Tampa's second TV station, going on the air as an NBC affiliate on Valentine's Day of 1954. Owned by one of the local newspapers, the Tampa Tribune, and later became part of the Media General broadcast group when they bought the Trib. In 2000, the newspaper and TV station moved together into a brand-new building with a shared newsroom.
Was known as WXFL from around 1982 to 1989, because Media General sold the radio station WFLA, and the call letters stayed with the older broadcasting outlet. When the FCC relaxed their call letter rules to allow separately owned stations to use the same letters, switched back to WFLA almost immediately, with the slogan "Once again 8 is WFLA-TV."
Other slogans used in the past: "The look...alive!" (late 1970s); "Team 8 spirit moves you, Tampa Bay, all the way" (about 1985); "Bridging the bay with all you want to see" (about 1988); "On your side" (off and on since the mid 1980s).
Has been the local news ratings leader since the mid 1990s, when they didn't participate in the three-way WTVT/WTSP/WFTS affiliation swap.