WFLA-TV
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WFLA-TV is the NBC affiliate television station on the west coast of the U.S. state of Florida, serving the Tampa-St. Petersburg market. The station is the flagship station of its owner and operator, Media General. Its transmitter is located in Riverview, Florida. WFLA is the only station in the market to be affiliated with the same network (NBC) since signing on.
The station shares the "News Center" building in Tampa with co-owned The Tampa Tribune and TBO.com.
The station is the home of Tampa Bay Buccaneers preseason games, primarily called by Chris Myers and Ron Jaworski.
History
WFLA-TV signed on Valentine's Day 1955 with a live broadcast of the Gasparilla Pirate Festival, which it has aired live every year since then. The station was owned by the Tribune along with WFLA radio. Largely because of its newspaper background, it was the early ratings leader in Tampa, until WTVT passed it in 1962.
In 1966, Richmond Newspapers, publishers of the Richmond Times-Dispatch and part-owner of the Tribune, acquired full control of the paper and WFLA-AM-FM-TV. Three years later, Richmond Newspapers renamed itself Media General, and WFLA-TV, the first television station owned and operated by Media General, has been its flagship television station since then. Reporters from the Tribune often appear on WFLA.
The station was renamed WXFL-TV in 1983 after WFLA-AM was sold, but regained its old call letters in 1989. (The AM radio station is currently owned by Clear Channel Communications.) That same year, it surged to first place in the Tampa Bay ratings and has stayed there for most of that time, led by one of the most popular anchor teams in the country, Bob Hite and Gayle Sierens. The duo has been together since 1985.
In the midst of a market shake-up in 1994 which saw many of the Tampa area stations swapping network affiliations, WFLA was one of the few major stations in the market that did not change networks. As a result, it became number 1 in the market, formerly held by WTVT, which saw its ratings drop from first to last after switching from CBS to FOX.
Bill Ratliff and Gayle Guyardo currently host the station's coverage of the Gasparilla Pirate Festival, with Bob Hite in costume as a roving pirate moving through the parade.
In May 2007, it was announced that Bob Hite will retire at the end of 2007. Keith Cate, who has since replaced Hite on the 11PM newscast, will replace Hite at 6PM. ([1])
In 2006, WFLA launched a 24-hour weather network called "Storm Team 8 Weather Plus" on digital subchannel 8.2 / 7.2, Bright House channel 607, Comcast channel 243, Knology channel 133 and Verizon FiOS (not listed on WFLA Weather Plus' DTV roster) channel 850.
News department
Newscast Lineup
Weekdays
- NewsChannel 8 Today - 5:00AM-7:00AM
- NewsChannel 8 Midday - 11:00AM-12:00PM
- NewsChannel 8 at 5PM - 5:00PM-5:30PM
- NewsChannel 8 at 5:30PM - 5:30PM-6:00PM
- NewsChannel 8 at 6PM - 6:00PM-6:30PM
- NewsChannel 8 at 11PM - 11:00PM-11:35PM
Weekends
- NewsChannel 8 Weekend Morning Edition - 9:00AM-10:00AM
- NewsChannel 8 at 12 Noon - 12:00PM-1:00PM
- NewsChannel 8 at 6PM - 6:00PM-6:30PM
- NewsChannel 8 at 11PM - 11:00PM-11:35PM
Current News Personalities
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News Anchors
Meteorologists
Sports Anchors
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Reporters
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Former News, Weather and Sports Personalities
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Slogans
- "Part of Your Life" (1975-1981)
- "The Look...Alive" (1981-1983)
- "Newswatching out for you" (1983-1985)
- "The Spirit of Tampa Bay" (1980's)
- "In Touch With Tampa Bay" (1989-1992)
- "On Your Side" (1992-Present)
- "Tampa Bay's Number 1 Choice for news" (2007-)
Daytime controversy and criticism
In 2003, WFLA and its morning show "Daytime" caused a controversy after the New York Times reported of its "pay for play" practices. The article revealed that businesses were charged several thousand dollars to appear on the show, effectively making their segments "paid segments". Many people saw this as "Payola", a practice that is illegal under FCC ruling. After much dispute, WFLA agreed to ID each paid segment as such to avoid an intervention from Congress.
Since then, WFLA launched two more similar programs, The Spot (2004-), which featured entertainment items; and Star Watch (2005-), a movie preview program.
In addition, Media General has plans on rolling Daytime out to all its stations sometime in 2006, with each station providing its own local segments for its viewers.
Originial hosts Debra Schrills and Brian Fasulo left the show after 2005. [2]
The current hosts are Cyndi Edwards and former Extra host Dave Nemeth.
References
- WFLA will ID Paid Segments.
- TV's Version of Payola Draws FCC Interest
- McCain, FCC seek input on payola
Syndicated programming shown on WFLA
- The Montel Williams Show weekdays at 12:00pm
- Rachael Ray weekdays at 3:00pm
- The Oprah Winfrey Show weekdays at 4:00pm
- Entertainment Tonight weekdays and Saturday at 7:00pm
- Extra weekdays at 7:30pm
Trivia
In the early-2000s, Rich Fields worked at WFLA as an intern while studying to be a meteorologist; this eventually led to a position as weatherman at Palm Springs, California's KPSP. In April 2004, Fields became a permanent announcer for The Price Is Right.