Family Group Broadcasting, L.P. was a

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

-incorporated, Florida-based television and radio broadcasting company. A small company, based in and around

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater i ...

, the company operated from the early 1980s to about 1997. Throughout its history, it owned and/or operated several different radio and television stations – all of its television stations independents (initially), on the

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...

dial east of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. Also, the company operated under other names and aliases such as Family Broadcasting Company, Inc., Family Group Entertainment and Family Group Ltd. III. Many of the stations shared the same type of branding with their channel number in chrome silver inside a red-violet diamond and the station's

call letter In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assi ...

s in white text inside a blue parallelogram underneath, along with a common imaging theme with the name of the group in the lyrics, 'TV that's fun! We bring you...Family fun!'.

Former stations

Television stations

* ¹ Stations built and/or signed-on by Family Group Broadcasting. * ² Family Group Broadcasting had a 50 percent stake in the station. Also,

Heritage Media Heritage Media Corporation (NYSE: HTG) was a media company which owned television and radio stations across the United States, as well as in-store and direct marketing companies. It was based in Dallas from 1987 to 1997. History Heritage Media ...

, then-owners of ABC affiliate

WEAR-TV WEAR-TV (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Pensacola, Florida, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for northwest Florida and southwest Alabama. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Fort Walton Beach–licens ...

, took control of the station under a

Local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...

beginning in 1995 and lasting until 1997, when both stations and the rest of Heritage Media's television stations division were acquired by and absorbed into

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair, Inc., doing business as Sinclair Broadcast Group, is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb o ...

. * ³ WLKT-TV was partially owned by Family Group Broadcasting in a "50–50" joint venture with a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

company, Way of the Cross, Inc. and was founded in 1983. However, the station didn't sign-on until 1988. Due to low viewership from a contract requiring Way of the Cross's religious programming to air in prime time slots, questionable reception and not being able to find a buyer, the two companies took the station off the air less than a year later and subsequently returned the license to the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

. In 1999, a new low-power station took to the air on channel 62,

WBLU-LP WBLU-LP (channel 62) was a low-power television station in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Owned by Equity Media Holdings, the station broadcast its signal from downtown Lexington and provided coverage that did not extend far past the develop ...

, but itself was troubled and taken off the air after being sold to Daystar in 2009.

Radio stations

* ¹ The station today, operates as a simulcast of now-sister station,

WANG Wang may refer to: Names * Wang (surname) Wang () is the pinyin romanization of Chinese, romanization of the common Chinese surname (''Wáng''). It has a mixture of various origin with uncertain lineage of family history, however it is c ...

1490 AM, which in turn also operates a translator, W278CE on 103.5 FM. * ² As of May 2020, the station is temporarily off the air as repairs are ongoing to its transmitter. As a result, its

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comed ...

format is currently on WAVK 97.7 FM in the meantime. * ³ The station today, operates as a simulcast of now-sister station, WFKZ 103.1 FM.

AM stations

FM stations

References