Retired Tampa Anchor Joining Former Rival Station

St. Petersburg Times

Former WFLA-Ch. 8 anchor Bill Ratliff, who retired at Tampa’s NBC affiliate last year after the station proposed cutting back his work hours and salary, will return to local TV as an analyst for 2010 election coverage.

But he’s doing it for rival CBS affiliate WTSP-Ch. 10.

The move makes sense: Ratliff, 61, built up a tremendous amount of viewer loyalty during 12 years as an anchor on WFLA’s morning show and 27 years’ total at the station. Long before he took that job, he spent a year covering the 1986 race for the U.S. Senate between Bob Graham and Paula Hawkins. More…