please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . november 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message wtog st. petersburg tampa florida united states city st. petersburg florida branding cw 44 slogan cw 44 rules tv now channels digital 44 uhf virtual 44 psip translators w23cn d sebring w26dp d inverness affiliations .1 the cw .2 decades owner cbs corporation cbs operations inc. founded december 1966 1 first air date november 4 1968 ; 47 years ago 1968 11 04 call letters meaning disambiguation of former sister radio station wgto now wflf former channel number s analog 44 uhf 1968 2009 digital 59 uhf 1995 2009 former affiliations independent 1968 1986 1988 1995 fox 1986 1988 upn 1995 2006 transmitter power 550 kw height 454 m 1 490 ft facility id 74112 transmitter coordinates 27 49 46 n 82 15 59 w 27.82944 n 82.26639 w 27.82944 ; 82.26639 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website cwtampa.cbslocal.com wtog channel 44 is a cw owned and operated television station located in st. petersburg florida usa . the station is owned by the cbs television stations subsidiary of cbs corporation . wtog maintains studio facilities located on northeast 105th terrace in st. petersburg near the west end of the gandy bridge ; its transmitter is located in riverview florida . wtog s signal is relayed through two translators w23cn d channel 23 in sebring and w26dp d channel 26 in inverness . on cable wtog is available on bright house networks and verizon fios channel 4 throughout the tampa bay area and on comcast channel 9 in sarasota and venice . contents 1 history 1.1 early years 1.2 becoming a superstation 1.3 from fox to upn 1.4 switch to the cw 2 digital television 2.1 digital channel 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 3.1 sports programming 4 news operation 4.1 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit early years edit wtog first signed on the air on november 4 1968 operating as an independent station . the station was founded by saint paul minnesota based hubbard broadcasting who also owned radio station wgto 540 am now wflf in nearby cypress gardens ; hubbard originally wanted to name the station wgto tv but the request was denied by the federal communications commission . 2 initially wtog ran a lineup of older movies some low budget syndicated programs a few off network westerns and sitcoms and some cartoons . the station had broadcast for about eight hours a day . in the station s early days its slogan was wtog ... as far as the eye can see which was made famous by channel 44 s mid 1970s station identification package . 1 wtog caught on with viewers immediately ; so much so in fact that it forced competitor wsun tv channel 38 frequency now occupied by wtta off the air in 1970 . for the rest of the 1970s into the early 1980s wtog was the only independent station in the tampa bay area . during the 1970s wtog gradually expanded its programming hours by 1972 the station signed on at 10 30 a.m. on weekdays and around 1 p.m. on weekends . by 1976 wtog signed on the air daily by 7 a.m. gradually wtog added better sitcoms more cartoons off network dramas and better movies . while the station was profitable all along its programming had improved significantly in the late 1970s . becoming a superstation edit channel 44 finally gained competition in 1981 when family group broadcasting signed on wfts tv channel 28 as a family oriented independent station . however wtog remained the clear leader in the market for the next two decades . during the 1970s and 1980s the station was carried on many cable providers in central and southwestern florida . in the 1980s wtog also maintained a network of low powered repeaters located in sebring inverness arcadia in the fort myers market ; that translator has since shut down ocala part of the orlando market ; that translator w29ab has since become a translator for orlando s wkmg tv and okeechobee part of the 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 stations in the country . in fact during the late 1970s ted turner called the station to ask how wtog made itself so profitable . it is believed by whom that wtbs now wpch tv in atlanta modeled its programming format after wtog . from fox to upn edit on october 6 1986 wtog became a charter affiliate of the fledgling fox network . the station however was still effectively programmed as an independent during its time as a fox affiliate as the network s programming only comprised two hours of its primetime lineup on saturday and sunday evenings early on they would not expand their programming to seven days a week until 1993 . however over time channel 44 became one of several fox affiliates nationwide that were disappointed with the network s weak programming offerings particularly on saturday nights which were bogging down wtog s otherwise successful lineup . channel 44 s relationship with the network lasted only less than two years as wtog dropped its fox affiliation in 1988 sending it to wfts which was acquired by the e. w. scripps company in 1986 . through the early 1990s wtog was still running mostly cartoons both classic and recent classic and recent sitcoms drama series and older movies . as part of deal with united television wtog was an affiliate of the prime time entertainment network syndication programming service from 1993 to 1995 . 