Sept. 9 – With “The Original 10:00 News” with Bud Hedinger on WKCF-Channel 18 fading to black, it seems as good a time as any to look back at the history of the groundbreaking newscast. When it went on the air on May 28, 1990, the show was called “The 10 O’clock Report,” and you couldn’t watch it unless you had cable.
WKMG-Channel 6 (then known as WCPX) wanted to expand its third-place newscast’s presence and make an extra buck, so it created a news show to sell to area cable companies. CableVision (now Time Warner) ran the newscast — with anchor Glenn Rinker, weathercaster Pam Kister (now Brady) and sports guy Mike Storms — on its public access channel.
The show found a niche audience for not-so-late-night news. In June 1991, to reach more viewers (and to make more money), the show moved over to Orlando newcomer WKCF-Channel 68, which would become channel 18.
Bud’s association with the show came in October 1993, when he returned to Central Florida at WCPX after leaving WFTV in 1989 in a contract dispute. When he was bumped as WCPX’s main anchor in March 1995, he was moved over to anchor the “The 10:00 News” newscast permanently. WCPX (and then WKMG) continued to produce the show until last year, when WESH-Channel 2 took it over.
But Bud remained the constant for the newscast, which now fades to black and into Orlando’s TV Times.
Check out our Chanel 6 for vintage clips of Bud at WCPX in 1994.
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