WWSB

'WWSB', Channel 40 (Cable and virtual channel 7), is the ABC affiliate for Sarasota, Florida.
WWSB is owned by Calkins Media, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based mass media company that owns several small newspapers in Pennsylvania and two other television stations: WTXL-TV in Tallahassee (which Calkins acquired in December 2005) and WAAY-TV in Huntsville, Alabama (acquired in February 2007).
WWSB's transmitter is located on a 248 m (814 ft) high tower in Parrish - a small community about 19 miles north of the station's studios in downtown Sarasota.
A directional antenna broadcasts the station's UHF signal south toward the cities served by WWSB. The largest of those cities are Sarasota, Bradenton, Venice, and North Port. The station's news department focuses its coverage on five counties: Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte, Hardee, and DeSoto.
The station can not be viewed on satellite TV, which has been frustrating for many people in the Sarasota-Manatee area, and WWSB has been asking people with satellite systems to petition their providers to show WWSB. Recently, when Verizon started their FiOS cable lines in the area, WWSB was not originally included, but was added to channel 7 on the FiOS systems in late October 2006 which included Hillsborough and Pasco counties. [1].

Contents

History

Changes

Black Almanac

Current Personalities

Past Personalities

References

External links

History

The station first went on the air as 'WXLT' (for 'W' 'XL' (40 in roman numerals) 'T'elevision) in 1971, being the first television affiliate in the area based neither in Tampa nor St. Petersburg. WWSB signed on to provide ABC programming in an area insufficiently covered by WLCY-TV (now WTSP), when that station broadcasted at a lower power. The early days of the station's news coverage was known for its "blood and guts" style, focusing mainly on crime stories. [2] The station became notorious in 1974 when news anchor and talk-show host Christine Chubbuck committed suicide by shooting herself in the head on the air, making reference to the station's "blood and guts" policies in her final monologue.
In the 1970s, WXLT also cleared some CBS and NBC programming passed on by WTVT or WFLA, respectively. For example: in 1972, when "The Joker's Wild" debuted on CBS, it was pre-empted on WTVT, but picked up by WXLT. The call letters became WWSB in 1986.
On cable, WFTS was not carried south of the Sarasota area, while WWSB was not available on cable north of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge (until Verizon FiOS added WWSB to all of their Gulf Coast lineups) -- the latter was due to contractual conditions drawn up in the early-1990s by WTSP and, later, WFTS.
Until WTSP upgraded their facilities in the late-1970s, both WLCY/WTSP and WXLT competed for viewers in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. It was not uncommon to see WXLT's billboards in Tampa, St. Petersburg or Largo.
Today, WWSB still provides ABC programming to Manatee and Sarasota counties, even though they're in the shadow of WFTS, whose transmitter is only about 20 miles north of WWSB's. On cable, WWSB is the sole ABC affiliate on Comcast's southern Sarasota County systems, while it competes with Fort Myers' WZVN in Desoto County and Port Charlotte, and Orlando's WFTV in Hardee County.
Both WFTS and WWSB will air Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! from 7-8pm starting September 10th. Previously they had been airing on WTSP.

Changes

In 2002, the station changed logos, and changed studio locations to a studio in downtown Sarasota. Until March 2004, the station's news department operated under the brand "''News 40''", and the station as a whole branded as "''Channel 40.''" The brand was changed to 'ABC 7', because most viewers watch the station on Brighthouse Networks or Comcast Cable, and both providers carry WWSB on channel 7. The conversion to ABC 7 involved a redress of the station's news sets, a new logo (to a unique version of the well known Circle 7 logo) and color scheme, a new slogan ("Local news. Every day. Every newscast."), from its longtime slogan "''ABC for the Suncoast''", and a major local promotion and advertising campaign.
However, not all cable systems carry WWSB on cable 7 -- Comcast's Wauchula system carries WWSB on cable 2; also, its Port Charlotte system offers WWSB on cable 10, since its home-market station, WZVN (which also brands as ABC 7 for the same reason), is seen on cable 7

Black Almanac

Black Almanac is a locally-produced public affairs program that airs at 6:30 a.m. on WWSB. It is hosted by Ed James, a longtime anchor and personality of the station who has been with the station just after its sign on as WXLT, and the show focuses on the issues that African Americans face in the community. The program has aired since 1972, making it the longest running locally-produced public affairs program in the Southeastern United States. [3]

