Channel 40 first went on the air on 23 October 1971 as WXLT-TV, built by the Sarasota–Bradenton Florida Television Company to fill a gap in ABC's coverage, since the network's Tampa Bay affiliate at the time had a transmitter too far north to reach Sarasota cleanly. The call sign changed to WWSB in 1986, taking its letters from Sarasota and Bradenton, and the station now brands on air as ABC 7. It is owned by Gray Media, the station group formerly named Gray Television, which operates roughly 145 stations across the United States, and revenue comes from advertising and sponsored content. Today, WWSB and its website MySuncoast.com are mainly focused on local news, weather and hurricane coverage for the Florida Suncoast, spanning Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte, DeSoto and Hardee counties, with national copy from other Gray stations and the Associated Press and international news from CNN and AP, from their headquarters in Sarasota, Florida, United States. One interesting fact: the station carries no opinion page or editorial segment at all, which is the specific reason Media Bias/Fact Check landed on its lowest bias category rather than assigning a lean.