WTSP

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Template:Infobox Broadcast WTSP, "Tampa Bay's 10" is a CBS-affiliate television station on the west coast of Florida (Tampa–St. Petersburg DMA 12). It broadcasts its analog signal on VHF channel 10, and its digital signal on UHF channel 24. Its transmitter is located in Holiday, Florida.

Because its transmitter location is further north than the others (in order to protect Miami's WPLG), WTSP's signal cannot be seen well in Sarasota County, and viewers without cable must rely on WINK-TV in Fort Myers for CBS programming.

1 History
2 Past Personalities
3 Key Personalities
4 Syndicated Programming
5 Slogans
6 Previous Logos
7 Old Ads
8 External links

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History

The station began broadcasting on July 17, 1965, as WLCY-TV, an ABC affiliate, after a lengthy court battle that lasted nearly ten years between five prospective owners seeking the license. Rahall Communications, which also owned WLCY-AM 1380 (now Disney's WWMI) and WLCY-FM 94.9 (now Cox's WWRM), was awarded the original license for Channel 10.

The station was granted affiliation with the ABC television network, but the station spent the first month and a half as an independent station, as previous ABC affiliate WSUN-TV channel 38 went to court to keep the affiliation. WLCY ultimately won, and they formally switched to ABC in a special ceremony on September 1, 1965.

The station was originally housed in a building in downtown St. Petersburg and relocated to brand new broadcasting facilities on Gandy Boulevard in 1968 with WLCY Radio 138.

Early personalities included Dick Crippen, who originally presented weather and then sports; Marshall Cleaver, Al Stockmeyer, Art Johnson, and Karol Kelly, many of whom also hosted programs for WLCY radio. Marshall Cleaver was the original news anchor for much of the 1960s and early 1970s.

The station also aired such original children's programs as Submarine 10, Romper Room, 10 Ultimate and This Side Up, and original talk shows such as The John Eastman Show, The Liz Richards Show and the popular Murphy in the Morning.

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The 1970s

In 1971, WXLT (later WWSB) Channel 40 in Sarasota formed as the area's ABC affiliate as WLCY's signal could not come in well in most of Sarasota County as WLCY's transmitter was (and still is) in Holiday.

In 1976, former WFLA anchor Arch Deal became the news director and main anchor for Eyewitness News. WLCY also broadcast the first 5:30 newscast in the Bay Area from 1976-1978. Ratings for the station during the early to mid 1970s were dismal, however, compared to longtime Bay Area stations WTVT and WFLA-TV and, as a result, the station nearly lost its ABC affiliation. Part of the problem was its transmitter location in Holiday, in the southwestern corner of Pasco County (all other stations broadcasted from Riverview, in Hillsborough County). Also, the station broadcasted at a lower power than the Tampa stations. The location and power was due to the fact that the station was short-spaced with Miami's ABC affiliate, WPLG ch.10 (which was WLBW when WLCY-TV signed on).

However, on September 12, 1978, WLCY-TV was purchased by Gulf Broadcasting. New owner Allen Henry (WINS New York fame) and General Manager Larry Clamadge immediately began to turn the station around, changing the call letters to WTSP-TV that year and hiring a slew of new personalities that would change the entire face of the station. (WTSP, ironically, was originally the calls for AM 1380 when that station was owned by the St. Petersburg Times in the 1940s and 1950s.) This was similar to what Roone Arledge had done for ABC News that same year. Beginning in 1979, Don Harrison, Liz Ayers, Wally Kinnan and Dick Crippen were the new anchors of the Channel 10 evening newscasts. Ratings surged, making the Tampa Bay market more competitive. In 1979, Channel 10 acquired the original, and famous, "Sunset 10" logo (which was later duplicated by its sister station KTSP in Phoenix, Arizona) along with the "Action News" format.

WTSP is also a station of firsts. In October of 1979, the station acquired "Sky 10," Tampa Bay's first television news helicopter. This stunned the local news community and showed that Channel 10 was serious about local news coverage. It was the only local news helicopter to broadcast the infamous Skyway Bridge disaster on live television in May 1980. Another technological advance was Tampa Bay's first satellite news truck called "Star 10" that beamed signals from far away locations to WTSP's Gandy Blvd. headquarters. WTSP also acquired Tampa Bay's first Doppler radar in 1980 and was one of the first television stations in the country to use a computer in weather forecasting.

