WTVT

For other television stations with this branding, seeFox 13.

WTVT

Tampa–St. Petersburg, Florida United States
City	Tampa, Florida
Channels	Digital:12 (VHF) Virtual:13
Branding	Fox 13 Tampa Bay;Fox 13 News
Programming
Affiliations	13.1:Fox for others, see§ Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	Fox Television Stations (Fox Corporation) (New World Communicationsof Tampa, Inc.)
Sister stations	WOFL,WRBW,WOGX
History
First air date	April 1, 1955(1955-04-01)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 13 (VHF, 1955–2009)
Former affiliations	CBS(1955–1994)
Call signmeaning	Dual meaning: Walter Tison and Virginia Tison (original owner and his wife) -or- "Television Tampa"
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	68569
ERP	72.3kW
HAAT	436 m (1,430 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	27°49′8″N82°14′26″W
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	www.fox13news

WTVT(channel 13) is atelevision stationlicensed toTampa, Florida,United States, serving as theFoxnetwork outlet for theTampa Bay area.Owned and operatedby the network'sFox Television Stationsdivision, WTVT maintains studios on Kennedy Boulevard on Tampa's west side, and its transmitter is located inRiverview.

History

CBS affiliation

The station first signed on the air on April 1, 1955, becoming the third television station in Tampa Bay (afterWSUN-TV—channel 38, frequency now occupied byWTTA,andWFLA-TV,channel 8), it is also currently the second-oldest surviving station in the market behind WFLA. Upon its launch, WTVT took over theCBSaffiliation from WSUN-TV. WTVT was originally owned by Tampa Bay radio veteran Walter Tison and his Tampa Television Company. TheFederal Communications Commission(FCC) originally awarded theconstruction permitto build a station on channel 13 to the now-defunctTampa Timesnewspaper, which ownedWDAE radio(then at 1250 AM, now at 620 AM). However, the FCC reversed its decision and awarded the license to the Tison group, which intended to open a studio facility in nearbySt. Petersburg.TheTimesappealed the FCC's decision, but lost. Although it appears that the station's call letters stand for "Television Tampa", they actually stand for the initials of Walter Tison and his wife, Virginia. Like many other stations located on"unlucky" channel 13,WTVT used ablack catas its mascot for several years.

In 1956, the Tampa Television Company merged with theOklahoma City-basedOklahoma Publishing Company.OPUBCO's broadcasting subsidiary, theWKY Radiophone Company,would later be known asGaylord Broadcasting,named for the family that owned the company (Gaylord also owned what is present-day CBS O&OKTVTinFort Worth,but the "TVT" base callsign was only a coincidence).

The station's remote broadcast facilities were chosen for network pool coverage ofAlan ShepardandJohn Glenn's Mercury capsulesplashdowns(in 1961 and 1962, respectively).The mobile unit recorded the recoveries on videotapes that were flown to the mainland.

Through its CBS affiliation, WTVT carriedSuper Bowl XVIII,which was hosted atTampa Stadium,in 1984.

In 1987, Gaylord sold the station toGillett Communications(which made it a sister station of those Gillett acquired fromKKR,most of which were stations owned byStorer Broadcasting). Gillett underwent a corporate restructuring in the early 1990s, changing its name to GCI Broadcast Services, Inc. In 1993, GCI filed forbankruptcy,and its stations (including WTVT) were sold toNew World Communications.By that time, WTVT was preemptingCBS This Morningfor a locally produced morning newscast, as well as preempting all but one hour of the network'sSaturday morning cartoonsand aired the weeknight edition of theCBS Evening Newson ahalf-hour tape delayat 7 p.m. WTVT did not carry the CBS daytime dramasCapitolorThe Bold and the Beautifuland instead airedThe Young and the Restlessat 1 p.m. on a half-hour delay. This was due to the popularity of its one hour midday newscast that dates back to the 1970s.