3 wtog was largely unaffected by the affiliation swaps of 1994 which saw longtime cbs affiliate wtvt channel 13 switch to fox as a result of the network s affiliation deal with then owners new world communications ; wfts tv becoming an abc affiliate ; and longtime abc outlet wtsp channel 10 assuming the market s cbs affiliation . however channel 44 did regain a network relationship when it became a charter affiliate of the united paramount network at its launch on january 16 1995 . as with its days as a fox affiliate wtog continued to program itself as an independent programming a traditional general entertainment format during the day with upn programming being shown during the primetime hours . paramount stations group a subsidiary of viacom which jointly owned the all news channel cable network with hubbard purchased the station in the spring of 1996 ; at the time paramount stations group was in the process of selling stations it owned that were not upn owned and operated stations and traded nbc affiliates wnyt in albany new york and whec tv in rochester new york to hubbard . 4 5 the purchase by viacom made wtog a upn owned and operated station becoming the first network owned station in the tampa bay market . soon after taking control paramount changed wtog s on air branding to upn44 which remained in use for the remainder of the network s run . by the late 1990s older sitcoms such as all in the family and older cartoons made way for talk shows court shows and reality programs such as people s court and judge mills lane during the daytime . recent cartoons such as pokemon sailor moon garfield and friends and disney s hercules and recent sitcoms such as charles in charge step by step family matters sister sister roseanne the simpsons seinfeld now on wtta and friends continued to air but movies also were eliminated almost completely . viacom purchased cbs in 2000 and merged that network s owned and operated stations into paramount stations group . for one day in may 1999 wtog housed the operations for wfla tv channel 8 after a power outage occurred at that station s main studios in downtown tampa . switch to the cw edit on january 24 2006 cbs corporation which split from viacom one month earlier and the warner bros. entertainment unit of time warner announced that the two companies would shut down the wb and upn and combine the networks respective programming to create a new fifth network called the cw . 6 7 the cw signed a 10 year affiliation agreement with 11 of cbs s upn stations including wtog ; channel 44 became a cw owned and operated station when the network launched on september 18 2006 . under current ownership wtog is one of two network owned stations in the tampa bay market 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 while sitcoms continue to run during the evening hours . wtog had handled master control operations for its sister station keye tv in austin texas until wtog s master control facilities along with that of atlanta s wupa were moved to sister cw affiliate wgnt in norfolk virginia ; 20 wtog employees were laid off even though cbs had previously denied that such terminations would happen . 8 keye was later sold to cerberus capital management through its four points media group which in turn was sold to the sinclair broadcast group owners of mynetworktv affiliate wtta . wgnt was sold to local tv the owner of that market s cbs affiliate wtkr in august 2010 which local tv was merged with the tribune broadcasting 3 years later in august 2013 . 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 . citation needed digital television edit digital channel edit channel video aspect psip short name programming 9 44.1 1080i 16 9 wtog hd main wtog programming the cw 44.2 480i 4 3 decades decades analog to digital conversion edit wtog shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 44 on june 12 2009 as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television . 10 the station s digital signal relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 59 which was among the high band uhf channels 52 69 that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition to its analog era frequency uhf channel 44 . programming edit syndicated programming seen on wtog includes steve harvey who wants to be a millionaire cold case til death and csi miami . the last three are distributed by corporate cousin cbs television distribution . wtog formerly produced a saturday afternoon horror movie showcase creature feature which ran on the station from 1971 to 1995 . sports programming edit from its sign on through 1976 wtog carried atlanta braves baseball games through a syndication package that aired regionally on stations across the southern united states before the cable satellite launch of superstation tbs the same year effectively ended the braves regional network . from 1977 until 1989 it aired a variety of major league baseball games from various team networks on a daily basis with the exception of saturdays mondays and wednesdays . these included games from the boston red sox chicago white sox cincinnati reds detroit tigers houston astros kansas city royals minnesota twins new york yankees philadelphia phillies pittsburgh pirates st. louis cardinals and the toronto blue jays as those teams were mainly in the grapefruit league for spring training in the tampa bay orlando fort myers and sarasota areas . wtog discontinued the baseball broadcasts when espn became the cable partner for major league