Today in the Legislature

In 1973, "Florida Public Broadcasting" (FPB), a joint venture between WFSU-TV and WJCT in Jacksonville, and under the aegis of the Florida Public Broadcasting Service, began program coverage of the Florida Legislature, which was transmitted to and broadcast by the eight affiliated PBS television stations in Florida, from a mobile facility located on the grounds of the State Capitol. The program was called Today in the Legislature, and was the first of its kind in the United States, preceding legislative programs in other states, and U.S. Congressional coverage by C-SPAN.^[5]

Reaction to the first year of the program was positive.^[6][7] The state legislature dedicated funds to expand the program, managed exclusively by WJCT.^[8] Production facilities migrated into the (old) Capitol building, with engineering and studio facilities constructed on the third floor. The first broadcast from the new facility was on April 2, 1974. Today in the Legislature expanded into an hour-long weekday program during the legislative session, with a one-hour Spanish language summary, Hoy en la Legislatura produced on Fridays as well as a sign language program. It was hosted by veteran broadcaster Jim Lewis, with additional commentary by Elizabeth "Bib" Willis.^[9] Research, engineering, and production crews were composed chiefly of recent graduates from the Florida State University Department of Communications (now the Florida State University College of Motion Picture, Television and Recording Arts), nearly all under the age of 25, including producer Elliott C. Mitchell and director John P. Leu, as well as future Georgia legislator Chesley V. Morton, who worked as a still photographer and camera operator for the program.^[10][11][12] Today in the Legislature was described as a "unique blend of television of record and more conventional news coverage."^[5][13] A research study concluded that the program generated more positive attitudes about the legislature and increased political knowledge in adolescents who viewed the broadcast, although only 12% found the programming to be "interesting".^[14]

Subchannels

The stations' digital signals are multiplexed:

Analog-to-digital conversion

WFSU-TV and WFSG shut down their analog signals on February 17, 2009, the original target date on which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital channel allocations post-transition are as follows:^[17]

• WFSU-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 11; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 32. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 11.
• WFSG shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 56; the station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 38. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 56, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

4FSU

WFSU-TV also operated "4FSU", which carried simulcasts of The Florida Channel and programming related to the university community, including a half-hour weather-focused program produced by students; it also provided a training ground for students studying for careers in the broadcasting field.

The channel began on Comcast cable channel 47 in 1995, then as "FSU6" on channel 6 in 2000 before finally settling down on channel 4 as "4FSU" in 2002. After 28 years in operation, WFSU shut down the channel on March 31st, 2023. ^[18]