As a Fox station

Further information:1994–1996 United States broadcast television realignment

On December 18, 1993,FoxoutbidCBSfor the rights to theNFL'sNational Football Conferencetelevision package beginning with the league's1994 season.Most of Fox's affiliates at the time were on the UHF band; seeking to affiliate with VHF stations to complement the new rights, Fox signed a long-term deal with New World Communications on May 23, 1994, toaffiliate with twelve of the company's major network affiliates,effective that fall.

WTVT affiliated with Fox on December 12, 1994, ending its 39-year affiliation with CBS. This resulted in a three-way affiliation swap that resulted in the market's second Fox affiliate,WFTS-TV(channel 28), affiliating withABCas part of a deal between the station's owner, theE. W. Scripps Companyand ABC that resulted in sister stationsWMAR-TVinBaltimoreandKNXV-TVinPhoenixjoining the network; longtime ABC affiliateWTSP(channel 10), which was retained by Citicasters, became a CBS affiliate. The final CBS program to air on WTVT was themade-for-TV movieReunion,which began at 9 p.m. Eastern Time on December 11, 1994.With the switch, WTVT became the third Tampa area station to have been affiliated with Fox.WTOG(channel 44) was the market's original affiliate from the network's launch in October 1986 until the affiliation moved to WFTS in 1988. The station chose not to renew the more expensive syndicated programs that it had run as a CBS affiliate, and instead began acquiring cheaper first-run syndicatedtalkandreality shows.

Albeit with a three-month interruption due to CBS losing the NFC rights (the games instead aired on WFTS for the first three months of Fox's NFC telecasts as a lame duck affiliate), the switch allowed WTVT to retain its status as the "home" station for theTampa Bay Buccaneers—a status it held since 1977, when the team moved to the NFC. Under the NFL's contract with Fox (and before it, CBS), WTVT normally airs most of the Bucs' games, including all road games againstAmerican Football Conferenceopponents. However, largely due to the Bucs' lack of success on the field for most of their first 20 years, the team's home games were almost alwaysblacked outlocally. This was especially true during the Bucs' darkest period in the 1980s and 1990s, when they had 12 consecutive 10-loss seasons; at one point, no Bucs home games were seen locally from 1982 to 1986—spanning portions of five seasons. Once the Buccaneers began to build a winning team in the late 1990s, along with a new look and the opening ofRaymond James Stadium,local television blackouts decreased, thus allowing more games to be shown on WTVT. The blackout rules were lifted by the NFL in 2015 on an experimental basis, and have since been suspended indefinitely, meaning games are now shown on Channel 13 regardless of attendance. ThroughFox's contract with Major League Baseball,the station has also aired selectTampa Bay Raysgames since the team'sinaugural season in 1998,including the team's 2008 and2020 World Seriesappearances.

News Corporationbought New World outright in July 1996;the purchase was finalized on January 22, 1997, making WTVT the firstowned-and-operated stationof a major network in the Tampa Bay area. Although New World no longer exists as a separate company, WTVT continues to use "New World Communications of Tampa Bay" as the copyright tag at the end of the station's newscasts. Shortly after the purchase was announced, the station changed its branding from "Channel 13" to "Fox 13" —retaining the numerical "13" logo it had used since 1989 as a CBS affiliate (the font for that number has since been utilized by sister stationWFLDinChicagoupon its rebranding in 2012, as well as the "13" itself used by former sister stationWHBQ-TVinMemphisandPBSmember stationKERA-TVinDallas). Under Fox ownership, the station added more higher-profile syndicated shows and a few off-network sitcoms to its lineup.

In June 2009, WTVT interviewed late televisionpitchmanBilly Maysshortly before his death. His interview, which was conducted at theTampa International Airport,is believed to have been his final appearance on live television.

On December 14, 2017,The Walt Disney Company,owner of WFTS-TV's affiliated network ABC, announced its intent to buy WTVT's parent company,21st Century Fox,for $66.1 billion; the sale, which closed on March 20, 2019, excluded WTVT as well as the Fox network, theMyNetworkTVprogramming service,Fox News,Fox Sports 1and the Fox Television Stations unit, which were all transferred to the newly-formedFox Corporation.

