Early years
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allocated channel 36 to Cape Coral, Florida, effective June 4, 1982.[2] Broadcast Production and Management Corporation of Florida, which had proposed the channel assignment to the FCC the year prior,[3] also filed for the channel. It proposed a daytime business news format during daytime hours.[4] Also seeking the channel were Florida Family Broadcasting Ltd., South Jersey Radio Inc., and Coastal Telecasting Corporation. In 1984, out of the four applications, an FCC administrative law judge gave the nod to Florida Family Broadcasting Limited, which included one Native American and one Asian investor, over the other three groups.[5] Florida Family—a company associated with Family Group Broadcasting, which two years prior had signed on WFTS-TV in Tampa—had to settle with the other applicants, a process that look longer than expected.[6]
Construction work began in April 1985 on a broadcast facility on Pine Island Road in Cape Coral.[7] After a prolonged construction marked by delays due to high winds, WFTX-TV started broadcasting on October 14, 1985, from temporary studios at its transmitter site.[8] It was the first independent station in Southwest Florida, and from the start, it aired on channel 4 on most systems. Within a year of building WFTX-TV, Family Group sold it for $17 million to Terre Haute, Indiana–based Wabash Valley Broadcasting, controlled by the family of Tony Hulman. Wabash Valley, which owned WTHI-TV in its home town of Terre Haute, had also agreed to purchase WBSP-TV in Ocala earlier that year.[9][10]
Shortly after the sale, in 1987, WFTX-TV began using the Pine Island facility as its studio. That year, the station affiliated with Fox—partly to prevent new independent WNPL-TV (channel 46) from doing so—and extended its coverage north with an increase in tower height.[11] It pitched ABC on defecting from its affiliate, perennial third-place station WEVU-TV, in 1988.[12] Under Wabash Valley, the station tightened its focus on viewers aged 18–49, dropping afternoon cartoons in favor of programming aimed at young adults, and developed a line of business in producing commercials for local advertisers.
On September 10, 1988, WFTX-TV debuted its first local program, the weekly public affairs show Florida Focus. It was hosted by Pete Scovill and featured a consumer segment called "Troubleshooter".[13] Six months later, Troubleshooter became a daily half-hour program, covering crime, consumer and investigative stories.[14] By 1991, it was the leading program in its 5:30 p.m. time slot, drawing more viewers than either of The Oprah Winfrey Show, ABC World News Tonight, and WINK-TV (channel 11)'s 5:30 p.m. newscast.[15]
Journal and Scripps ownership
Emmis exited the television business in 2005, with Journal Broadcast Group acquiring WFTX and two other stations.[29] A morning newscast had been discussed for WFTX under Emmis,[30] and it launched in June 2006 as Fox4 Rising.[31] The station relaunched a 6 p.m. show in 2010.[32]
On July 30, 2014, it was announced that the E. W. Scripps Company would acquire Journal Communications in an all-stock transaction and spin off the combined company's print assets.[33] The FCC approved the deal on December 12, 2014, and shareholders followed suit on March 11, 2015; the merger was completed on April 1.[34]
Sun Broadcasting ownership and common operation with WINK-TV
On September 3, 2025, Scripps announced it planned to sell WFTX-TV to Sun Broadcasting in a $40 million deal.[37] Sun Broadcasting, owner of CW affiliate WXCW (channel 46), and the Fort Myers Broadcasting Company (FMBC), owner of WINK-TV, have a complex relationship whereby Sun rents space and purchases shared services from FMBC, and some employees are paid by both companies. This partnership, which also includes commonly operated radio clusters, has long been acknowledged as effectively creating a single entity whose total holdings would otherwise exceed FCC ownership limits.[38] In 2006, then-WFTX owner Journal had unsuccessfully filed with the FCC to stop Sun Broadcasting from acquiring channel 46.[39][40] Sun Broadcasting's original owner, Joe Schwartzel, was a former general manager of FMBC, and a sister company to Sun, Meridian Broadcasting, was already sharing resources with FMBC in radio.[41]
