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WTSP is a CBS-affiliated television station in St. Petersburg, Florida (part of the Tampa/St. Petersburg television market). It broadcasts its digital signal on VHF channel 10.
Its transmitter is located in Holiday, Florida. The station is owned by the Gannett Company with studios in St. Petersburg (its city of license). WTSP is one of two full-powered stations with studios located in St. Petersburg, instead of Tampa, along with nearby WTOG. It is also one of three full-powered stations based in Pinellas County, counting WCLF.
Because its transmitter location is farther north than the other major stations in the market (in order to protect Miami's WPLG & Jacksonville'sWJXX, a Gannett-owned ABC affiliate), WTSP's signal cannot be seen well in Sarasota, Hardee and Highlands Counties, and viewers without cable must rely on WINK-TV in Fort Myers for CBS programming. In addition, unlike the other Tampa network affiliates, WTSP's signal reaches as far north as Levy County and Marion County.
History
The station began broadcasting on July 17, 1965, as WLCY-TV after a lengthy court battle that lasted nearly ten years between five prospective owners seeking the license, including the St. Petersburg Times.[1] It was owned by Rahall Communications along with WLCY-AM (1380, now WWMI) and FM (94.9, now WWRM). Until 1981 it was licensed to Largo, north of St. Petersburg, but its studios have always been in St. Petersburg. The station's first studios were on Central Avenue. Its current studios, originally known as the "Rahall Color Communications Center," opened on October 15, 1968.
The station was affiliated with ABC, but spent the first month-and-a-half as an independent station, as previous ABC affiliate WSUN-TV (channel 38, the frequency is now occupied by WTTA) went to court to keep the affiliation. The City of St. Petersburg, owners of WSUN-TV, had been one of the applicants for the channel 10 license, having jumped in out of fear of losing its ABC affiliation. WLCY ultimately won, and formally switched to ABC in a special ceremony on September 1, 1965. As a condition for being placed on VHF channel 10 instead of a UHF placement, the station was required to produce 20 hours of public service programming a week by the FCC. The station did not have a noon or a weekend newscast until the early '80s.
Early air personalities included Dick Crippen, who originally presented weather and then sports; Marshall Cleaver, Al Stockmeyer, Art Johnson, who provided news; and Karol Kelly (weather). Cleaver was the original news anchor for much of the 1960s and early 1970s, when the program was called Newsnight. Crippen also hosted a children's show, Space Station 10.
The station aired other local children's programs as Submarine 10,Romper Room with June Hurley, 10 Ultimate and This Side Up, and local talk shows such as Russ Byrd's Morning Show,The John Eastman Show,The Liz Richards Show and Murphy in the Morning. From 1966-67, the station produced 10 á Go Go, a teenage dance show hosted by Roy Nilson, a disc jockey on WLCY-AM. Another early local program was a morning exercise show, The Fran Carlton Show. The most popular Channel 10 program in that era was the syndicated Lawrence Welk.
The 1970s
In 1971, WXLT (now WWSB) signed on from Sarasota to provide ABC-TV programming since WLCY's signal could not come in well in most of Sarasota County. WLCY's transmitter was (and still is) in Holiday, Florida. Tampa Bay residents had to have a special VHF antenna that faced away from Riverview in order to view WLCY. This setup was called the "Tampa Bay Special".
In 1975, former WFLA-TV anchor Arch Deal became the news director and co-anchor with Marshall Cleaver for Eyewitness News. Cleaver was removed in 1977 and Deal anchored one more year until Action NewsCenter, a format similar to WTHR's newscasts at the time debuted with Rod Challenger, Rick Moore and Gary Rebstock. WLCY broadcast the first 5:30 newscast in the Bay Area during the late 1970s up until September 15, 1980, when the newscast was moved to 6pm.
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 the southwestern corner of Pasco County (all other stations broadcasted from Riverview, in Hillsborough County). It also operated at a lower power than the Tampa stations.
On September 12, 1978, WLCY-TV was purchased by Gulf United Broadcasting of Dallas, Texas. New owner Alan Henry (of WINS New York fame) General Manager Larry Clamage and news director George "Bud" Faulder began to turn the station around, changing the call letters to WTSP-TV that year and hiring several new personalities who would change the face of the station (WTSP, ironically, was originally the call letters for AM 1380 when that station was owned by the St. Petersburg Times in the 1940s and 1950s).
