April’s ratings are over. The May sweeps have begun. And Orlando TV stations are searching (and researching) for viewers. First, back to April. WFTV-Channel 9’s Eyewitness News was once again the king of the hill in the morning, at noon, in the evening and at night. WESH 2 News was No. 2 most of the…
Category: WESH-2
Former Orlando anchor Rondinaro: ‘I’m a budget cut’
Former longtime Orlando anchor Steve Rondinaro has a new assignment: finding a job. Rondinaro, the former WESH and WFTV anchor who in 2007 became the lead anchor and managing editor for WWAY-ABC 3 in Wilmington, N.C., was dropped by the station earlier this month. “By now you may have noticed that I’m no longer doing the…
Not a fan of WFTV’s new weather channel
Some quick thoughts on recent Orlando TV News: Put me down as not a fan of WFTV’s revamped weather channel, 9.2. Sure, Severe Weather Center 9 has forecasts, temperatures and a radar — but just give me the radar. The former 9.2 had the live WFTV radar almost 24-7 — and in HD — making…
Early-bird WESH adds 4:30 a.m. newscast
WESH on Tuesday began airing an additional half hour of morning news, starting at 4:30 a.m. “We are always looking for opportunities to serve the local news and weather needs of our viewers at times that are both convenient and valuable to them,” WESH GM Jim Carter said in a news release. “We saw that need in…
WESH’s Claire Metz recovering after crash
Veteran WESH 2 News reporter Claire Metz gives Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker an update on her condition. She and her videographer were injured last week when a car slammed into the side of a WESH live truck in Daytona Beach. “I have four broken ribs and a broken, displaced clavicle,” Metz told Boedeker. “They debated whether…
WESH pioneer Nick Pfeifauf dies
Former WESH 2 pioneer Nick Pfeifauf, 77, died last week after having a heart attack. Pfeifauf was the anchor for WESH news when I first started watching Central Florida television back in the 1970s. According to WESH.com, Pfeifauf worked as news anchor, news director and vice president of research and development at Channel 2 from the 1960s until 1990….
Casey Anthony: WESH analyst blasts WFTV analyst
As if the long, strange saga of infamous “tot mom” Casey Anthony could not get any stranger … it does, of course. This time it involves attorneys Orlando TV stations are using as legal experts to help analyze the case. It started Thursday, when Anthony’s defense attorneys filed motions that meter reader Roy Kronk —…
Health care debate: Is Oz better than Phil?
Some interesting news, considering WKMG’s schedule shuffle that replaced its early evening newscasts with Dr. Phil … Local 6’s Post-Newsweek sister station, KPRC in Houston, has yanked Dr. Phil from its schedule — replacing the doc’s show with another doc — Dr. Oz. Here’s what Broadcasting and Cable reported: KPRC decided to remove Dr. Phil from its…
New Guy at WESH, change in weather at WKMG
Back from a Fall break from blogging. Here’s what been going on … New WESH 2 Sunrise anchor Jason Guy doesn’t officially start his new gig until Monday, but he’s been trying out the Channel 2 anchor desk. He co-anchored the Friday noon news with his Sunrise co-anchor Syan Rhodes, and he was spotted on…
Estrella now set to launch Monday on WKCF
The debut of O-Town’s newest Spanish-language offering has been pushed to Sept. 14. Back in July, WESH-2, WKCF-CW 18 and parent Hearst Television announced a partnership with Liberman Broadcasting to offer its Estrella TV to Central Florida viewers on WKCF’s digital sub-channel 18.3. The original start date was sometime in in mid-August; now Estrella will go live on…