When news broke last week that David Petraeus was resigning his post as CIA director after having an affair, at least one newsroom staffer in Tampa had an inkling the market could become a focal point in the scandal.

“When the Petraeus resignation story broke nationally last Friday, a senior reporter in the newsroom remarked it’s just a matter of time before this becomes a Tampa story,” WTSP news director Peter Roghaar told TVSpy. “He was spot on.”

Sure enough, over the weekend, Tampa socialite Jill Kelley emerged as a central figure in the scandal, which continues to unfold even six days later. For WTSP, that means taking a two-pronged approach to local and national coverage.

“We have seven reporters actively reporting on-air, plus several more reporters and producers working off-air making calls, gathering documents and checking with sources,” Roghaar said. Read more

Joe Gumm is joining WTSP, the CBS affiliate in Tampa, as the weekday morning anchor.

The news was announced to WTSP staffers Tuesday  in an internal memo from news director Peter Roghaar, who writes that Gumm will begin on October 15. Gumm revealed the news on Twitter Monday, saying he is “honored to start working with such a great team.”

Gumm was most recently the morning anchor at KOKH, the Fox affiliate in Oklahoma City. Earlier this summer, he issued an on-air apology to Howard Stern for an impromptu remark calling the radio host ugly on KOKH.

Veteran Florida anchor Charles Billi is returning to the television business, joining Tampa CBS-affiliate WTSP.

Billi left Miami’s WSVN in 2011 after 12 years behind the anchor desk. In a statement, he said that WTSP is “poised to become a powerhouse” in the Tampa market, adding, “I’m here to help.”

“Being a Tampa native and a USF grad, Charles knows the area well and the issues that impact our community,” WTSP news director Peter Roghaar said. “I am glad he chose to come home and I think viewers will find his style of reporting informative and entertaining.”

Billi starts at WTSP this week as a nightside reporter and fill-in anchor.

“A gunman opens fire at a school. Should kids hide or fight back?” That’s the premise of a WTSP special report from anchor Reginald Roundtree, which includes a simulated school invasion.

The dramatic promo for the report, featuring screaming students and a shot from the gunman’s point of view, has provoked angry calls and emails from Tampa Bay viewers, according to The Tampa Tribune. Video inside… Read more

After a string of defections, WTSP has rounded out its revamped weather team with the addition of meteorologist Kate Wentzel this week.  Wentzel comes to WTSP after working as a weekend weathercaster for West Palm Beach ABC-affiliate WPBF–a post that she departed in April.

“Kate is going to be another great addition to the team,” WTSP news director Peter Roghaar said, in announcing the move.  “She brings almost ten years of experience forecasting Florida weather and is hurricane-tested.”

Wentzel, who is set to begin on September 26th, is the third meteorologist to join WTSP in the past two months.  The CBS-affiliate recently named Orlando veteran Jim Van Fleet chief meteorologist and added Mark Collins, a native of St. Petersburg. Read more

WTSP, the CBS affiliate in Tampa, has for the second time this week announced a new member of their weather team — Mark Collins, a St. Petersburg native.

Collins joins Jim Van Fleet, who was named chief meteorologist at WTSP on Tuesday. Although Van Fleet’s contract with Orlando’s WOFL does not expire until December, Collins will officially join the station on September 15. He has been splitting his time as a freelance meteorologist between WTSP and WJXT in Jacksonville; the two stations have an arrangement that allows him to be a forecaster on both stations.

“Mark is no stranger to our team and to Bay area viewers, as he’s been doing a great job filling in at 10 News,” said WTSP news director Peter Roghaar.  “His knowledge of the Tampa Bay area and Florida’s tropical systems will make him a huge asset to our growing weather team.”

Jim Van Fleet, who has been with Orlando’s WOFL for 10 years, is changing markets in Florida — he will join Tampa’s WTSP as chief meteorologist in December.

Van Fleet replaces Tammie Souza, who left in January,  at the Tampa CBS affiliate. “After a roller coaster ride over the last 10 years at Fox 35, I feel like WOFL has become my home and the staff have become my family,” Van Fleet told The Orlando Sentinel in a statement. “So clearly this has been a very difficult decision for me.”

WTSP news director Peter Roghaar told The Tampa Tribune that Van Fleet’s hiring is the first of a few employment announcements the station has coming up in the next few weeks. The station has two openings on the weather team — Chris Suchan and Sherry Ray Hughes are both leaving in September, The Tribune reports.

Van Fleet said WOFL made him a “generous” offer to stay, but he declined it. “Quite simply, this opportunity with WTSP is something meteorologists spend their entire lives working towards, and to have this door open up for me right now is a dream come true and one I would be foolish to pass up,” he said.