WTVT
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| WTVT | |
|---|---|
| Tampa - St. Petersburg, Florida | |
| Branding | FOX 13 (general) FOX 13 News (newscasts) |
| Slogan | The Most Powerful Name in Local News We've Got You Covered |
| Channels | Analog: 13 (VHF) Digital: 12 (VHF) |
| Affiliations | FOX |
| Owner | FOX TV Stations, Inc. |
| Licensee | TVT License, Inc. |
| First air date | April 1, 1955 |
| Call letters' meaning | Walter Tison and Virginia Tison (original owner & his wife) |
| Former Affiliations | CBS (1955-1994) |
| Transmitter Power | 316 kW (analog) 17.5 kW (digital) |
| Height | 433 m (analog) 436 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 68569 |
| Website | WTVT - FOX 13's Website |
WTVT, ch. 13, is a TV station in Tampa, Florida. It's an O&O station of the FOX Broadcasting Company, a subsdiary of News Corporation. WTVT's studios are located in Tampa & it's transmitter is located in Riverview, Florida.
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History
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The station first started broadcasting on April 1, 1955 as a CBS affiliate. It was the 3rd station in Tampa Bay, behind WSUN-TV (ch. 38, frequency now occupied by WTTA) & WFLA-TV (ch. 8). WTVT is also the 2nd-oldest surviving station, behind WFLA.
Originally, the FCC awarded the ch. 13 license to the Tampa Times, a now-defunct newspaper which owned WDAE Radio (then on 1250 AM). However, the FCC reversed itself & awarded the station to the Tampa Television Company headed by Tampa Bay radio veteran Walter Tison, who intended to open a studio in nearby St. Petersburg. The Times appealed the FCC's decision, but lost.
While WTVT's call letters appear to stand for We're TeleVision in Tampa, they actually stand for the initials of Walter Tison & his wife, Virginia. Like many other stations located on "unlucky" ch. 13, WTVT used a black cat as it's mascot for several years.
In 1956 the Tampa Television Company merged with the Oklahoma Publishing Company of Oklahoma City. Oklahoma Publishing's broadcast subsidiary, the WKY Television System, would later be known as Gaylord Broadcasting, named for the family who owned the company.
The Gaylords beefed up ch. 13's news operation. In 1958, WTVT became the 2nd station in the country to introduce daily editorials & was also the first station in the country to run an hour-long news block, comprising of 45 minutes of local news (under the title Pulse) combined with the then-15-minute network newscast. By 1962, WTVT had overtaken WFLA-TV as the #1 station in the Tampa Bay market, retaining that position for over 25 years. This was largely because of the longevity of many of the station's personalities. For instance, Roy Leep was the station's weatherman from 1957-1997 & Hugh Smith was the station's main anchor from 1963-1991, spending most of that time doubling as news director. Ch. 13 dropped the Pulse moniker from it's newscasts in 1989, renaming the news branding Channel 13 Eyewitness News (later becoming "FOX 13 Eyewitness News" in 1996 before the Eyewitness News brand was dropped altogether in 1997).
Also in 1962, the station's remote broadcast facilities were chosen for live coverage of John Glenn's Mercury-Atlas 6 splashdown.
In 1987, WTVT was sold to Gillett Communications. In the early 1990s, Gillett restructured, changing it's name to GCI Broadcast Services, Inc. In 1993, GCI filed for bankruptcy & it's stations (including WTVT) were sold to New World Communications. By that time, WTVT was pre-empting CBS This Morning for a locally-produced morning news show, as well as pre-empting all but 1 hour of Saturday cartoons.
In late 1993, the FOX Broadcasting Company won the rights to air the games of the NFC of the NFL from CBS, beginning in 1994. As a result, FOX began looking for more VHF affiliates & signed a long term deal with New World, switching most of it's stations, including WTVT, to FOX. WTVT dropped it's CBS affiliation in December 1994, becoming a FOX affiliate. The former FOX affiliate, WFTS (ch. 28), affiliated with ABC as part of a deal between ABC & WFTS' owners, the E.W. Scripps Company. The longtime ABC affiliate, WTSP (ch. 10), then became a CBS affiliate.
