WSPF-CD,
virtual channel
In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...
35 (
UHF
Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...
digital
Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits.
Technology and computing Hardware
*Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals
**Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...
channel 36), is a
low-powered,
Class A television station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...
serving
Tampa
Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...
,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
that is
licensed
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
to
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
as an
owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...
of
Tri-State Christian Television
Tri-State Christian Television, Inc., doing business as TCT Network and TCT Ministries, is a religious television network in the United States. The network was founded in May 1977 by Garth Coonce and his wife, Tina Coonce.
TCT Network includes tr ...
(TCT). WSPF-CD maintains studio facilities located on North Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa, and its transmitter located in
Riverview, Florida
Riverview is an unincorporated census-designated place in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. It is located south of Brandon. The population was 107,396 in the 2020 census, up from 71,050 in the 2010 census.
Many of Tampa Bay's radio a ...
.
History
The station first signed on the air in 1989 as W35AJ, which originally operated as an
owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...
of
Channel America
Channel America (CA), officially Channel America Network, Inc., was the first United States terrestrial broadcast television network to be intentionally assembled out of LPTV, or low-power television licensees. The network was founded by David P ...
(in effect, becoming the first network-owned commercial station in the Tampa Bay market). However, the station was operated only intermittently, and would be off the air for weeks at a time. W35AJ was already dark for a couple of years when the St. Petersburg city government acquired the station in February 1995. Until that point, St. Petersburg's
government-access television
Government-access television (GATV) is a type of specialty television channel created by government entities (generally local governments) and broadcast over cable TV systems or, in some cases, over-the-air broadcast television stations. GATV pr ...
channel, first established in January 1990, was seen exclusively on
cable television
Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broa ...
on cable channel 15 (since moved to digital channel 615 in December 2007). Prior to then, the city presented some programs on a local origination channel on
Paragon Cable
Paragon Cable was a cable system based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and was owned by Houston Industries.
Beginnings
Formed in the 1980s, Paragon Cable was the largest cable provider in Minnesota with 177,100 subscribers in the Twin Cities and Sout ...
(since succeeded by
Bright House Networks
Bright House Networks, LLC also simply known as Bright House, was an American telecom company. Prior to its purchase by Charter Communications, it was the tenth-largest multichannel video service provider and the 6th largest cable internet provi ...
and
Charter Communications
Charter Communications, Inc., is an American telecommunications and mass media company with services branded as Spectrum. With over 32 million customers in 41 states, it is the second-largest cable operator in the United States by subscribers, ...
).
Under the ownership of the City of St. Petersburg, the station broadcast City Council meetings and other public service programming for area residents, including the required three weekly hours of
educational programming
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...
mandated by the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC). In December 1999, the station's call letters were changed to WSPF-LP. It was eventually upgraded to
Class A status, resulting in the callsign being modified to WSPF-CA in 2001.
On November 3, 2011, it was announced that the City of St. Petersburg was in discussions to sell WSPF-CA to
Miami Lakes
Miami Lakes is a suburb of Miami, an incorporated town and former census-designated place in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. US Census, 31,628 people live in Miami Lakes.
History
The development was constructed by Sengra (now the ...
-based broadcast group Prime Time Partners; the company had placed a $500,000 bid to buy the station. Prime Time Partners immediately announced plans to convert the station to digital, with a Spanish-language service broadcasting on channel 35.1. The city announced that the station was up for sale in July 2011, due to the expense of converting the station to digital.
[St. Petersburg Times: "City's TV channel may have a buyer", November 4, 2011.] The sale to Prime Time Partners was approved by the FCC on May 29, 2012.
On or around June 30, 2012, WSPF-CA signed on its digital signal on UHF channel 38, the frequency formerly used by the analog signal of
WTTA
WTTA (channel 38) is a television station licensed to St. Petersburg, Florida, United States, serving the Tampa Bay area as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Tampa-licensed NBC affiliate WFLA-TV (channe ...
; ironically, the city of St. Petersburg founded the previous occupant of the channel 38 frequency,
WSUN-TV
WSUN-TV, UHF analog channel 38, was a television station located in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. Operating from 1953 to 1970, it was the first television station in the Tampa/St. Petersburg television market.
History Early history
The ...
, in 1953. In converting to digital operations, the station's call sign was modified to WSPF-CD. In addition, the station relocated its transmitter site to the antenna farm in
Riverview. Shortly after digital transmissions began, WSPF-CD began broadcasting MundoFox (now
MundoMax
MundoMax (; originally known as MundoFox from August 13, 2012 to July 28, 2015) was an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network that was owned by RCN Televisión. The network broadcast programs aimed at Hispanic and Latino America ...
) on 35.1 and
infomercial
An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...
s on 35.2 and 35.3. The city access channel, now known as ''StPeteTV'', continues to be carried within the City of St. Petersburg on Bright House channel 641,
WOW!
WideOpenWest (doing business as WOW!) is the sixth largest cable operator in the United States with their network passing 3,248,600 homes and businesses. The company offers landline telephone, cable television, and broadband Internet services ...
channel 15 or
Verizon FiOS channel 20, as well as online; it was originally announced that the city was offered a subchannel of WSPF-CD to continue carrying its city access channel terrestrially, though they ultimately chosen not to use it.
[
On May 30, 2014, it was announced that WSPF-CD will be carried market-wide on Bright House for its digital cable subscribers, beginning August 1.][Bright House Networks ad in '']Tampa Bay Times
The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single y ...
'', May 30, 2014.
Digital television
Digital channels
The station's digital channel is multiplexed
In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...
:
References
External links
*
*
City of St. Petersburg: StPeteTV
{{América CV Network
SPF-CD
Television channels and stations established in 1989
Low-power television stations in the United States
SPF-CD
1989 establishments in Florida