{{infobox broadcast | call letters | WTOG| city | station_logo Image:Wtog442006.png| station_slogan TV To Talk About| station_branding CW 44| analog | digital 44 (UHF)Virtual: 44 (PSIP)| other_chs W23CN-D SebringW26DP-D Inverness| affiliations The CW| network | founded | airdate November 4, 1968| location St. Petersburg - Tampa, Florida| callsign_meaning | former_callsigns | former_channel_numbers Analog:44 (1968-2009)Digital:59 (1995-2009)| owner CBS Corporation| licensee CBS Operations, Inc.| sister_stations | former_affiliations Independent (1968-1986 and 1988-1995) Fox (1986-1988)UPN (1995-2006)| effective_radiated_power 550 kW (digital)| HAAT 454 m (digital)| class | facility_id 74112| coordinates (digital)| homepage www.cbstampa.com| }} |
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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, Inverness, Arcadia (in the Ft. Myers market), Ocala (Orlando market) and Okeechobee (West Palm Beach market). It billed itself 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, 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.
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. In the early 90's, WTOG still was running mostly cartoons both old and recent, classic sitcoms, recent sitcoms, drama shows, and older movies. Paramount Stations Group, a subsidiary of Viacom (with which Hubbard had co-owned the All News Channel) 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. Paramount wanted to get rid of its non-UPN stations. This made WTOG the first O&O; in Tampa Bay. Soon after taking control, Paramount changed WTOG's on-air branding to "UPN44", which it kept for the remainder of UPN's run. By the late 1990s, older sitcoms and older cartoons made way for talk shows, court shows, and reality programs during the daytime. Recent cartoons and recent sitcoms continued to air but movies also were eliminated almost completely. Viacom bought CBS in 2000.
On January 24, 2006, it was announced that UPN and The WB would merge into a new network, The CW. The new network signed a 10-year affiliation agreement with 11 of CBS's UPN stations, including WTOG. The new network launched on September 18, 2006. Under current ownership, WTOG is one of two network O&Os; in Tampa Bay, alongside Fox-owned WTVT. Gradually, cartoons would disappear from WTOG's schedule as with every broadcast station in the early 2000s. More reality and court shows would begin airing in place of that programming. The station continues to run some sitcoms in the evenings. In tha last 10 years, infomercials have also aired on the station overnights and early mornings.
WTOG had handled master control operations for its sister station, KEYE in Austin, Texas, until WTOG's master control, along with that of Atlanta's WUPA, were moved to sister CW affiliate WGNT in Norfolk, Virginia; twenty employees were laid off from WTOG even though CBS had previously denied that such would happen (). KEYE has since been sold to Cerberus Capital Management, through its Four Points Media Group. WGNT was sold to Local TV, the owner of that market's CBS affiliate WTKR, in August 2010. CBS is in the process of winding down operations at the Norfolk hub; when that is completed, WTOG and WUPA will once again be handling their own master controls in-house.
On cable, WTOG can be seen throughout the Tampa Bay area on Bright House and Verizon FiOS channel 4, and on Comcast channel 9 in the Sarasota and Venice headends. WTOG also has a translator in Sebring (W23CN-D channel 23)() and Inverness (W26DP-D Channel 26)(). As for the other translators, the Arcadia facilities have shut down while the Ocala station (W29AB) has since become a translator for Orlando's WKMG-TV.
In May 1999, after WTOG's news department closed, WTOG housed WFLA-TV one day, when WFLA had a power outage at their main studios in Downtown Tampa.
WTOG is one of two stations to have studios located in St. Petersburg alongside WTSP; the studios are located about a mile from each other, on or near Gandy Boulevard.
WTOG also has aired NHL hockey. The station aired NHL games on NBC that were preempted by WFLA-TV in the 1970s. It later aired the NHL Network syndicated package in the late 1970s and early 1980s. From 1992 until 2003, the station was the flagship of the Tampa Bay Lightning television network; the Lightning has been cable-exclusive since the 2003–04 NHL season.
Category:UPN network affiliates Category:The CW Television Network affiliates Category:Channel 44 digital TV stations in the United States Category:Channel 44 virtual TV stations in the United States Category:Television channels and stations established in 1968 Category:Superstations in the United States Category:Television stations in Florida Category:Television stations in the Tampa Bay Area Category:Media in St. Petersburg, Florida
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