After changing networks, WTVT began to broadcast almost 50 hours of local news a week. At 1 point, WTVT aired more hours of local news than any other station in the country. It chose not to renew the more expensive syndicated programming it had run while a CBS affiliate, running cheaper 1st-run syndicated talk & reality shows instead.
FOX bought most of the New World stations in 1997, making WTVT a FOX O&O station. Under FOX ownership the station added more high-budget syndicated shows & a few off-network sitcoms to it's lineup & changed it's brand to FOX 13. WTVT is the 3rd station in Tampa Bay to be affiliated with FOX, as WTOG had it first before reverting to independent status in 1988.
WTVT was the first TV news station in Florida to use radar in it's weather presentation & has made many advancements with the technology. It's newest advancement is SkyTower OMNI, combining the already existing SkyTower radar system with OMNI & VIPIR technology, which is also used by competitor WFLA-TV & the cable-only news channel Bay News 9. On May 25 2006, the station's radar was made even more powerful & is now "SkyTower HD VIPIR." WTVT was also 1 of the 1st to use computer graphics in weather forecasts in the late-1970s, originally called "Weathervision" (no relation to the weather reporting company of the same name). The station also has the most meteorologists on a news team (in the market), with 5 meteorologists & the only station (in the nation) with all of them AMS certified.
Today Edit
WTVT airs roughly 52 1/2 hours of news per week & is the only station in the market to have 2 women regularly anchoring a newscast; Denise White & Kathy Fountain anchoring the FOX 13 5 PM News.
WTVT began to adopt it's current logo, which is similar to that of the FOX News Channel, in December 2005 as part of NewsEdge @ 11, although they did not completely switch to it until February 2006. The station was the 1st FOX O&O to use this logo style, which is gradually being adopted by it's sister stations in other markets. However, the current logo retains the numeric "13" which has been part of the station's logos since 1989.
WTVT & WFLA-TV are chief competitors for the #1 newscast in the Tampa Bay Area. WTVT currently has the #1 spot for Good Day Tampa Bay between 5-9 AM & has the #1 newscast in the 5-6 PM timeslot. NewsEdge @ 11 is statistically tied with WFTS for the lowest rated newscast for that time period, although WTVT does have a 10 PM newscast with significantly higher ratings without any competition in the market.
WTVT is also the only station in Tampa Bay to use 2 news helicopters. The first one, Sky FOX, is a Bell 206 & is painted black. The second, Sky FOX 2, is a Robinson R44 & is painted blue. This helicopter is used whenever Sky FOX is grounded for mechanical reasons. When warranted, both helicopters are used to cover significant news stories.
WTVT announced that it will be part of the .2 Network sometime in December.
New Set Edit
Starting in March 2007, WTVT began upgrading their main studio. The new set debuted on April 23rd.
Some aspects of the set include a 6' by 8' rear projection screen, a new anchor desk, a whole new weather center & an area for the Lightning Round & a second anchor desk. There are also several plasma TVs behind the main news desk in the newsroom.
Switch to HD Edit
WTVT Meteorologist Andy Johnson stated in a Q&A on their site MyFOXHurricane.com that WTVT has the cameras to go HD but won't make the switch till sometime next year.
SkyTower Omni goes online @ FOX 13Edit
Always a national leader in weather forecasting. FOX 13 unveiled SkyTower Omni on Friday September 12th, 2008. The High-Powered tool can do things no other forecasting system can. Chief Meteorologist Paul Dellegatto said. And WTVT is currently the only station in America to use the Omni weather system.
Monsanto controversyEdit
In 1997, FOX's WTVT fired journalists Jane Akre & her husband Steve Wilson for "refusing to include knowingly false information in their report concerning the Monsanto Corporation's production of RBGH, a drug designed to make cows produce more milk than what is natural." They sued FOX under Florida's whistleblower law. In August 18 2000, the jury unanimously determined that FOX "'acted intentionally & deliberately to falsify or distort the plaintiffs' news reporting on BGH.' In that decision, the jury also found that Jane's threat to blow the whistle on FOX's misconduct to the FCC was the sole reason for the termination.
