Bay News 9 celebrates 10th anniversary
Sunday, September 23, 2007

Bay News 9, the Bay area's first and only 24-hour news station, celebrates its 10th anniversary September 24.

The channel, available only to Bright House Networks subscribers, was born at 6:59 p.m. September 24, 1997. Today, Bay News 9 is located in the Carillon Park in St. Petersburg.

At the time, the main studio was located in Pinellas Park and the station operated three bureaus in Hillsborough, Manatee and Polk counties.

"It's hard to believe that we are celebrating our 10th anniversary," said general manager and vice president Elliott Wiser. "It seems like only yesterday that we were frantically trying to hire people and prepare for a launch."

Since its launch, Bay News 9 has grown tremendously. There's now a bureau in each of the seven counties Bay News 9 serves, a full-time bureau in Tallahassee, and a fleet of 10 live trucks to cover news in Tampa Bay and beyond.

Bay News 9 has also added several new components to its operation, including:

Bay News 9 en Español - the country's first 24-hour local Spanish news channel
Catch 47 - the Bay area's only all sports station
BayNews9.com - one of the most popular local news sites in the country

Tampa Bay On Demand - a revolutionary approach to entertainment programming. An on-demand channel that offers local venues and entertainment 24-hours a day - free of charge

Bay News 9 On Demand - news, sports, politics, weather, Spanish, and health categories - free of charge
"Who would have guessed that not only would Bay News 9 become a household name, but that we would have a trend-setting web site, 24-hour groundbreaking Spanish local news channel, a 24-hour sports channel, a travel weather channel and three local on-demand channels," said director of enhanced programming Kate Fox. "It's hard to believe it's only been 10 years since we flipped the switch."

The growth is a reflection of the news channel's success. In fact, Bay News 9 is the highest rated local news channel in the country.

State-of-the-art facility

Two dozen original employees still work at the channel, including two at Catch 47.

"I don't think any of us thought we would grow to be the powerhouse that we are," said one of the originals, anchor Al Ruechel. "There hasn't been a day since we launched that someone hasn't come up to me and said how much they enjoy watching Bay News 9.

Bay News 9 originally broadcast from Pinellas Park, but in 2005 the station moved to state-of-the-art facilities in the Carillion Center in St. Petersburg.

The station has earned numerous honors, including awards from the Florida Associated Press and the Society of Professional Journalists. In 2006, Bay News 9 earned a first-place award from the Florida Associated Press for continuing coverage of the Terri Schiavo case.

Bay News 9 is the only news station with a full-time news reporter and photographer working in all seven Bay area counties and the only station with a weather forecast, Weather on the Nines, every 10 minutes.

"I am very proud of our accomplishments," Wiser said.

http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2007/9/23/288727.html?title=Bay+News+9+celebrates+10th+anniversaryhttp://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2007/9/23/288727.html?title=Bay+News+9+celebrates+10th+anniversary

Bay News 9 has made many strides during its 10 years on the air. I guess there are now over a dozen 24-hour local news stations in the United States now. I think that number might be close to 20.

FIOS is putting a substantial dent into their viewership in the more affluent areas of town, so it will be interesting if they eventually adopt a different game plan and make the network available OTA and on other carriers, such as Verizon's FIOS.

I <3 my FIOS

Holy shit I remember that station when visiting my grandparents!!

Wow I thought they must have been newer than that. They seem quite unprofessional a lot of times. I do enjoy Bay News 9 when there is severe weather that other channels aren't covering, but I'm losing it to FIOS!

Bright House definitely has that problem with Verizon moving into their territory. Unless they agree to carry BN9 on other providers in the next 10 years (which frankly, I don't think will happen), BN9 will be seing some drops in viewership and a tough battle with Verizon in the years to come.

I'm glad that BN9 en espanol is still doing good since its inception in 2002. I know CFN 13 (Orlando) now has a spanish channel and I'm sure other spanish speaking markets may consider such an entity down the road.

Yes, I continue to watch BN9 during breaking news events. Whether it is severe weather, traffic tieups, or a significant news story. I can't wait all day for the broadcast networks to air their newscasts. So I watch BN9 a lot because of that.

Unfortunately, my dad is moving to FIOS after he's done renovating the house. My mom just moved back to BH from FIOS because their (Verizon's) service stunk.