St. Petersburg-Tampa, Florida United States |
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City | St. Petersburg, Florida |
Branding | 10 News |
Slogan | Tampa Bay's News Leader |
Channels |
Digital: 10 (VHF) Virtual: 10 () |
Subchannels | |
Translators | 4 (VHF) St. Petersburg |
Affiliations |
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Owner |
Tegna Media (Pacific and Southern, LLC) |
First air date | July 18, 1965 |
Call letters' meaning | Tampa/St. Petersburg |
Former callsigns | WLCY-TV (1965–1978) |
Former channel number(s) |
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Former affiliations |
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Transmitter power | 69 kW |
Height | 457 m |
Facility ID | 11290 |
Transmitter coordinates | 27°49′9.7″N 82°15′38.7″W / 27.819361°N 82.260750°WCoordinates: 27°49′9.7″N 82°15′38.7″W / 27.819361°N 82.260750°W |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
Website | www.wtsp.com |
WTSP, virtual and VHF digital channel 10, is a CBS-affiliated television station serving Tampa, Florida, United States that is licensed to St. Petersburg. The station is owned by Tegna, Inc. 10News WTSP maintains studio facilities located on Gandy Boulevard in St. Petersburg and its transmitter is located in Riverview.
The station first signed on the air on July 18, 1965 as WLCY-TV; the station debuted after a lengthy court battle that lasted nearly ten years between five prospective owners seeking the channel 10 license, including the St. Petersburg Times. It was owned by Rahall Communications, along with WLCY radio (1380 AM, now WWMI; and 94.9 FM, now WWRM). The station was affiliated with ABC, but spent its first month-and-a-half of operation as an independent station, as previous ABC affiliate WSUN-TV (channel 38; frequency now occupied by WTTA) went to court to keep the affiliation. The city of St. Petersburg, owners of WSUN-TV, had been one of the applicants for the channel 10 license, having jumped in out of fear of losing its ABC affiliation. WLCY ultimately won and formally switched to ABC in a special ceremony on September 1, 1965. As a condition for being placed on VHF channel 10 instead of a UHF placement, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) required the station to produce 20 hours of public service programming each week.