Beginning in 1979, Don Harrison (previously from KMSP-TV in Minneapolis – Saint Paul), 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 sunset logo (which was later duplicated by its sister station KTSP in Phoenix, Arizona) along with the "Action News" format. In April 1979, the station built a taller transmission tower, improving the station's broadcasting capabilities.
WTSP is also a station of firsts. In October 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. studioa. WTSP also acquired Tampa Bay's first Doppler weather radar in the Southeastern United States in 1980 and was one of the first television stations in the country to use a computer in weather forecasting called "WeatherEye".
The 1980s
In 1979, the station launched an aggressive marketing campaign. By 1982, WTSP had passed WFLA in the evening news ratings and did so until the later part of the decade. WTSP has won many prestigious awards, including the George Foster Peabody award in 1983.
In late 1982, news anchor Don Harrison left WTSP to become an anchor at upstart cable channel CNN2, now CNN Headline News. John Wilson and Liz Ayers replaced Harrison as anchor. On January 9, 1983, Sheryl Browne, from WKYC-TV in Cleveland, Ohio joined Wilson at the anchor desk on "Action News," rounding out the station's main anchor team. Longtime WTSP chief meteorologistDick Fletcher joined the station in March 1980 and became famous for his forecasting during Hurricane Elena in 1985. Award-winning reporter Mike Deeson, legendary sports anchor Ken Broo and feature reporter Bill Campbell, famous for his "Campbell's Corner" spots, bolstered the station in the 1980s.
WTSP was the second television station in the Bay Area to launch an hour long 6 PM newscast in 1986. Rival WTVT had been the first to do so many years earlier and WTSP attempted it in an effort to pass WTVT to the top of the local news ratings. The effort only lasted until 1987, however.
Taft Broadcasting purchased the station along with four 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 1989, one of the first computer espionage scandals in the nation broke, when news director Terry Cole hired Michael Shapiro away from rival WTVT where he was a news manager and computer security officer. Shapiro repeatedly broke into the newsroom computer system of his former employer using a modem at his home - apparently with Cole's knowledge. Both were fired and were sentenced by Florida court to probation for the incident.
In June 1989, "Action News" became "NewsCenter 10" and a 5 p.m. newscast was launched.
The 1990s
In 1994, Scripps Howard arranged for several of its stations (including WFTS-TV, which was about to lose its Fox affiliation to WTVT due to the corporate deal between New World Communications, WTVT's owner at the time, and Fox) to affiliate with ABC. As a result, WTSP lost its ABC affiliation, and gained the CBS affiliation. CBS's programming moved to WTSP in December 1994, in a 3-way affiliation switch that caused much viewer confusion.
The change to CBS occurred on December 12, 1994, and resulted in the station moving from third to second place in the local news ratings although a later resurgent WTVT and competition from newly started WFTS would make second place a toss up for the rest of the 1990s. WFLA would serve as the market leader.
Citicasters (which held on to WTSP and WKRC-TV in Cincinnati, Ohio after it sold its other television stations to New World and Fox Television Stations) merged with Jacor in September 1996. Three months later, in December 1996, Gannett acquired WTSP in a swap deal, selling six of its radio stations — WDAE and WUSA-FM (now WMTX) in Tampa, KIIS AM (now KTLK) and KIIS-FM in Los Angeles, and KSDO AM and KSDO-FM (now KLQV) in San Diego — to Jacor in return.
In January 1998, Reginald Roundtree replaced Pat Minarcin as the lead male anchor of "10 News". Minarcin later sued the station for age discrimination.
In the spring of 1999, WTSP debuted "Double Doppler" and it remains the only station in Florida to own two radar sites.
The 2000s
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.
Logo used from October 2002-October 2008
In 2005, the station debuted "Vortex", a powerful new forecasting tool.
On January 14, 2008, WTSP was the third station in Tampa Bay to launch high definition newscast, behind rivals WFTS-TV and WFLA-TV. Along with the new HD format came a brand-new news set, graphics, and music package. The new HD set was designed by broadcast powerhouse Jack Morton Design/PDG and fabricated by HD specialists blackwalnut, llc. The set was lit by Mick Smith of Ferri Lighting Design Associates.