However, FOX appealed to an appellate court & won in 2004, after the court declared that the FCC policy against falsification that FOX violated was just a policy & not a "law, rule, or regulation" & so the whistle blower law did not apply. The Florida appellate court agreed with WTVT's (FOX) argument "that the FCC's policy against the intentional falsification of the news - which the FCC has called it's "news distortion policy" - does not qualify as the required "law, rule, or regulation" under section 448.102.[...]Because the FCC's news distortion policy is not a "law, rule, or regulation" under section 448.102, Akre has failed to state a claim under the whistle-blower's statute."
DTV Edit
After the analog TV shutdown scheduled for February 17 2009, WTVT will remain on it's current pre-transition ch. number, 12 using PSIP to display WTVT's virtual ch. as 13.
News / Station PresentationEdit
Newscast titleEdit
- Pulse (1955-1980)
- The Pulse 13 News Hour (1980-1989)
- Ch. 13 Eyewitness News (1989-1996)
- FOX 13 Eyewitness News (1996-1997)
- FOX 13 News (1997-present)
NewscastsEdit
Weekday NewscastsEdit
Good Day Tampa BayEdit
Good Day Tampa Bay is a morning show that airs weekdays from 5-9 AM & weekends from 6-9 AM on WTVT, the FOX owned station in the Tampa Bay market. The show started on September 12 1994, 3 months before WTVT became a FOX affiliate.
Good Day Tampa Bay teamEdit
- Anchors: Nerissa Prest (5-7 AM), Tom Curran (5-7 AM), Anne Dwyer (7-9 AM) & Russell Rhodes (7-9 AM)
- Weather: Dave Osterberg
- Traffic: Jennifer Epstein
- Other featured presenters: Charley Belcher ("Charley's World" feature reports) & Geoff Simon (financial analyst)
Other newscastsEdit
- FOX 13 News @ Noon: 12-12:25 PM
- Anchor: Denise White
- Weather: Howard Shapiro
- Your Turn (local debate/discussion show) 12:25-1 PM
- Host: Kathy Fountain
- FOX 13 5 PM News: 5-5:30 PM
- Anchors: Denise White & Kathy Fountain
- Weather: Paul Dellegatto
- FOX 13 5:30 News: 5:30-6 PM
- Anchors: Frank Robertson & Cynthia Smoot
- Weather: Paul Dellegatto
- Sports: Chip Carter (M-Th) or Chris Field (F)
- FOX 13 6 PM News: 6-7 PM
- Anchors: John Wilson & Kelly Ring
- Weather: Paul Dellegatto
- Sports: Chip Carter (M-Th) or Chris Field (F)
- FOX 13 10 PM News: 10-11 PM
- Anchors: John Wilson & Kelly Ring
- Weather: Paul Dellegatto
- Sports: Chip Carter (M-Th) or Chris Field (F)
- NewsEdge @ 11: 11-11:35 PM
- Anchor: Mark Wilson
- Weather: Paul Dellegatto
- Sports: Chip Carter (M-Th) or Chris Field (F)
- NewsEdge Reporter: Gloria Gomez
WeekendsEdit
- Good Day Tampa Bay Weekend: 6-9 AM
- Anchors: Ray Collins & Laura Moody
- Weather: Andy Johnson
- Traffic: Beth Ames
- FOX ThirTEEN Magazine: (Teen produced newscast) 10:30-11 AM (Saturdays)
- FOX 13 6 PM News: 6-7 PM
- Anchors: Lloyd Sowers & Deborah Bowden
- Weather: Jim Weber
- Sports: Chris Field (Sat) or Chip Carter (Sun)
- FOX 13 10 PM News: 10-11 PM
- Anchors: Lloyd Sowers & Deborah Bowden
- Weather: Jim Weber
- Sports: Chris Field (Sat) or Chip Carter (Sun)
PersonalitiesEdit
Current PersonalitiesEdit
Former PersonalitiesEdit
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External linksEdit
- WTVT FOX 13
- MyFOXHurricane.com (Hurricane Season website)
- WTVT Historical Site A historical site dedicated to WTVT's former CBS affiliation.
- Website about Monsanto controversy
- WTVT images & video @ Florida News Center Contains an image & video archive of the intros, teasers & other on-air segments that WTVT uses; both past & present.
