Category Archives: WOFL-35

New reporter for WFTV; departure for Fox 35

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ttt-notes2Some comings and goings in O-Town TV news:

Emily Turner is joining WFTV-Channel 9 as a general assignment reporter, beginning in September. Turner is currently at WPMI-NBC 15 in Mobile. She’s originally from Jacksonville, and she attended the University of Florida.

WOFL morning traffic reporter and weather guy Cris Martinez is leaving Fox 35 to become weekend weathercaster at WGCL-CBS 46 in Atlanta. Mike James’ new OTownTV.com reports that Martinez will start his new gig on Aug. 10.

More changes on local TV after the jump…
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WESH’s Payne-Sugalski about to knock off WFTV’s Opsahl-Salt?

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We’re in the dog days of summer. The Casey Anthony case has cooled down, the tropics are relatively quiet, and other than the python-killing mania sweeping the state, there’s not much going on.

That’s why the folks in the Orlando Sentinel’s marketing department decided to shake up the summer a bit. They’ve produced an online contest to pick the most popular broadcasters in Orlando TV and radio. Called the Orlando Celebrity Smackdown, the summer sizzler is already pulling in thousands of online votes from Central Floridians. The contest is structured like a tournament, with matchups of broadcasters in each round. Winners from each week’s voting advance to the next round to face a new "challenger."

So far, the results on the TV side pretty much mirror what you would find in the Nielsen book — with one major exception. The No. 1- and No. 2-rated evening anchor teams are facing each other in the opening round: WFTV’s Bob Opsahl and Martie Salt against WESH’s Jim Payne and Martha Sugalski. Checking on the vote totals Thursday night, the WESH pair has more votes than the WFTV duo. I guess this would be akin to a No. 1 seed being knocked out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, if the voting pattern holds.

The deadline for the first round of voting is midnight on Sunday. Round 2 will begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday. You can play and follow along here.

(Full disclosure: Yeah, it’s a silly, unscientific contest, but I do love the traffic this is generating for OrlandoSentinel.com.)


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Local 6, Fox 35 and News 13 start pooling coverage as experiment

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Orlando’s TV news departments have jumped into the pool — hoping to save a splash of cash.

Following a national trend, the newsrooms at WKMG-Local 6, WOFL-Fox 35 and Central Florida News 13 have startinged pooling their video on certain assignments. NewsBlues.com reports that the experiment began Tuesday, and it involves assignment managers at the three stations determining stories they can share video on. Then, the stories will be fed via FTP to the other stations at 11:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. In theory, the deal saves stations money — instead of each sending a crew to cover a news conference, only one crew will go and share the video with the others. (You save money because you need fewer crews; or in the case of Orlando’s stations — you can cover more news because you have already have fewer feet on the street because of staff reductions.)

Interesting that the big dogs in town — top-rated WFTV-Channel 9 and No.2 WESH-2 – are not participating. Also intersting will be seeing how long this experiment will last in our ultra-competitive market.

Just last week, a similar pool agreement among several Atlanta stations started falling apart when CBS affiliate WGCL pulled out of the month-old agreement. WGCL thought the pool agreement was slow to respond to breaking news (and we have none of the around here, right?). Read more about the Atlanta situation here.


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These Fox 35 reporters aren’t singing in the rain

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If you live in Central Florida, chances are you’ve been caught in an unexpected thunderstorm. You know what it’s like — the weather is fine one minute, and the next it’s time to start building an ark.

That’s situation a couple of reporters for Central Florida’s self-proclaimed “Weather Authority” experienced on Monday night. Just before their live shots on Fox 35′s 10 p.m. news, the sky opened.

WOFL reporter Tracy Jacim was fortunate enough to grab an umbrella just before she went on air, fumbling with it in the downpour while giving an intro to her report about Chinese drywall in area homes. She wrapped up with her umbrella shielding her from the rain.

Less than a minute later, reporter Keith Landry wasn’t as lucky. As he was waiting for his cue in another location, he got drenched — and I mean drenched. You can even see lightning in the background above him as he did his intro. When he came back for his wrap, he had on a rain coat but it was too little, too late. “Reporting live in Orange County, getting absolutely soaked, Keith Landry, Fox 35 News at 10,” he laughed as he wrapped up. Hey, what can you do in a situation like that?

Typical for Central Florida, the Doppler was virtually clear except for this one rogue shower that managed to pinpoint these two reporters. And to think we’re not even in the thick of hurricane season yet.

Click below to see the video (and check out our new share tools below if you want to share this video with a friend)



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Longo lands at Central Florida News 13

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Some quick hits to start your week:

  • Nice to see reporter Adam Longo bounce back from WKMG’s downsizing. He’s got a gig with Central Florida News 13. His bio on the CFNews13.com Web site says he’s weekend anchor, although I spotted him doing live shots on Friday when a busload of tourists stopped at Celebration hospital to get checked for flu-like symptoms. I know Adam hasn’t been at CFN 13 that long, but could they at least grab a photo for his bio? …
  • Speaking of Central Florida News 13, while Longo’s bio has been added, the one for Melissa Crabtree has gone missing. Anyone seen her? …
  • Are you a fan of NBC’s smart and witty sitcom, 30 Rock? If so, good news. Fox and Tribune Co. announced a deal last week to air reruns of the Tina Fey show on their stations — and that includes WOFL-Fox 35 and WRBW-MyTV 65. The shows will air in the 2011 season. Read more here … Continue reading →

WOFL hires Pittsburgh anchor for evening newscasts

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WOFL has found a replacement for anchor Corrina Sullivan, who decided not to return to the station after her maternity leave.

The newcomer is Sonni Abatta, currently the morning anchor at Pittsburgh CBS O&O KDKA. Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker says she will start at the station on July 20, and that she’ll anchor the 5 p.m. show with Cale Ramaker and Amy Kaufeldt, and the 10 p.m. show with Ramaker.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Abatta’s last day at KDKA is this Friday. 

Abatta started anchoring KDKA’s morning and noon newscasts in January 2005. She graduated from Carnegie Mellon in 2003, started out as an intern at KDKA, then became an off-air reporter trainee. A short six months later, she was on the air doing morning weather reports. Former KDKA news director Al Blinke said Abatta earned her on-air role from her six months in her trainee position. She “probably worked harder, covered more important stories — even though you may not have seen her on air — than anybody starting out in a small market,” he told the Post-Gazette.

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