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The 1980s

In late 1982, news anchor Don Harrison left the WTSP to become an anchor at upstart cable channel CNN2, now CNN Headline News. John Wilson replaced Harrison as anchor. On January 9, 1983, Sheryl Browne, from WKYC-TV in Cleveland joined John Wilson at the anchor desk on "Action 10 News," rounding out the station's main anchor team.

Longtime WTSP chief meteorologist Dick Fletcher joined the station in March 1980 and became famous for his forecasting during Hurricane Elena in 1985. Award-winning reporter Mike Deeson and legendary sports anchor Ken Broo also bolstered the station in the early 1980s.

Taft Broadcasting purchased the station along with 4 other Gulf properties in 1985. Then, in 1988, Taft sold its independent stations and Fox affiliates to TVX, and sold most of its network affiliates, including WTSP, to Great American Broadcasting (which became known as Citicasters by 1995).

In March of 1989, one of the first computer espionage scandals in the nation broke, when news director Terry Cole and cohort Michael Shapiro broke into the computer system of rival WTVT seeking a ratings advantage. Both were fired and were sentenced by Florida court to probation for the incident. This was the first of several ethical dilemmas that faced the station during this time period. In June of 1989, "Action 10 News" became "NewsCenter 10" and a 5 pm newscast was launched. Although in third place, ratings did recover to be competitive with WFLA.

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The 1990s

In December of 1992, news anchor Sheryl Browne left the station and was replaced by Sue Zelenko, who previously co-anchored the newscast for WJRT in Flint, Michigan. John Wilson, who announced his departure on Thanksgiving of 1992, officially left WTSP in January of 1993. Weekend anchor and reporter Dave Wagner and 11 pm anchor Sue Zelenko became the new anchor team alongside Dick Fletcher and Al Keck on "10 News." Pat Minarcin, a veteran of the broadcast industry, then took over for Wagner in August of 1994.

New World Communications bought two of WTSP's sister stations, KTSP (now KSAZ) in Phoenix and WDAF-TV in Kansas City. However, it did not buy WTSP since it already owned WTVT. New World also arranged for its stations to affiliate with the Fox network, causing WTVT to drop its CBS affiliation.

At the same time, Scripps Howard also arranged for several of its stations (including WFTS, which was about to lose its Fox affiliation to WTVT) to affiliate with ABC. As a result, WTSP was to lose its ABC affiliation, and gain the CBS affiliation instead. CBS's programming moved to WTSP in December 1994, in a 3-way affiliation switch that caused much viewer confusion-a lot of irony could be seen in WTSP becoming the new CBS affiliate, because at the time of WTVT's computer system being broken into by WTSP, WTVT was the CBS affiliate. WTSP was subsequently purchased by Jacor in 1995, and by Gannett in 1996. Gannett got WTSP by selling all of its radio stations to Jacor (now Clear Channel).

In January of 1998, Reginald Roundtree replaced Pat Minarcin as the lead male anchor of "10 News". Minarcin later sued the station for age discrimination. On October 14, 2002, the station launched a new news format and image. A new, state of the art digital newsroom was also constructed for WTSP's news staff.

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Now

Channel 10 is currently #1 at 5pm (where it airs Dr. Phil) and #2 at 6pm, and recently won the ratings (Feb. 2006) at 11 p.m., beating WFLA. Longtime news anchor Sue Zelenko anchored her last newscast on April 23, 2004. Heather Van Nest (who used to anchor news at WJXT and later WTEV in Jacksonville, and anchored the morning and newcasts at WTSP) is now co-anchoring with Reginald Roundtree and a new morning news team is being featured.

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Life Around the Bay

In 2002, Dr. Phil (4:00pm) and the Tampa Bay's 10 News at 5:00 (5:00pm) timeslots were switched, and the station named the 4:00 newscast Life Around the Bay, which focuses more on offbeat feature stories and community stories than the past 5:00 news. The current anchors are former weekend sports anchor Dave Wirth, and former noon news anchorwoman, Marty Matthews. Life Around the Bay also features weather updates, and the headlines of the day in the last 5 minutes of the newscast.

Life Around the Bay is the only 4pm newscast in the Tampa Bay market.

