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LOCAL AND STATE OFFICIALS AND THE LORDS OF BASEBALL ARE CURRENTLY DEBATING whether Tampa Bay, Fla.'s money-losing Major League Baseball club, the Devil Rays, is worth saving. MLB plans to fold two teams before the start of the 2002 season, and the D Rays-whose 62-100 won-lost record this past season tied for baseball's worst mark-are one of four teams on the endangered list. If the 4-year-old Devil Rays are put out of business, the shutdown would have a significant impact on several local media outlets in the Tampa Bay area.
The market's cable sports channel, Fox Sports Net, carried 64 Devil Rays game telecasts this year. Hearst-Argyle's Independent WMOR-TV in Tampa broadcast 53 games, while Gannett Broadcasting's CBS affiliate WTSP carried 15 D Rays contests. On radio, Clear Channel Communications' WFLA-AM carried nearly all of the team's 162 games, save for a few that aired on its sister Clear Channel outlet WDAE-AM.
The fast-growing Tampa-St. Petersburg-Sarasota market, on Florida's Central Gulf Coast, is the 14th-largest in the country with 1.5 million TV homes, according to Nielsen Media Research. The market's ABC, CBS and NBC affiliates all hired new general managers and news directors this year.
NBC affiliate WFLA-TV, owned by Media General, welcomed Eric Land as its new president and general manager and Forrest Carr as news director. Scripps Broadcasting's ABC affiliate WFTS hired Sam Stallworth as president, Bill Berra as news director and John Doyle as creative-services director. Both Berra and Doyle had previously worked for Stallworth in Columbus, Ohio. At WT-- SP, the new gm is Sam Rossenwasser, who most recently held a corporate post with Gannett. Last month, WTSP hired another former Gannett corporate executive, Lane Michaelson, as its news director.
WFLA is the market's longtime leader in ratings and revenue ($64.5 million in 2000, according to BIA Financial Network), although its lead has narrowed a bit over the past few years. In April 2000, WFLA and sister Media General properties The Tampa Tribune daily newspaper and Tampa Bay Online moved into a new $40 million headquarters. The Media General siblings cooperate on some newsgathering efforts, as well as on a community outreach effort, the Citizen's Voice Project. As part of that initiative, WFLA this fall appointed its first viewer ombudsman, Laurie...