Media in the Tampa Bay Area

The Tampa Bay media market is Florida's second-largest metropolitan area with a variety of print, online and broadcast media outlets serving the region. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the population for the Tampa-St. Petersburg Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) at 2,733,761 as of July 1, 2008. The Tampa Bay media market also includes Citrus, Manatee, Sarasota and Polk counties, which are outside the Tampa Bay area.^[1] Polk County is also served by media from Orlando.

Newspapers

Major daily newspapers serving the area are the St. Petersburg Times and The Tampa Tribune. There also is a wide variety of smaller regional newspapers and alternative weeklies. La Gaceta is trilingual (English, Spanish and Italian), while CENTRO Tampa publishes entirely in Spanish. Two newspapers serve the local black community: the Florida Sentinel Bulletin (Tampa) and The Weekly Challenger (St. Petersburg). Creative Loafing is the primary alternative weekly. The Oracle serves the University of South Florida and its surrounding community. The Tampa Bay Business Journal is the region's business publication of record.

The Tampa Tribune publishes a portfolio of standalone weekly newspapers throughout the region, including the Plant City Courier & Tribune, Brandon News & Tribune, South Shore News & Tribune, Northeast News & Tribune, Carrollwood News & Tribune, South Tampa News & Tribune, Northwest News & Tribune, Central Tampa News & Tribune, and The Suncoast News. The St. Petersburg Times distributes a free Monday-through-Friday tabloid called TBT* (Tampa Bay Times) in the most heavily populated areas of Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties.

Several cities outside the Tampa-St. Petersburg core, but still within the Tampa Bay media market, have daily newspapers with overlapping coverage and distribution areas. They include The Bradenton Herald, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, The Ledger of Lakeland, The News-Chief of Winter Haven (published by The Ledger), the Citrus County Chronicle (based in Inverness), Hernando Today (based in Brooksville) and Highlands Today (based in Sebring). Both of the Today newspapers are published by The Tampa Tribune.

Television

WUSF-TV studios in Tampa

The Tampa Bay area is the nation's 14th-largest TV market, according to Nielsen Media Research, with 1.78 million TV households. Fourteen television stations serve the region, including WEDU-Channel 3 (PBS), WFLA-Channel 8 (NBC), WTSP-Channel 10 (CBS), WTVT-Channel 13 (Fox), WUSF-Channel 16 (PBS), WCLF-Channel 22 (Trinity Broadcasting Network), WFTS-Channel 28 (ABC), WMOR-Channel 32 (independent), WTTA-Channel 38 (My Network TV), WWSB-Channel 40 (ABC, Sarasota), WTOG-Channel 44 (The CW), WRMD-CA-Channel 49 (Telemundo), WFTT-Channel 50 (Telefutura), WVEA-Channel 62 (Univision).

Local cable-only stations include Bay News 9 and Bright House Sports Network (operated by Bright House Networks) and SNN Local News 6 (operated by Comcast Cable, in partnership with the Sarasota Herald-Tribune).

Radio

The Tampa Bay area is the nation's 19th-largest radio market, according to Arbitron Research. More than 70 radio stations, split almost evenly between the AM and FM band. Most major programming formats are represented. Clear Channel Communications is the biggest owner of radio stations in the area, followed by Cox Broadcasting and CBS Radio. In addition, many Orlando-area stations can be heard in the northern and eastern reaches of the metropolitan area.

References

1. ^ Tampa Bay metro market hits milestone - Tampa Bay Business Journal, July 18, 2007