9′s New GM Comes From Charlotte

Shawn Bartelt, director of sales for Cox’s stations in Charlotte, N.C. (WSOC and WAXN) will succeed Bill Hoffman as vice president and general manager of Orlando’s WFTV and WRDQ.

According to a press release, Bartelt joined Cox in 2000 as director of sales at WSOC and WAXN. She began her broadcasting career at WWSB in Sarasota in 1977 as a reporter on the late-night shift and left in 1978 to become a daytime reporter and weekend anchor at WMBB in Panama City. In 1979 she returned to WWSB as daytime reporter and weekend anchor. She joined Storer Cable in Sarasota as local origination manager from 1981-1986 where she coordinated and hosted local programming covering Sarasota County and then launched and managed the sales team there from 1986-1988.

In 1989, she returned to WWSB on the broadcasting side as a local account executive and was soon promoted to national sales manager. She held positions as national sales manager at Orlando’s WESH from 1990-1992, local sales manager at WTOG in Tampa from 1993-1994 and general sales manager at WPBF in West Palm from 1994-2000.

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WFTV, WRDQ lose GM to Atlanta

WFTV and WRDQ General Manager Bill Hoffman is leaving Orlando to become GM at Cox-owned flagship WSB in Atlanta. It was under Hoffman’s tenure that stability returned to WFTV, including the re-hiring of news director Bob Jordan and the return of Eyewitness News to ratings dominance across the board.

Hoffman will replace retiring WSB GM Greg Stone, who has been with Cox for 43 years. WSB has consistently been named as one of the top-rated ABC affiliates in the country in terms of local news audience

Hoffman joined Cox in 1979 as an account representative at TeleRep. He left in 1983 to become national sales manager at Cox-owned WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh and then left the company to serve as local and national sales manager of WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, Minn. from 1984-1990. He returned to Cox in July 1990 as office manager at TeleRep and held his position there until 1995 when he moved to WSB-TV as local sales manager.

In 1997, Hoffman transferred to WFTV in Orlando as general sales manager and was promoted to director of sales in 2000 and then vice president and general manager in 2002.

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Changes at WFTV

WFTV weekend anchor Jorge Estevez is leaving Channel 9 to become the weekday morning anchor at CBS O&O WFOR in Miami, according to NewsBlues.com. Estevez has been with WFTV since 2001.

Also, former WFTV general assignment reporter Jamison Uhler has moved to the Philadelphia area and joined NBC O&O WCAU as a general assignment reporter. Uhler, a Pennsylvania native, started at NBC 10 on Jan. 31.

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News That Won’t Slow You Down

Some quick hits for you today:

>> WESH starts its Olympic coverage tonight with the debut of its nightly preview show, The O-Zone. News anchor Wendy Chioji and sports director Pat Clarke host the show from Universal Orlando. It airs at 7:30 p.m.

>> In the past week, KABC in Los Angeles and WXIA in Atlanta started broadcasting their news in high definition. When do you think that will start in O-Town, and who will be the first? I would place my bet on WFTV.

>> Comings and goins at WFTV: Reporter Carl Willis has left to join KPRC in Houston. David Ham from WGGB in Springfield, Mass., and Tim Wetzel from WINK in Fort Myers join Channel 9 as reporters.

>> Can’t get enough Daily Buzz? Sure, there’s the three-hour show live on WB18 each morning, and the 24-hours-a-day replay on WB 18′s digital subchannel. But is that really enough? If not, check out the show’s website, DailyBuzz.tv, for video offerings including "Fast Casts" and "Behind the Scenes." It’s pretty entertaining.

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Former WFTV Reporter Aids Search

Former WFTV reporter Scott Thuman, who left Orlando in December to take a job at WJLA in Washington, D.C., is back in O-Town to help with the search for missing Jennifer Kesse, NewsBlues.com reports.

Thuman has reportedly taken a leave of absence from WJLA to oversee media inquiries into the disappearance of Kesse, the 24-year-old Orlando woman who has been missing since Jan. 23. NewsBlues said Thuman dated Kesse, and he is advising her family on dealing with the media.

A website has been created to help with the search for Kesse.

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