Construction and financial woes
Vencap Communications of Chattanooga, Tennessee, made an application in August 1980 to build a new television station on channel 40 in Tallahassee, which would be the region's third commercial outlet.[1] Their bid attracted three competitors: JGM, Inc. and Holt-Robinson Television, which both proposed commercial independent stations, as well as Octagon Corporation, proposing a rebroadcaster of its WMBB-TV, then the NBC affiliate in Panama City.[2]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) selected Holt-Robinson in early 1982.[3] The company obtained an affiliation with NBC; after weather foiled a scheduled October startup, Holt-Robinson planned a launch date of January 30, 1983, coinciding with NBC's telecast of Super Bowl XVII.[4] However, that plan was dashed during construction of the station's tower. In designing the 800 ft mast, the contractor failed to account for the construction crane necessary to hoist the 1.7 ST antenna into place, and the tower twisted when the antenna was being mounted.[5] To fix the damage, the top 40 ft of the tower had to be replaced.[6]
This work was completed by April,[7] and WTWC-TV finally made its debut on April 21, 1983, using a temporary antenna.[8] Tallahassee's original station, WCTV, switched from NBC to CBS in 1959;[9] since then, viewers had depended on Panama City's WJHG-TV (before 1982, WMBB) and WALB-TV in Albany, Georgia, for NBC programs. Holt-Robinson then sued the tower manufacturer for defective work and commissioned a new tower 80 ft away. The station was forced to sign off on the afternoon of October 6 to lower the temporary antenna and re-tune it. It returned to the air the following morning, forcing viewers to watch the Major League Baseball League Championship Series on cable via other stations.[11] The tower problems were later credited by Holt-Robinson as having prevented it from going forward with plans to build a second station in Marshall, Texas, although the FCC determined that the delay to the Marshall station was a result of "internal business decisions made by Holt-Robinson".[12]
Holt-Robinson's financial condition was tested during its time running WTWC-TV. It not only had to contend with long-dominant CBS affiliate WCTV, the only commercial VHF station in the market, and ABC affiliate WECA-TV (channel 27, now WTXL-TV) but also with Albany's WALB and Panama City's WJHG. For some time, Tallahassee's cable system continued to carry WALB and WJHG in addition to WTWC. It placed the three stations on adjacent channels, fragmenting NBC network viewership. WALB continued to outrate WTWC in part because local cable viewers stopped tuning for NBC programming once they landed there, leading WTXL general manager Mark Keown to conclude channel 40 caught "a rotten break" from the channel placement.[13] In 1986, the company had to agree to payment plans with a group of 11 program syndicators and faced trouble finding lenders, though the firm was able to refinance.[14] There were other problems, most notably in 1988 when the FCC ordered the station to provide reports on its affirmative action program.[15] The station's condition was such that its call letters were said to mean "We're Tallahassee's Worst Channel".[16]
In a sign of what was to come, in August 1991, Paramount Television sued WTWC-TV for broadcasting Cheers after having the rights revoked for nonpayment.[17] The next year, Holt-Robinson and WTWC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection; they had been forced to do so because one of the company's lenders, Greyhound Television, had asked in federal court for the appointment of a receiver, and the station owed some $600,000 to program producers and news services.[18] Bankruptcy proceedings for Holt-Robinson and Holt-owned properties in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, stretched on for more than two years; in the latter, WTWC-TV was cited as a drain on Holt's finances.[19]
Holt-Robinson was placed into receivership in 1993, and a court-appointed examiner later found that Holt defrauded the bankruptcy estate of $385,000.[20] Soundview Media Investments entered into an agreement to acquire WTWC and Holt-Robinson's other holding, WHHY-AM-FM radio in Montgomery, Alabama, for $7.1 million in 1994.[21]
Guy Gannett and Sinclair ownership
This deal failed to close; instead, Guy Gannett Communications of Portland, Maine, acquired the station in 1996.[22] As part of a $3 million investment in a long-stagnating outlet, Guy Gannett purchased transmission equipment, expanded the station's studios by 6000 sqft, and added 37 new employees. Guy Gannett put itself up for sale in 1998 because of a lack of interest by younger members of the Gannett family in the business; the five television stations were purchased by Sinclair Broadcast Group for $310 million.[23]
In 2001, Media Ventures Management, the then-owner of ABC affiliate WTXL-TV, entered into a five-year[24] outsourcing agreement with Sinclair to combine sales and operations staffs with WTWC-TV.[25] WTXL staffers moved from that station's studios to WTWC-TV's facility in 2002.[26]
