Tampa Sarasota Edition

Serves Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, Ft. Myers, Naples, and Southwest Florida; co-exists with Orlando edition in Hernando and eastern Pasco Counties

City:	Channel:	Calls:	Affiliation:	Home Edition:	Notes:
Tampa	[3]	WEDU	PBS
Tampa	[8]	WFLA	NBC		(1)Tampa Bay's oldest TV station (February 1955), also Tampa Bay's first and oldest VHF station (2) Was WXFL 1983-1988
Tampa	[13]	WTVT	Fox		(1)Was a CBS station until 12/12/94 (2) Does not carry Fox Kids programming
Tampa	[16]	WUSF	PBS		University of South Florida
Tampa	[28]	WFTS	ABC		Was independent until 1988; was Fox 1988-12/12/94
Lakeland	[32]	WWWB	WB	Orlando	(1) Was WTMV until September 1996 (2) Also on 63 Pinellas County & 56 Manatee-Sarasota Counties (3) Co-flagship of Tampa Bay Devil Rays, beginning Spring 1998
Sarasota	[40]	WWSB	ABC		Was WXLT until mid-1980s
Sarasota	[62]	WBSV	independent		Licensed to Venice
Bradenton	[66]	WXPX	Pax		Was WFCT until 1997
St. Petersburg	[10]	WTSP	CBS		(1) Was WLCY-TV until 1978 (2) Was ABC until 12/12/94 (3) Co-flagship of Tampa Bay Devil Rays, beginning Spring 1998
St. Petersburg	[38]	WTTA	independent		(see below)
St. Petersburg	[44]	WTOG	UPN		Was independent until 1986 and 1988-1995; was Fox 1986-1988
Ft. Myers-Naples	[11]	WINK	CBS
Ft. Myers-Naples	[20]	WBBH	NBC		(1) Was also ABC until 1974 (2) Cable channel 2 in some ads
Ft. Myers-Naples	[26]	WZVN	ABC		(1) Local Marketing Agreement with WBBH (2) Was WEVU until 1995 (3) Cable channel 7 in some ads (4) Licensed to Naples
Ft. Myers-Naples	[30]	WGCU	PBS		(1) Was WSFP until 1996 (2) Was under University of South Florida control until 1996; now under control of the new Gulf Coast University
Ft. Myers-Naples	[36]	WFTX	Fox		Licensed to Cape Coral
Ft. Myers-Naples	[46]	WTVK	UPN		(1) Was WNPL until 1995 (2) Licensed to Naples

Listed In "Channels Listed", but not in main listings:

WBHS (50) Tampa -- Home Shopping Network
WCLF (22) Clearwater -- religious (Note: was listed briefly in TVG in early 1980s)

Channels available in coverage area or mentioned in ads In TVG, but not officially at all in TVG:

WEVU (7) Ft. Myers -- UPN (low-power)
WPCS (14) Largo -- Low-Powered educational channel
W26AX St. Petersburg -- HTV (Spanish-language music videos)
W35AJ St. Petersburg -- City Government
W48?? Tarpon Springs -- Ethnic Programming
WRXY (49) Tice-Ft. Myers -- Religious
WRMD (57) Tampa -- Telemundo
W60?? St. Petersburg -- Religious (TBN)
WVEA (61) Tampa -- Univision

Special Close-Up -- WTTA Channel 38:

WTTA Channel 38 went on the air in 1991, but it has a lot of history behind it. The channel first lighted up in Tampa Bay in 1953 as WSUN-TV, Tampa Bay's first TV station and one of the first UHF stations in North America, which broadcasted from the Municipal Pier in St. Petersburg. However, it was strictly an independent until 1954, as telephone cables carrying network programming ended in Tampa. In 1954, Peninsular Telephone, a forerunner of GTE Florida, established a microwave network connection between Tampa and St. Pete during the World Series, making WSUN-TV the first station in the world to get its TV shows via microwave. Shortly thereafter, it became affiliated with ABC. However, things started looking bleak for channel 38 in 1965, when WLCY-TV channel 10 (now CBS affiliate WTSP) was given the ABC affiliation by court order. At that point, channel 38 became an independent station again, providing strictly reruns and old movies at night, as well as time and weather during the day. The time and weather was soon discontinued, and Channel 38 cut back on its broadcasting hours. In February 1970, due to lack of advertisers and programming, WSUN-TV 38 went dark for good. In the late-1980s, channel 38 was given its new calls, WTTA. In 1990, the new channel 38 began testing. It was to have begun programming in the Summer of 1990, but its launch was delayed until 1991. The reason: WTTA was affiliated with a new network from Orlando called Star TV, which provided a mixture of reruns and infomercials. That summer, WTTA even placed an ad in TVG announcing the launch of their station and the coming of Star TV to Tampa Bay. The ad featured a doctor, who's offering channel 38 and Star TV as the cure to ordinary TV (to date, this was also channel 38's only TVG ad). However, the station and Star TV were having financial problems; therefore, the delay of channel 38. On January 16, 1991 (the first day of the Gulf War), Star TV folded, due to financial problems and a lack of infomercial variety. In the summer of 1991, WTTA channel 38 finally began programming, keeping with Star TV's style of a rerun-infomercial mixture. However, the sign-on was low-key, as its existence was never adverised at the time. The first coup came in December 1994, when WTVT Channel 13 became a Fox station. However, channel 13 refused to carry any Fox Kids shows. At that point, channel 38 picked them up. The next came in spring 1996, when the Tampa Bay Lightning made the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. Channel 38 carried the playoff games because the Lightning's flagship station, WTOG channel 44, wouldn't reschedule their prime-time shows, especially UPN. When the season started again in the fall of 1996, channel 38 became the new flagship. Despite these accomplishments, channel 38 remains the market's lowest-rated station, using second-rate equipment, sharing studio space with a local radio station, and carrying mainly what I call "leftovers" -- shows that were originally seen on other area stations; this includes the Lightning, the Florida Marlins, and Fox Kids.