WTOG

Encyclopedia : W : WT : WTO : WTOG

WTOG is the UPN affiliate for Tampa Bay, Florida. It is licensed to St. Petersburg. It broadcasts its analog signal on UHF channel 44, and its digital signal on UHF channel 59. Its transmitter is located in Riverview, Florida. The station will be the Tampa Bay area station for the new CW Television Network made up of UPN and The WB.

History

The station began operation in 1968 as general entertainment independent station, airing cartoons, sitcoms, movies, sports, dramas, and a 10pm newscast. It was originally owned by the Minnesota-based Hubbard Broadcasting Corporation, which owned KSTP-AM-FM-TV in the Twin Cities. In the station's early days, its slogan was: "WTOG...as far as the eye can see", which was made famous by a [1970s Station Identification package.] WTOG was successful early on, it was so successful that it forced competitior WSUN-TV (now WTTA) channel 38 off the air in 1970. For the rest of the 1970's and early into the 1980's, WTOG was the only independent station in Tampa Bay. This distinction finally ended in 1981, when WFTS-TV channel 28, then owned by Family Group Broadcasting, signed on. The station continued to compete head to head with WFTS.

During the 1970s and 1980s, WTOG was seen on many cable systems in central and southwestern Florida. In the 1980s, WTOG also had a network of low-powered repeaters, with repeaters in Sebring, Arcadia (in the Ft. Myers market), Ocala (Orlando market) and Okeechobee (West Palm Beach market). They billed themselves as "Florida's Super Station", which "Covered Florida Like The Sun". There was also some consideration to put WTOG on cable in Tallahassee, but that never came to fruition.

WTOG was one of the most profitable independent television stations in the country. In fact, during the late 1970s, a man named Ted Turner called the station to ask how it was that WTOG could be so profitable. It is believed that WTBS in Atlanta was modeled after WTOG.

In 1986, WTOG became a charter affiliate of the new Fox Broadcasting Company. However, this relationship lasted only 2 years, as WTOG dropped the affiliation in 1988, sending it to WFTS, now owned by the E.W. Scripps Company. Of course though, the station was still effectively independent during its time as a Fox affiliate, as Fox programming only comprised a small part of its schedule.

WTOG was largely unaffected by the affiliation swaps of 1994, which saw longtime CBS affiliate WTVT switch to Fox, WFTS going to ABC and longtime ABC affiliate WTSP go to CBS, but WTOG did become a charter UPN affiliate, aligning itself with the network at its launch in 1995. As with its days as a Fox affiliate, WTOG continued to program a traditional independent format during the day, with UPN programming shown during prime time. Paramount Stations Group, a subsidiary of Viacom purchased the station in the Spring of 1996 (swapping NBC affiliates WNYT in Albany, New York and WHEC in Rochester, New York to Hubbard in the process), and it changed its on-air branding to "UPN44".

WTOG's newscasts prior to 1982 was mainly at sign-on and sign-off, with the announcer reading the day's headlines over a slide. In the late-1970s and early-1980s, it featured a newsreader on camera reading the news during its morning discussion, Florida Daybreak. WTOG started using the Eyewitness News moniker in the late-1970s, though its news was still a rather staid, low-key affair, until they established a regular 10PM newscast in 1982. At first, WTOG continued to use the Eyewitness News name, with Barbara Callahan (former co-host of WTOG's PM Magazine) and John Nicholson (formerly an anchor at WTVT) as co-anchors. In the early-1990s, it was renamed 44 10 O'Clock News. By 1996, following Viacom's acquisition of WTOG, it became "UPN44 10 O'Clock News" (with the slogan "Live, Local, Late Breaking"), co-anchored by Callahan and Patrick Emory. WTOG's news department was discontinued in 1999 due to financial reasons.

The station stopped airing cartoons when UPN cancelled UPN Kids in 2003. Today, UPN44 runs syndicated shows such as off-network sitcoms, reality shows, talk shows, court shows, dramas, and UPN programming.

There were rumors that The E. W. Scripps Company would buy WTOG-TV from CBS Corporation (recently spun off from Viacom), thus creating a duopoly with ABC affiliate WFTS (who ironically had taken the FOX affiliation from WTOG in 1988). As of 2005, this has not occurred.

WTOG also handles master control operations for its sister station, KEYE in Austin, Texas.

On cable, WTOG can be seen on Bright House channel 4, and Comcast Sarasota channel 9. WTOG also has a repeater in Sebring (W23CN channel 23). WTOG used to also have repeators in Arcadia, Okeechobee, and Ocala, the first two have since gone dark (the Okeechobee transmitter carried TBN programming before closing down), while the Ocala station (W29AB) has since become a repeater for Orlando's WKMG-TV.

Previous Logos

Image:Wtog1969.jpg|WTOG's first logo, used from 1968 to 1970. This is actually only part of the logo; the complete logo also had the WTOG calls, with each letter in its own diamond (similar to the one used by its then-sister station, KSTP-TV). Image:Wtog82.jpg|WTOG's second, and most-well-known logo, used in various fashions from 1970 until its sale to Viacom in 1996.

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10 O'Clock News Anchors

• Patrick Emory, anchor (1994-1999).
• Barbara Callahan, PM Magazine co-host (1980-1982); anchor (1982-1986; 1993-1999).
• John Nicholson, anchor (1980s)
• Sandra Cole, anchor (1988-1989)
• J.P. Peterson, sports (-1999)
• Wendy Ross, weather
• Justin Keifer, weather (1997-1999)
• Kathryn Bursch, reporter.
• Julie Brannon, anchor.
• Jane Akre, anchor (1996)
• John Summer, anchor (1987-1994)
• Beasley Reece, sports (1980s, 1997-1998).
• Bob Alvarez, sports
• John Peterson, sports (1998-1999)
• Rob Stone, sports (late 1990s)
• Diane Roberts, anchor (1989-1993).
• Ken Suarez, reporter (1988-1998).
• Stan Rhoads, Cinema 44 Cash Call
• Harry Hairston, reporter (1980s)

External links

• [WTOG UPN44 Homepage]
• [Query the FCC's TV station database for WTOG]
• [Query the FCC's TV station database for W23CN]

.54 billion USD (2005) | Employees: Unknown at this time. | Stock Symbol: NYSE: [CBS] | Website: [www.cbscorporation.com]

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