News operation

WTVT presently broadcasts72+1⁄2hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 12 hours each weekday,6+1⁄2hours on Saturdays and six hours on Sundays). In regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the highest local newscast output of any television station in both the Tampa Bay market and the entire state of Florida.

Under Gaylord Broadcasting ownership, the company poured significant resources into channel 13's news operation. In 1958, WTVT became the second station in the country to introduce dailyeditorials,and was also the first station in the countryto run an hour-long news block, consisting of 45 minutes of local news (under the titlePulse) combined with the then-15-minute network newscast. By 1962, WTVT had overtaken WFLA-TV as the highest-rated 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 until his retirement in November 26, 1997, and Hugh Smith was the station's main anchor from 1963 to 1991, spending most of that time doubling as itsnews director.

Channel 13 dropped thePulsemoniker from its newscasts in 1989 in favor ofEyewitness News.TheEyewitness Newsmoniker was retained during the early years of the Fox erabefore being dropped in 1997.

After WTVT became a Fox affiliate in December 1994, the station adopted a news-intensive schedule, increasing its news programming output from about 30 hours a week to nearly 45 hours. Like most former Big Three affiliates that joined Fox during the 1990s, it maintained a news schedule similar to the one it had as a CBS affiliate. The station retained all of its existing newscasts. However, it expanded its weekday morning newscast from one to3+1⁄2hours (with two hours added from 7 to 9 a.m. to make up for the loss ofCBS This Morning), bridged the weeknight 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts into a two-hour early evening news block (by expanding its half-hour 6 p.m. newscast to one hour) and moved the 11 p.m. newscast to 10 p.m. and expanded it to a full hour (originally titledChannel 13 Eyewitness News Prime Time at Ten,later renamed asFox 13 10:00 Newsupon Fox purchasing the station). on December 12, 2005, WTVT debuted a new 11 p.m. newscast calledNews Edge at 11:00,returning a newscast to that timeslot since the station was still affiliated with CBS. At one point, WTVT had the largest local newscast output of any television station in the country.

In April 2009, Fox entered into aLocal News Serviceagreement with the E. W. Scripps Company in which Fox's owned-and-operated stations in Tampa,DetroitandPhoenixwould share news video and helicopter footage with Scripps-owned stations in those markets for use in their own reports.Locally, WTVT began pooling video with WFTS as part of the agreement; however the stations otherwise maintain separate news departments.Gannett-owned WTSP was added to the LNS agreement that June.Prior to the agreement, WTVT had been the only station in the Tampa market to use two news helicopters: aBell 206called "SkyFox" and aRobinson R44called "SkyFox 2", which was used whenever "SkyFox" was grounded due to mechanical reasons. When warranted, both helicopters were used to cover significant news stories. WTVT, WFTS and WTSP now utilize only one helicopter (WFTS' "Action Air One" ) to cover news events (rival station WFLA covers news events by utilizing its own helicopter, "Eagle 8" ).

In the summer of 2009, Fox Television Stations opened a graphics hub at the WTVT studios to distribute graphics for Fox's owned-and-operated stations.

Starting with the 5 p.m. newscast on June 30, 2009, WTVT became the fourth and final station in the Tampa Bay market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts inhigh definition.

Monsanto controversy

In 1997,Steve WilsonandJane Akrebegan work on a story regarding theagricultural biotechnologycompanyMonsantoandrecombinant bovine growth hormone(rBGH), a milk additive that had been approved for use by theFood and Drug Administrationbut also blamed for a number of health issues. Wilson and Akre planned a four-part investigative report on Monsanto's use of rBGH, which prompted the company to write to Fox News Channel presidentRoger Ailesin an attempt to have the report reviewed for bias and because of the "enormous damage that can be done" as a result of the report.

