Our History
 WFTS signed on the air as an independent television station December 14, 1981. Local businessman Ian Wheeler founded it and the call letters were in reference to the station's mission as a "family television" station. Wheeler's objective was to provide Tampa Bay viewers with syndicated reruns, religious programming and movie classics. The station was sold to Capital Cities Communications April 16, 1984. Under the new management, premiere movie packages were purchased and investments were made in first-run programs and specials. When E.W. Scripps began operation of WFTS January 2, 1986, it had a staff of 55 and a 19-hour broadcast day that featured new and classic programming targeted toward family viewership.
In 1988 WFTS became a FOX affiliate. However, on May 22, 1994, as part of the biggest shake-up in the history of network television, WFTS was one of 12 FOX affiliates nationwide involved in a network shuffle. WFTS emerged as an ABC affiliate with an immediate need for a full-fledged news department. At the time, WFTS operated out of a small facility on Columbus Drive in Tampa. The equipment and infrastructure WFTS needed for its new news department was housed 23 miles away at the Home Shopping Network's headquarters. Less than a year after Tampa Bay 28 News premiered, the start-up operation won the Tampa Bay Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists' best newscast award and also awards for general reporting and deadline photography. The station operated out of the two facilities until 1996 when its $6 million, 73,000 square-foot facility on Himes Avenue was completed. |