WTXL-TV is the ABC affiliate station for Tallahassee, Florida, Thomasville, Georgia, and Valdosta, Georgia, broadcasting on channel 27. The station is owned by Calkins Media, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based mass media company that owns several small newspapers in Pennsylvania and two other television stations: WWSB in Sarasota and WAAY-TV in Huntsville, Alabama. It was previously owned by Media Ventures Management, and operated by the Sinclair Broadcast Group pursuant to an outsourcing agreement , the first of its kind in the United States. This agreement merged virtually all of WTXL-TV's operations with that of Sinclair's NBC affiliate WTWC. Denis LeClair, General Manager of WTXL-TV and WBXT-TV at the time, was made General Manager for WTXL, WBXT and WTWC under this agreement. He would be followed by Chris Butterick and then Bob Franklin. Eventually, Kim Urbuteit (who was fired in May, 2007) would be named General Manager of WTXL only as Bob Franklin (now in Mobile, AL) oversaw WTWC. Gary Wordlaw is the current General Manager of WTXL-TV.
History
WTXL-TV debuted in September 16, 1976 as WECA-TV, owned by local businessman E vans C raig A llen. In the early years, its slogan was "We can do it!" -- a play on the call letters. By its fourth year of broadcasting, the station used the slogan "Up & Coming" .
In 1984, Allen sold the station to Tallahassee 27 Limited Partnership, led by former Senator Joseph Tydings and former Congressman Lou Frey. They changed the call letters to the current WTXL-TV. The station's history page claims the new owners took over in 1985, but according to the FCC files, the call letters changed in 1984.
As a result of the 2001 outsourcing agreement with Sinclair, WTXL moved from its original studios on Thomasville Road into the WTWC building in Killearn Lakes Plantation (on Deerlake Road) on March 17, 2002. On February 20, 2006, the partnership between the stations was dissolved after Southern Broadcast Corporation of Sarasota gave notice of termination to the agreement to Sinclair Broadcasting. As a result, WTXL moved out of the WTWC building and discontinued producing news briefs, severe weather cut-ins, and Today Show local weather updates for the station, which it had done since 2001.
WTXL is currently broadcasting a high definition signal to Tallahassee residents over the air waves (channel 27) and on all cable systems in the region, such as Comcast.
WTXL was renting studio space from Florida State University's PBS station, WFSU , with its master control operated off-site by Equity Media Holdings in Little Rock, Arkansas. WTXL broke ground on their new facility on June 20, 2006 in the 10/90 Commerce Park in nearby Midway . The station fully moved into the new facility in August 2007, debuting a news set with the same design as sister station WAAY, as well as becoming the first television station in the Tallahassee market to broadcast local news in high definition. WTXL's broadcasts have been digital-only since February 17, 2009.
WB News at Ten
On January 15, 2000, WTXL produced the first newscast for a local cable-only WB station, called the WB 28 News at Ten . It was a 30-minute newscast which aired Monday through Friday and was produced and anchored by WTXL staff. The newscast aired only on Comcast cable ("WB 28" was an affiliate of The WB 100+ Station Group), and billed as Tallahassee's only 10pm newscast. As the WB station changed channels on the Comcast system, the name was changed to reflect this; it was later called WB 11 News at Ten and then WB 6 News at Ten . The local WB newscast was cancelled in September 2003.
June 2, 2006 arrests
On June 2, 2006, a reporter and photographer from WTXL, photographer Phyllis Joy Ho and reporter Brandon York Beyer, were arrested in Doerun, Georgia for obstruction at the scene of a military helicopter crash at the tower of Albany, Georgia television station WFXL. They were booked at the Colquitt County Jail in Moultrie, Georgia, and later released on a $750 bond. All charges were later dropped.
September 24, 2007
WTXL videojournalist / fill-in sports anchor Eric Thompson was issued a traffic citation in Panama City while providing coverage of the Martin Lee Anderson trial's jury selection process.
