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Archive for the ‘WKCF-18’ category

WKCF rises to top of CW

January 27th, 2009

The CW network may be struggling, but you can’t blame that on WKCF-CW 18.

The network has announced that O-Town’s CW station is the No. 2-rated affiliate in the nation. In the November 2008 demos, WKCF was rated No. 2 in the nation in Adults 18-34, Adults 19-49, Women 18-34, Persons 12-34.

“TV is a very competitive environment and to have CW18/WKCF as one of the top two stations in the country is a huge achievement,” WKCF/WESH President and GM Jim Carter said in a press release. “It also shows that the Central Florida viewers support CW18 and enjoy its programming.”

WKCF has always been a very strong affiliate for its network. Back when it was with the defunct WB network, WKCF was consistently one of the top WB affiliates in the nation.

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Posted in Orlando TV, WKCF-18

Tags: Jim Carter WKCF-18

WESH expands morning news on CW18

December 11th, 2007

Want more morning news? This week WESH began a six-week experiment simulcasting the 6-7 a.m. hour of its Sunrise newscast on CW18 — leading into the two-hour block of local news it airs on WKCF.

According to a WESH news release, “The goal of the simulcast is to expand the reach of WESH-TV’s morning news while strengthening the lead-in to WKCF-TV’s morning news block.” Said WESH/WKCF GM Bill Bauman: “This is a great opportunity to use the power of both stations to build our morning news audience. If the simulcast experiment is successful, we’ll consider expanding it or making a permanent programming change.”

In the Novemeber sweeps, the WFTV-produced Eyewitness News This Morning on WRDQ-Channel 27 jumped past WESH 2 News on CW18. One reason could be that WRDQ started airing The Daily Buzz from 6-7 a.m. as a lead-in to its news.

The irony is that WESH booted The Daily Buzz from its 6-9 a.m. slot on WKCF to make way for its local news show.

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Posted in Orlando TV, WESH-2, WKCF-18

Tags: Daily Buzz WESH-2 WKCF-18

WFTV-Channel 9 sweeps July sweeps

August 5th, 2007

There are a lot of re-runs in the summer … and also in the O-Town ratings competition. WFTV-Channel 9′s Eyewitness News was again the top choice for Central Floridians. WFTV was No. 1 from 5-7 a.m., from 5-6:30 p.m. and at 11 p.m., according to the Orlando Sentinel’s TV Guy.

In the 6 p.m. competition, WFTV had 141,000 homes to 61,00o for WKMG-Local 6 News and 57,000 for WESH 2 News.

At 11 p.m., Eyewitness News wast No. 1 with 98,000 homes followed by Local 6 at 76,000 and WESH at 64,000. The Sentinel’s TV Guy says in that late-night timeslot, WKMG was down 11,000 from a year ago, WESH was up by 28,000 and WFTV was up by 4,000.

WESH was up across the board, actually. In a press release, Channel 2 said it was the only local broadcast station to see growth in all weekday newscasts. “We saw significant growth in both households and adult viewers in May, and it’s gratifying to see it continuing in July. It’s clear we are building some solid momentum,” said station President and General Manager Bill Bauman. High points for WESH: up 96 percent at 4 p.m. from a year ago, up 27 percent at 5 p.m., up 16 percent at 5:30, up 10 percent at 6 p.m. and up 13 percent at 11 p.m.

WESH was also eager to point out that its morning news on sister station WKCF-CW 18 from 7 to 9 a.m. is drawing 13 percent more viewers than The Daily Buzz did in the timeslot a year ago. Of course, now the Buzz is over on WRDQ-Channel 27, but it appears before and after WFTV’s morning news its sister station.

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Posted in Orlando TV, WESH-2, WFTV-9, WKCF-18, WKMG-6, WOFL-35, WRDQ-27

Tags: Ratings WESH-2 WFTV-9 WKCF-18 WKMG-6 WOFL-35 WRDQ-27

The Daily Buzz is heading to WRDQ

May 12th, 2007

The Daily Buzz is moving to a new home — and a new station.

WRDQ announced Friday that the Buzz is moving to TV 27 from WKCF-CW 18 starting May 28. According to the press release, "TV27 is taking The Daily Buzz back to the roots of where the show previously aired, and enjoyed its largest audience, at 6 a.m. Monday through Friday leading into Eyewitness News This Morning. A second hour will be tape-delayed and presented at 10:30 a.m."

The Buzz has been sort of a red-headed stepchild at CW18 after the station was acquired by WESH parent Hearst-Argyle. WESH expanded its morning news to CW18, bumping the Buzz to 9 a.m.-noon and running the show on a three-hour delay.

"The Daily Buzz has created a distinct brand that fills a void in the morning. It’s the perfect lead in to Eyewitness News This Morning, which will continue to air from 7-8:30 a.m.," said Shawn Bartelt, General Manager for WFTV/ WRDQ. "We recognize that there has been a longing in the community for The Daily Buzz to return to its original time period, and we are excited to give the audience what they are looking for."

As we reported earlier, The Buzz is currently broadcasting from the Disney-MGM Studios until its new broadcast facility at Full Sail is completed.

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Posted in Orlando TV, WKCF-18, WRDQ-27

Tags: Daily Buzz Shawn Bartelt WKCF-18 WRDQ-27

Daily Buzz ready to make big move

April 25th, 2007

Moving day is near for the folks at The Daily Buzz.

The Orlando-based national morning show will be vacating its home in the former WKCF-CW18 studios on Friday. The show has been headquartered in the building since moving to Central Florida in 2004. But WESH bought WKCF last year and moved its operations to Channel 2′s Winter Park studios. Then, the WKCF building was sold to religious station WTGL-Channel 52.

So, where’s the Buzz going? To Disney World, of course! The show will broadcast from the Disney-MGM studios for two months while new studios are built for it at Orland0′s Full Sail school of film, art and media production.

"We’re going to have a lot of room at Full Sail, and everyone involved is pretty excited about it," a Buzz insider said.