History
The station began operating on September 24, 1997 and gives weather updates every 10 minutes "on the nines" and more frequently during serious weather conditions. Vice President of Local Programming for Bright House Networks Elliott Wiser came from Seattle to create the station. His drawing of the original wheel remains on the wall of the station hallway. Wiser also created the Bay News 9 weather channel, a Spanish news channel, Tampa Bay On Demand, Bay News 9 On Demand and the station's web site. He also created a 24-hour sports channel called Catch 47 (later renamed Bright House Sports Network) and has since turned the local Spanish channel into a regional network called InfoMás.
In 2002, Bay News 9 was the first TV station in the area to provide a VIPIR Doppler radar system. In 2007, Bay News 9 became the first station in Florida and only a handful of stations to provide a Dual-Pole Doppler Radar system. On Monday, January 5, 2009, Bay News 9 launched its upgraded doppler rader system called Klystron 9. This new system is capable of seeing weather features in greater detail than other Doppler radar systems.
Klystron 9 combines, for the first time in history, a dual Polarimetry radar, Klystron tube, Pulse Compression technology and a 1.25-million watt transmitter. That combination of technology makes Klystron 9 the most powerful television radar in the world. Klystron 9 has the ability to see storms other radards can't see and see deeper into those storms. The Klystron 9's dual-pol technology even tells meteorologists the sizes and shape of raindrops and makes the distinction between rain and ice.
Former WTSP news anchor Al Ruechel was one of its first anchors and remains with the operation. Three original anchors remain with the station: Ruechel, Mike Clay, and Alan Winfield. Winfield only works during hurricanes after leaving the station full time in 2006 to join a religious ministry. In December 2008, Jen Holloway left the station to join the parent company, Bright House Networks as a marketing spokesperson. Weekend morning anchor, Erica Riggins replaced her spot .
Bay News 9 is seen on channel 9 on all systems, except for Pasco County, where it is seen on channel 6 (WTSP is on channel 9, due to its transmitter location). The newscasts (with the exception of Your Morning News segments) are recorded for repeat broadcasts with breaking news and weather forecasts inserted almost hourly.
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