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Past Personalities

John Wilson, anchor (1981–1993)
Sheryl Browne, anchor (1983–1992)
Don Harrison, anchor (1979–1982)
Liz Ayers, anchor (1979–1982)
Arch Deal, anchor (1976–1978)
R.A. Campbell, anchor (1976)
Bob Bates, anchor (1978–1980)
Gary Rebstock, anchor (1978–1979)
Francie Murphy, anchor (1978–1979)
Dennis Roper, anchor (1979–1984)
Mark Feldstein, I-Team (1980–1985)
Sue Zelenko, anchor (1991–2004)
Pat Minarcin, anchor (1994–1998)
Al Ruechel, anchor (1986–1996)
Marlene Schneider, anchor (1989–1996)
Jane Akre, anchor (1992–1995)
Dave Wagner, anchor (1987–1999)
Miles O'Brien, reporter (1984–1986)
Rod Challenger, news director (1978–1979)
Jule McGee, reporter (1965–1967)
Stan Grams, first WLCY-TV weatherman (1965-1969)
Sonny Daye, weather personality (1969-1976)
Wally "The Weatherman" Kinnan (1978–1980)
Dennis Feltgen, meteorologist (1989–1999)
Jim Wegner, meteorologist (1980s–'90s)
Jim Brihan, meteorologist (1980s–'90s)
Linda Gialenella, meteorologist (1991–1999)
Mike Ferell, meteorologist (1987–1993)
Dick Crippen, sports director (1965–1981)
Ken Broo, sports director (1981–1987)
Steve Talbot, sports director (1987–1988)
Al Keck, sports director (1988–2001)
John Nugent, sports director (2001–2006)
Bill Campbell,"Campbell's Corner" (1975–1993)
Bill Murphy, "Murphy in the Morning" (1985–1991)
Myrtle Smith-Carroll, reporter (1978–1983)
Julie Brannon, "PM Magazine" (1986–1989)
Andrea McDaniel, reporter (1982–1985)
Madeline Holland, morning anchor (1991–1995)
John O'Connor, "PM Magazine"/anchor (1986–1989)
Paul Morill, weekend weather (2004-2005)

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Key Personalities

Reginald Roundtree, 6pm and 11pm anchor
Heather Van Nest, 6pm and 11pm anchor
Dick Fletcher, chief meteorologist
?, sports director
Marty Matthews, "Life Around the Bay" anchor
Dave Wirth, "Life Around the Bay" anchor
Mario Diaz, "This Morning Around the Bay" anchor
Ginger Gadsden, "This Morning Around the Bay" anchor
Jennifer Howe, weekend anchor
Jeff Hullinger, weekend sports anchor
Bill McGinty, reporter and Saturday morning anchor

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Syndicated Programming

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Slogans

Image:Wtsplogo.jpg

"WLCY-TV: Where The Action Is!" (1965)
"Take A Look (at Channel 10)" (1979-1981)
"Count On the Action News Team" (1980s)
"Stay In Touch With 10" (mid-1980s)
"NewsCenter 10: In the Center of it All" (1989–1992)
"10 News: News You Can Use" (1992–1994)
"Where News Comes First" (1994–1995)
"The Next Generation of News" (1994–1996)
"Keep Your Eye on Tampa Bay's 10" (1994–1996; used to promote CBS's move to WTSP)
"We've Got You Covered" (1996–1998)
"People You Can Count On" (1998–2001)
"Covering Tampa Bay" (2001–2002)
"Enjoy It: We Do" (2002—)
"You'll Be Seeing Red" promo for the revamped Channel 10 (2002)

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Previous Logos

First WLCY logo as an ABC affiliate, used when station became affiliated with ABC in September 1965.	WLCY "10" logo, used from late 1965 to 1977.	Alternate version of above, without calls or ABC logo.	Another alternate version, with different fonts for calls; used from 1975 to 1977.
Last WLCY logo; used from 1977 to 1978.	First WTSP logo, used from 1978 to 1979. While it was only used on TV and in ads for a year, it was on its Gandy Blvd. studio building for about 16 years -- from 1978 until around the switch to CBS in 1994.	First WTSP "Sunset 10" logo, in 1979. The "Tampa-St. Petersburg" mention is used only in print ads -- at the time, its city-of-license was Largo. The call letters' fonts were derived from ABC's Still The One promotion in 1977.	Later WTSP "Sunset 10" logo, used in most of the 1980s. The cities became "St. Petersburg-Tampa" after its COL was changed from Largo to St. Petersburg in 1981.
WTSP's "Square 10" logo, used from 1992 to 2002. This one came from 1996, after it became a CBS affiliate.	"10 News" logo from 1996.