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Local news Every day Every newscast
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ABC 7
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40 ( UHF )
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52 ( UHF )
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ABC
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1971
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Sarasota, Florida
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'''W''' '''W''' '''S'''outhern '''B'''roadcasting
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WXLT meaning: '''W''' '''XL''' (40 in Roman Numerals ) '''T'''elevision
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Calkins Media (''"Southern Broadcast Corporation of Sarasota"'')
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wwwwwsbtv
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, Channel 40 (
Cable Channel 7), is the
ABC affiliate for
Sarasota, Florida .
The station first went on the air as 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. Today, it 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, WFTS is not carried south of the city of Sarasota, while WWSB is not available on cable north of the
Skyway Bridge -- 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.
In the 1970s, WXLT also cleared some network programming passed on by WTVT or WFLA. For example: in 1972, when "
The Joker's Wild " debuted on CBS, it was pre-empted on WTVT, but picked up by WXLT.
WWSB is owned by Calkins Media, Inc., a
Pennsylvania -based
Mass Media company that owns several small
Newspapers and one other television station. Southern Broadcast Corporation of Sarasota is the division of Calkins that operates WWSB and its
Tallahassee sister station,
WTXL-TV (which Calkins acquired in February 2006).
WWSB's
Transmitter is located on a 248 m (814 ft) high tower in
Parrish - a small community about 15 km north of the station's studios in downtown Sarasota.
A directional ,
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.
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''." The brand was changed to , 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 an 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 .
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/2002" class="copylinks">2002 -March 2004
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/2004" class="copylinks">2004 -present
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