponents of the controversial and caustic Lassiter).