WGCU (channel 30) is a PBS member television station in Fort Myers, Florida, United States. Owned by Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU), it is a sister station to NPR member WGCU-FM (90.1). The two stations share studios at the Myra Janco Daniels Public Media Center on the FGCU campus in Fort Myers and transmitter facilities in southern Charlotte County.
Public television came to Southwest Florida when channel 30 began broadcasting as WSFP-TV on August 15, 1983. It was founded as a service of the University of South Florida (USF), which had a campus in Fort Myers. The station repeated USF's station in Tampa, WUSF-TV. In 1988, WSFP-TV moved into its first local studio facilities, enabling it to begin producing local programming and qualify for federal grants.
USF–Fort Myers was absorbed by Florida Gulf Coast University in stages: WSFP-TV became WGCU on July 1, 1996, when the new university took over operations of both stations—a year before it held its first classes. The Myra Janco Daniels Public Media Center, which houses the studios of WGCU radio and television, was completed on the FGCU campus in 1998. The station offers PBS national and local programming.
History
University of South Florida ownership
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