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WTTA
St. Petersburg / Tampa, Florida
Branding	MyTV Tampa Bay
Channels	38 (UHF) analog, 57 (UHF) digital
Affiliations	MyNetworkTV
Owner	Bay Television (local marketing agreement with Sinclair Broadcast Group)
Founded	1953 (WSUN-TV), 1991 (WTTA)
Former callsigns	WSUN-TV (1953-1970) (WTTA is on a new license, dating back to as late as 1990)
Former affiliations	The WB Television Network (1998-2006), ABC / NBC / CBS / DuMont (1953-1955) ABC (1955-1965) Independent (1965-1970; 1991-1998)
Transmitter Power	1410kw
Website	www.wtta38.com

WTTA is the MyNetworkTV affiliate in Tampa, Florida. Licensed to St. Petersburg, it broadcasts on channel 38, and is shown on Bright House and Knology cable channel 6, on Comcast cable channel 11 in Sarasota County, and on Comcast cable channel 29 in Hardee County. The station mainly runs syndicated shows, along with MyNetworkTV programming. WTTA is owned by Bay Television, but is managed by the Sinclair Broadcast Group through an outsourcing agreement. However, Bay Television is effectively a subsidiary of Sinclair (see below).

WTTA's affiliation with the WB ended in September 2006, when Time Warner and CBS Corporation "merged" their respective WB and UPN networks into the CW Television Network; WTOG, which is owned by CBS, was confirmed as Tampa Bay's CW station. The future of WTTA in terms of programming was uncertain, until Fox announced the formation of My Network TV in February 2006. Several days later, Sinclair announced that WTTA along with 16 other Sinclair stations would affiliate with My Network TV. Its transmitter is located in Riverview, Florida. The station branded as "MyTV Tampa Bay" a week before the station began to air MNTV programming.

Contents 1 History 2 Newscast history 2.1 WB38 News at Ten (2003-2006) 2.2 News personalities (2003-2006) 3 External links

WSUN-TV channel 38, unrelated to the present-day WTTA, was Tampa Bay’s first television station, beginning to broadcast in 1953. During its first year the station was an independent station. Then in 1954, Peninsular Telephone (a forerunner of Verizon in Tampa Bay) established a microwave network, and made WSUN-TV the first station in the world to get its programming via microwave. The station originally got its programming from all four networks, but eventually affiliated with ABC after WFLA-TV and WTVT signed on in 1955, and after DuMont shut down. In September 1965, WSUN-TV became independent again, after a court battle which gave the ABC affiliation to WLCY-TV (now WTSP). WSUN struggled as an independent, with its broadcasting hours dwindling. It ended up competing again by 1969, after the deeper-pocketed WTOG signed on in December 1968. In February 1970 WSUN-TV signed off for good. WSUN's license eventually expired without renewal.

In 1986, a local group won a new channel 38 license. In 1991, WTTA began its regular broadcasting schedule, mainly of syndicated shows passed over by other stations, barter programming, uncleared network shows, and infomercials. Due to the station's low budget, weekend programming tended to consist entirely of infomercials. WTTA also presented a televised version of WRBQ's morning radio program, the "Q Morning Zoo", until that station changed to country music in the early 1990s.

WTTA was originally scheduled to sign on in the fall of 1990, with programming from the "Star Television Network" (which offered a mix of old programming and infomercials under the TV Heaven name). In September 1990, there was also an ad for "TV Heaven 38" in the Tampa-Sarasota edition of TV Guide magazine, but not only was the station not ready yet, but Star was in financial trouble (it went dark January 16, 1991).

In December 1994, Fox programming moved from WFTS-TV to WTVT, as part of a group deal with WTVT's then-owners, New World Communications, however it did not pick up Fox Kids. (Independent station WMOR-TV now airs the current 4Kids TV block on Sunday mornings.) At the same time, the E.W. Scripps Company, owners of WFTS-TV, cut an affiliation deal with ABC, which resulted in WFTS selling most of its syndicated shows to WTTA. Meanwhile, CBS would move from WTVT to WTSP (the previous ABC affiliate).

In 1998, WTTA’s owner, Bay Television, entered into a management agreement with Sinclair Broadcast Group, which in years to come would become one of the nation's largest broadcast companies. Bay Television is owned by David Smith, J. Duncan Smith, Frederick Smith, Robert Smith, and Robert Simmons. The Smith brothers also control Sinclair, making Bay Television a de facto subsidiary of Sinclair. [1]) Also in 1998, WTTA became the Tampa Bay affiliate for The WB Television Network in a group deal with Sinclair stations. WTTA runs syndicated sitcoms and first run talk/court/reality shows, cartoons on weekends, along with sports programming and infomercials. It ran cartoons from WB during the week until January 2006 when WB discontinued the weekday kids block.

There were rumors that Fox would buy WTTA and create a duopoly with WTVT (as well as make WTTA a My Network TV O&O), as of 2007, this has not occurred.

In August 2003 WTTA launched its news program: WB38 News at 10pm. Local news originates from WTTA's Tampa studios, with national news, sports and weather originating from Sinclair's headquarters in Baltimore. This had made WTTA one of a few WB stations to offer news. The newscast was shut down on March 31, 2006 due to poor ratings. It was replaced with syndicated programming. However, if sister stations are any indication, a newscast produced by another station could appear on WTTA in the future.

The following personalities appeared in 2003-2006 on WB38 News at Ten.

Name	Position	Whereabouts
Susan Casper	Anchor	WFTS as a general assignment reporter
David Klugh	Anchor	unknown
Summer Smith	Anchor	Bay News 9 as a general assignment reporter
Mike Nabors	Sportscaster	unknown
Chris Garrido	Sportscaster	unknown
Megan Glaros	Meteorologist	WPLG as a meteorologist
Wendy Brockman	Anchor	unknown
Dawn Pellas	Reporter	WFTS as a general assignment reporter
Tara Feather	Reporter	unknown
Jason Goodwin	Reporter	unknown
Diolinda Vaz	Reporter	unknown
Rodney Tims	Reporter	unknown

• Query the FCC's TV station database for WTTA
• mcsittel.com: 1990s DX screengrabs from Tallahassee -- includes a 1992 WTTA ID