Digital TV
The station's digital signal is UHF 27, multiplexed:
Digital channels
Personalities
Current On-Air Talent
- News at Sunrise & Noon Anchor: Lenita Wesson (since 2008; 5 & 5:30 PM News Anchor 2003-2006, reporter 2006-2007)
- 5 PM News Anchor: Lauren Dorsett (since 2007; 5, 6 & 11 PM from 2005-2006)
- 6 & 11 PM News Anchor: Lauren Elise (since 2006; Weekends 2006)
- Weekend 6 & 11 PM News Anchor: Marco Villarreal (since 2008)
- Sports Director: Brad Dalton (since 2006)
- Fill-in Sports Anchor: Eric Thompson (since 2006)
- Weekend Sports Anchor: Ashli Gehrmann (since 2009)
- Chief Meteorologist: Casanova Nurse (AMS Certified) (since 2008; weekends 2003, weekday mornings 2003-2006)
- Morning Meteorologist: Sean Parker (since 2009)
- Weekend Meteorologist: Jason Adams (since 2008)
- Reporter: Abbey Phillips (since 2006)
- Reporter: Patty Santos (since 2009)
Past personalities
Main anchors
- Lee Mainella (1978) (deceased)
- Ken Lass (1978-83) (Currently at WIAT in Birmingham, Alabama)
- Jerry Brown (years unknown) (Currently at WMBB)
- Tom Campbell (years unknown) (Currently at WRDW-TV)
- Beverly Lewis (1984?-?)
- Joe Larkins (1984-86)
- Donna (Hicken) Deegan (1984-1985) (Mornings) (Currently at WTLV/WJXX)
- Allen Moore (late 1980s?)
- Steve Ring (1993-?; 2000-2003) (6 and 11 p.m.)
- Betsy Singer (mid 1990s) (Currently at KAAL)
- Patricia Scott (1995-1997) (5, 6, 11 p.m.) (Currently hosting a show called "It's All Good" on KPTS as Sierra Scott )
- Kelly Harvey (1996-1999) (6, 11 p.m. Anchor) ( Currently in law school at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law)
- Ethan Forhetz (1997-1999) (Currently at KYTV)
- Tammy Robiconti (1997-2003) (5, 6, 11 p.m.) (Currently Director of Marketing & Public Relations for St. Petersburg General Hospital, St. Petersburg, FL)
- Myra Monroe (1997-2001) (5 and 5:30 p.m.)
- Tammie Fields (1998-2001) (Weekends) (Currently at WTSP)
- Sydney Fisher (?-2000) (Mornings)
- Rod Carter (1990s) (Weekends) (Currently at WVTM-TV)
- Bob Trotter (1998-2000) (Weekends)
- Rick Boone (1999-2002) (Mornings & 5 p.m.) (Currently at KTXL-TV Sacramento, CA)
- Shonda Knight (1999-2006: Reporter 2000-2003; Anchor 2003-2006) (Mornings) (Currently at WCTV)
- Cathleen O'Toole (2000-2003) (Mornings) (Currently at WPBF)
- Stacey Brenan (2002-2004) (Weekends)
- Amy Basista (2002-2005) (5, 6, and 11 p.m.)
- James Jackson (2002-2005) (Weekends, then mornings) (Currently at WEAR-TV)
- Robert Burns (2003-2006) (5:30, 6 and 11 p.m.) (Currently the editor for the New Smyrna Beach Observer newspaper)
- Brandon Beyer (2005-2008) (Mornings) (5 PM News Anchor 2007-During sweeps only) (Currently at KOCO)
- Valerie Lacy (2007-2008) (Mornings, then weekends)
- Rex Hodge (2007-2008) (Mornings 2008, 6 & 11 PM Anchor 2007-2008)
Meteorologists/Weather anchors
- Dan Hogan (1979-1980)
- Mark Reynolds (early 1980s) (Currently at WJHL)
- Charles Paxton (1983-1984) (weekends) (now with National Weather Service Tampa Bay)
- Connor Vernon (1984-1988) (Formerly at KTBC-TV in Austin, TX. Currently at WTVY-TV)
- David Neal (1988-early 1990s) (Currently at WIAT)
- John Scalzi (early 1990s-1995) (weekends) (Currently at WWSB)
- Glenn Willey (1990s?) (Currently at WTVD)
- Justin Kiefer (1994?-1997) (Currently at WMBB)
- Dave Anthony (Cocchiarella) (?-1997?) (Currently at Central Florida News 13)
- Tom Siler (1994-2004) (Chief)
- Gerald Brinkley (mid 1990s?) (Fill-in)
- Mike Nichols (1997-2000) (Mornings) (Currently at KBTV-TV)
- Chris Zelman (1999-2001) (Weekends) (Currently at WALB)
- Mike Rucker (2001-2002) ("Director of Weather Operations") (Currently works for the Wingate Inn hotel in Tallahassee)
- Stephanie Abrams (2002-2003) (Mornings) (Currently at The Weather Channel)
- Jordan DeTillio (2002-2004) (Weekends)
- Joe Sigman (2002-2006) (Fill-in)
- Joe Smith (2002-2003) (Weekends)
- Dave Priem (2003-2009; Fill-in 2003-2004, Weekends 2005-2006, Mornings 2006-2009)
- Nancy Dignon (2004-2008) (Chief)
- Craig Gold (2005) (Weekends)
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