Current Personalities

★ 5:00, 6:00, 11:00 News Anchor: 'Scott Dennis' (1985-1995, sports;1995-present, anchor)

★ 5:00, 6:00 News Anchor: 'Heidi Godman' (1988-present)

★ 5:30, 11:00 News Anchor/Reporter: 'Monica Yadav' (1999-present)

★ Chief Meteorologist: 'Bob Harrigan' (1985-present)

★ Weekend PM Anchor: 'Linda Carson' (1995-present) (widow of former NFL coach Bud Carson)

★ Weekend Forecaster: 'Wendy Ross' (1976-1979, 1997-present)

★ 5:30 News Anchor/Reporter: 'Brad Giffen' (2003-present)

★ Sunrise, Noon News Anchor: 'Silke Rible' (2002-2003, 2005-present)

★ Sunrise, Noon News Anchor: 'Ken Jefferson' (2002-present)

★ Sunrise, Noon Meteorologist: 'John Scalzi' (1995-present)

★ Photojournalist: 'Josh Taylor' (2002-present)

★ Photojournalist: 'Michelle Rieg' (2004-present)

★ Reporter: 'Travell Eiland' (2005-present)

★ Reporter: 'Monica Buchanan' (2006-present)

★ Reporter: 'Amanda Stanzilis' (2005-present)

★ Reporter: 'Mark Boyle' (2007-present)

★ Weekday Sports Anchor: 'Don Brennan' (2006-present)

★ Weekend Sports Anchor: 'Ben Kaplan' (2007-present)

★ Substitute Sports Anchor: 'Leah Secondo' (2004-present)

★ Business Commentator: 'Richard Stern' (1987-present)

★ Host of "Black Almanac": 'Dr. Ed James' (1972-present)

Past Personalities

★ Christine Chubbuck (1971-1974) (Anchor, shot self live on air)

★ John Hill (1986-1995) (5, 6 and 11 p.m. Anchor) '(Currently at SNN 6)'

★ Kathy Winkler-Leon (1993-2003) (News Anchor) '(Currently at SNN 6)'

★ Kristi Krueger (1986-1990) (6 and 11 p.m. co-anchor 1988-1990) '(Currently at WPLG)'

★ Jason Howe (1995-1997) (Reporter)

★ Lynn Huston (?-1999) '(Currently at KOIN)'

★ Tony Cornish Jr (1998-2003) (Sports Anchor)

★ Michelle Jordan (2003-July 2005) (News Anchor)

★ Jackie Barron (?-1998) (Reporter) '(Currently at WFLA)'

★ Grayson Kamm (2003-2005) (Reporter) '(Currently at WJXX)'

★ Sheryl Greene (1997-2005) (Reporter) '(Currently at WJBF as Sheryl Williams)'

★ Vida Urbonas (1999-2003) (Anchor) '(Currently at KWGN)'

★ Liz Weaver (2000-2003) (Reporter)

★ Dan Smart (2004-2005) (Reporter) [4]

★ Cathi Carson (2003-2005) (Reporter, daughter of anchor ABC 7 Linda Carson and NFL coach Bud Carson) '(Currently the consumer reporter "Cathi on the Case" WTEV/WAWS)'

★ Richelle Ridgeway (2002-2005) (Sunrise and Noon Anchor) '(Currently News Director at WTXL)'

★ Erik Von Ancken (2000-2003) (Reporter) '(Currently at WKMG)'

★ Kyle Kraska (late 1980s) (Sports) '(Currently at KFMB)'

★ Don Bell (2002-2003) (Sports Anchor) '(Currently at KYW-TV)'

★ Kevin Negandhi (1999-2002, 2004-2006) (Weekday Sports Anchor) '(Currently at ESPNEWS)'

★ Fred Meade (Weekend Anchor) 1975-1978 - currently international development consultant (see wikipedia)

★ Dave Knops (2005-2006) (Forecaster) '(Currently at SNN 6)'

★ Kim Dean (1999-?) (reporter) '(Currently at Inside Edition)'

★ Dionne Miller (2006-2007) (weekend Sports anchor) '(Currently at Columbus Sports Network)' [5]

★ Alcides Segui (2004-2007) (Reporter) '(Currently at WAAY)'
Vickie Oldham

References

WWSB-TV Official Site.
WWSB-TV News and Engineering Departments.

External links

★ Official Site

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