WTTE (channel 28) is a television station in Columbus, Ohio, United States, serving as a de facto owned-and-operated station of the digital multicast network Roar. It is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Sinclair Broadcast Group—owner of ABC and Fox affiliate WSYX (channel 6)—for the provision of certain services, and is operated from studios on Dublin Road alongside WSYX and CW affiliate WWHO (channel 53). WTTE's transmitter is located in the Franklinton section of Columbus.

WTTE was the third station built by Sinclair. It signed on June 1, 1984, as the first mainstream independent station in the Columbus market, joining the Fox network at its launch two years later. After years of false starts, it began airing a local newscast in 1996 produced by WSYX, which was then under separate ownership. When Sinclair was able to acquire WSYX from River City Broadcasting in 1998, it transferred the WTTE license to Glencairn, Ltd.—predecessor to Cunningham—and continued to run it under an LMA. The newscasts on WTTE were the highest-rated produced by the two stations' combined news operation. In 2021, the Fox program stream moved from WTTE to Sinclair-owned WSYX and was replaced on channel 28 by TBD, a Sinclair-owned digital multicast television network.

Peoples Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of Columbus-based insurer Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and licensee of radio stations WRFD and WNCI in Columbus, was selected for the construction permit for channel 47 in Columbus by a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hearing examiner in 1966. It then received the permit in May 1967. Peoples Broadcasting–renamed Nationwide Communications later in 1967–intended to name its new station WNCI-TV. NCI applied in January 1968 for a taller tower and higher-power facilities than initially proposed and began lengthy discussions with WOSU-TV (channel 34), the noncommercial educational station owned by Ohio State University, to potentially share a tower. However, Ohio State had objections about a high-power facility interfering with its radio astronomy observatory, blotting out weaker signals.

In January 1970, the FCC approved a proposal by Nationwide, formulated in conjunction with Ohio State, to make a three-way channel shift to resolve the issue. This moved channel 47 from Columbus to Mansfield, whose channel 31 was moved to Newark for use by WGSF, whose channel 28 allocation was shifted to Columbus for WNCI-TV. Nationwide entered into an agreement to pay half the cost of a new tower in Westerville, to be shared by WOSU-TV and WNCI-TV. Soon after, Nationwide opted not to construct WNCI-TV in light of a pending rulemaking at the FCC that proposed limiting one company to owning one television station, one radio station, or one newspaper in a market. Nationwide, which already owned AM and FM stations, arranged to sell the permit to the Columbus-based Laurel Broadcasting Company. The FCC approved the transaction at a reported value of $288,000 in August 1971, but the deal fell through weeks later after the parties reached an impasse.

In January 1976, the Commercial Radio Institute (CRI) of Baltimore announced its intention to file for channel 28. It chose Columbus after passing on prospects in Boston and Louisville, Kentucky. Shortly after, a second application was received by Christian Voice of Central Ohio, owner of Christian radio station WCVO (104.9 FM) in Gahanna, which proposed a religious and family-friendly outlet in contrast to the more traditional independent station format contemplated by the Commercial Radio Institute. FCC administrative law judge David Kraushaar ruled in favor of the Commercial Radio Institute application in October 1979 because Christian Voice of Central Ohio already owned a station in the market. Christian Voice appealed, expressing a desire to sell WCVO if necessary to obtain channel 28. It was unsuccessful in overturning the initial decision at the FCC's review board and with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Construction on the station, dubbed WTTE, finally began to move ahead in 1983 after the company secured revenue bonds from Franklin County; work to add channel 28 to WOSU-TV's tower began. However, WTTE was bogged down by continual delays. By October, the station was still months away from air, even though CRI had secured a studio site at 6130 Sunbury Road. Wet weather left the tower site muddy and made it impossible to maneuver heavy equipment, leading the station to scrap an April 1984 planned sign-on.

WTTE began broadcasting on June 1, 1984. It was CRI's third station after independent outlets in Baltimore (WBFF) and Pittsburgh (WPTT-TV). Its format—children's shows, reruns, movies, and religious programs—was familiar to those used to independent stations elsewhere in the country but not so much in Columbus. It also provided an outlet for programming that the local network affiliates passed up, including sporting events not aired by NBC affiliate WCMH-TV (channel 4) and ABC station WTVN-TV (channel 6, now sister station WSYX). WTTE joined the Fox network at its launch in October 1986. That same year, the Commercial Radio Institute broadcasting division took the name Sinclair Broadcast Group.

As early as 1989, WTTE officials floated the possibility of airing a 10 p.m. newscast, either by setting up an in-house news department or by partnering with another station. In 1990, general manager Mike Quigley told Columbus Business First that the station was targeting 1991 to debut such a newscast on weeknights, though the $2 million start-up costs had resulted in delays to the plan. A newscast continued to be discussed by Quigley for years. When WCMH-TV debuted a 10 p.m. newscast production on WWHO (channel 53) in 1994, observers believed it had been hurried to air to spoil a pending joint venture between WTTE and CBS affiliate WBNS-TV (channel 10), the market's leading local news station.