WTSP Illegal ID

[azumanga]

Check out SNN6 or Bay News 9. There is no call letters and COL. It is not WSNN-Sarasota or WBNN-Largo.

I brought up SNN as an example of a local channel with no ID. If they were to simulcast with an OTA LPTV, you would see an FCC assigned call sign and COL, just as the big boys do.

The only time I heard a legal ID on Bay News 9 was back in the late-1990s, shortly after it launched, when they simulcasted its audio on WSAA AM 620 (now WDAE) -- near the top of the hour, BN9 worked it into a promo, which goes something like: "Listen to Bay News 9 anywhere on the radio, on AM 620 WSAA St. Petersburg." Of course, that ended when Clear Channel bought WSAA and moved WDAE from 1250 to 620.

Channel 10 has always been allocated to St. Petersburg, but back when WLCY-TV originally came on the air, they only had a 500ft tower and couldnt city grade St. Petersburg, thats when the COL was changed to Largo. When they built the 1549ft tower they could city grade St. Petersburg so the COL was just changed back to St. Petersburg where the channel was allocated all along.

Practically, in the days when WLCY/WTSP was licensed to Largo, they practically downplayed it on TV and in print -- during the ABC ID breaks during the show (not top of the hour), the station would super a graphic at the bottom of the screen saying "WTSP, Serving the Tampa Bay area". At the TOH, only the graphic will say "WTSP Largo", while the announcer gives a promo for another program or simply say, "WTSP Channel 10". And in print ads, the station logo would always read "WLCY-TV (or WTSP-TV), Tampa-St. Petersburg". To the station, everyone knew where Tampa and St. Pete are, but not Largo.