In September 2008, Chris Suchan replaced morning meteorologist Anna Allen, who had been at the station since 2004. Soon after, Tammie Souza was named chief meteorologist, taking long-time chief meteorologist Dick Fletcher's place after he died from a stroke in February.
On October 9, 2008, WTSP rebranded itself yet again, from Tampa Bay's 10 to 10 Connects, with 10 Connects Network used alternatively. Along with the new name came a new music and graphics package, which is also used by other Gannett stations. The station's logo is similar to the previous one minus the wave, with a notch cut into the right side of the logo to resemble a "C", as in "Connects".
WTSP made big gains at 11pm in the May 2009 sweeps, edging out WFLA for first place.
Controversy
On April 1, 2009, WTSP fired longtime anchor Marty Matthews due to budget cuts at Gannett. Matthews' termination was controversial due to the fact that the station informed Matthews of her termination by leaving a manila envelope on her doorstep. [2] The termination of Matthews' employment comes after the controversial 2008 terminations of weekend anchor Jennifer Howe, weekend meteorologist Randy Rauch, and morning meteorologist Anna Allen.[2]
Matthews was the anchor of WTSP's 4 p.m. newscasts and hosted the station's "Wednesday's Child" child adoption segment. The 4 p.m. newscast was later canceled, and Matthews' former co-anchor Dave Wirth will become the station's lead sports anchor. [3] Wirth had been a sports anchor for the station for 20 years, until moving to the news desk in 2004. [4]
WTVT, WTSP, and WFTS (Scripps/FOX/Gannett) News Service
In June 2009, WTSP joined in on a news service, a joint venture between FOX, Gannett, and E.W. Scripps broadcasting companies. This will allow stations from all three entities to combine news-gathering resources at general media events then distribute the video to participating stations within the market to use in their own reports. This means that some news-gathering resources of WTSP, WTVT (Fox 13), and WFTS (ABC Action News) will be combined. All other news operations at the three stations will remain unchanged. [1][2] As part of this news service, WTSP intends to scrap Sky 10 by August of 2009. This will allow WTVT, WFTS, and WTSP to utilize only one helicopter (Action Air One) to cover news events. [3].
During the analog television shutdown on June 12, 2009 [5], WTSP's digital signal moved from channel 24 to channel 10. Its previous digital frequency, channel 24, is now occupied by WWSB.[6]
Newscast line-up
Weekdays
10 Connects This Morning - 5:00AM–7:00AM
Anchors: Ginger Gadsden, Keith Jones
Weather: Chris Suchan
Traffic: Danielle Saar
News Headlines: Melanie Brooks
10 Connects News at Noon - 12:00PM–12:30PM
Anchors: Ginger Gadsden, Keith Jones
Weather: Chris Suchan
10 Connects News at 5:00 - 5:00PM–5:30PM
Anchors: Reginald Roundtree, Heather Van Nest
Weather: Tammie Souza
10 Connects News at 6:00 - 6:00PM–6:30PM
Anchors: Reginald Roundtree, Heather Van Nest
Weather: Tammie Souza
Sports: Dave Wirth
10 Connects News at 11:00 - 11:00PM–11:35PM
Anchors: Reginald Roundtree, Heather Van Nest
Weather: Tammie Souza
Sports: Dave Wirth
Weekends
10 Connects This Morning Saturday - 6:00AM–8:00AM (Saturday only)
Anchor: Janie Porter
Weather: Bobby Deskins
10 Connects News at 6:00/6:30 - 6:00PM–6:30PM Saturday, 6:30PM–7:00PM Sunday (no telecast if a late NFL game is shown)
Anchor: Tammie Fields
Weather: Sherry Ray
Sports: Angela Jacobs
10 Connects News at 11:00 - 11:00PM–11:35PM
Anchor: Tammie Fields
Weather: Sherry Ray
Sports: Angela Jacobs
Current personalities
Anchors
Reginald Roundtree, Weekday 5PM, 6PM and 11PM anchor (since 1989)
Heather Van Nest, Weekday 5PM, 6PM and 11PM anchor (since 2002)
Ginger Gadsden, Weekday morning and noon anchor (since 2006)
Keith Jones, Weekday morning and noon anchor (since April 15, 2009)
WTSP images/video @ Florida News Center Contains an image and video archive of the intros, teasers, and other on-air segments that WTSP uses; both past and present.