WTVT did not run the story, and later argued in court that the report was not "breakthrough journalism." Wilson and Akre then claimed that the station's actions constituted the news broadcast telling lies, while WTVT countered looking only for fairness, and wanted to air a hard-hitting story with a number of statements critical of Monsanto.Wilson and Akre stated that they rewrote the report over 80 times over the course of 1997, and WTVT decided to exercise "its option to terminate their employment contracts without cause,"and did not renew their contracts in 1998. WTVT later ran a report about Monsanto and rBGH in 1998, and the report included defenses from Monsanto.

After Wilson and Akre's contracts were not renewed, they filed a lawsuit concerning WTVT's "news distortion" under Florida's whistleblower laws, claiming their termination was retaliation for "resisting WTVT's attempts to distort or suppress the BGH story."In a joint statement, Wilson claimed that he and Akre "were repeatedly ordered to go forward and broadcast demonstrably inaccurate and dishonest versions of the story," and "were given those instructions after some very high-level corporate lobbying by Monsanto (the powerful drug company that makes the hormone) and also... by members of Florida's dairy and grocery industries."The trial commenced in the summer of 2000 with a jury dismissing all of the claims brought to trial by Wilson, but siding with one aspect of Akre's complaint, awarding her $425,000 and agreeing that Akre was a whistleblower because she believed there were violations of theCommunications Act of 1934and because she planned on reporting the station to the Federal Communications Commission.Reasonmagazine, referring to the case, noted that Akre's argument in the trial was that Akre and Wilson believed news distortion occurred, but that they did not have to prove this was the case.

An appeal was filed, and a ruling in February 2003 came down in favor of WTVT, who successfully argued that the FCC policy against falsification was not a "law, rule, or regulation", and so the whistle-blower law did 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. "The appeal did not address any falsification claims, noting that "as a threshold matter... Akre failed to state a claim under the whistle-blower's statute," but noted that the lower court ruled against all of Wilson's charges and all of Akre's claims with the exception of the whistleblower claim that was overturned.

Current on-air staff

• Paul Dellegatto(AMSCertified Broadcast MeteorologistSeal of Approval) – chief meteorologist; weeknights
• Mark Wilson– weeknight 6 and 10 p.m. anchor

Notable former on-air staff

• Jane Akre– investigative reporter and anchor
• Sharyl Attkisson– reporter (1988–1992; later atCBS Newsuntil 2014, now hostsFull MeasureatSinclair Broadcast Group)
• Colin Cowherd– weekend sports anchor (1994–1996; now atFox Sports Radio)
• Tom Dunn– anchor/reporter (1962–1964; deceased)
• Liz Brunner– anchor/reporter (1987–1992); later withWCVB-TVinBoston
• Don Harris– reporter (1964–1968; later withNBC News,murdered inJonestownin 1978)
• Jack Harris– afternoon host,Pulse Plus(1984–1989; later atWFLA-TV,was most recently atNewsradio WFLA)
• Tom Martino– reporter (1980s; moved toKDVR)
• Kerry Sanders– reporter (1986–1991; later with NBC News, now retired)
• Hugh Smith– anchor (1963–1991; deceased)
• Steve Wilson– investigative reporter (later atWXYZinDetroit,now runs an investigative reporting service)
• Jessica Yellin– reporter (1999–2001; now atCNN)
• Tony Zappone– news correspondent (1965 and 1976–1982)

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal ismultiplexed:

Subchannels of WTVT

Channel	Res.	Aspect	Short name	Programming
13.1	720p	16:9	WTVT-DT	Fox
13.2	480i		MOVIES!	Movies!
13.3		4:3	Buzzr	Buzzr
13.4		16:9	HEROES	Heroes & Icons
13.5			NOSEY	Nosey
13.6			FOX WX	Fox Weather
32.3	480i	16:9	Estrell	Estrella TV(WMOR-DT3)

Broadcast on behalf of another station

Analog-to-digital conversion

WTVT shut down its analog signal, overVHFchannel 13, on June 12, 2009, as part of thefederally mandated transition from analog to digital television.The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 12,usingvirtual channel13.

External links

• Official website
• WTVT Historical SiteA historical site dedicated to WTVT's former CBS affiliation