Category Archives: WOFL-35

Magic memories and other news I missed

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Catching up on news that happened while I was occupied redesigning Central Florida’s most popular local Web site (you know which one) …

During the Orlando Magic’s amazing run to the NBA Finals, I heard from former WESH meteorologist Chris Castleman. He was with WESH-2 during the Magic’s first run to the Finals in 1995, and he was kind enough to share some photos taken from his on-air work covering the hoopla surrounding Shaq, Penny and the gang. Of the shots, he wrote, “Most were outside at the O’rena. The helicopter bit was something we did with [Hearst-Argyle sister station] KPRC-TV in Houston. …. Hope all is well in Orlando. GO MAGIC!” Well, there’s always next year, Chris. (See another photo of Chris with Wendy Chioji in the background at bottom of this post ) …

  • Some folks have been asking, “Where’s Fox 35 anchor Corrina Sullivan?” The night-time anchor has been out on maternity leave for awhile — and apparently isn’t coming back. According to a reliable poster on our TV News Talk message board, “She decided to be a stay-at-home mom. She came in for one day to clean out her desk and say goodbye. She is a consummate professional and her departure is a loss not only for the station, but for the industry.”
  • Speaking of WOFL, it wasn’t that long ago that Fox 35 went HD for its newscasts and had snazzy new graphics. In fact, I thought they were the best HD graphics in town. Guess I must have been in the minority. The station has now tweaked the blue graphics for ones that are more red — which do look more like something you would see on Fox News Channel. … Continue reading →

Check digital channel 26 for “Local 6″

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If you’re not getting WKMG on your HD receiver, you need to rescan you local channels. WKMG changed digital channels last week. After broadcasting on Channel 58, WKMG is now airing on Channel 26. Sure, thanks to remapping your receiver should always show WKMG on Channel 6, but that’s not really the case with most Central Florida stations. Here are the digital channels the local stations are broadcasting on:

WESH (NBC)               2                              11
WKMG (CBS)               6                              26
WFTV (ABC)                 9                              39
WKCF (CW)               18                              17
WMFE (PBS)              24                              23
WRDQ (Ind)               27                              14
WOFL (Fox)                35                              22
WRBW (MNT)            65                              41

 

Some other notes ….

Just in time for May sweeps, WFTV has tweaked its graphics. A splash of gold and some curves have been added to the HD graphics that debuted back in June 2006 when Channel 9 became the first station in the state — and 10th in the nation — to produce the news in high definition. ….

Fox 35 had added a couple of new additions to its weekend anchor team. Talitha Vickers co-anchors with Keith Landry on 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. shows. She previously worked at WWOR-My9 in New York, WBOC in Salisbury, Md., and WCCB in Charlotte. University of Miami grad Sabrina Fein is the weekend meteorologist. She’s worked at KSPR in Springfield, Mo., KCBD in Lubbock, Texas, WPBF in Palm Beach and WFTX in Fort Myers before joining Fox 35.

Top Orlando TV news videos on YouTube

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If you’ve checked out the channel pages on this site, you’ll know I have lots of video of Orlando TV — past and present. But as much as I have, YouTube has more. (In fact, many of my videos have been posted by others onto YouTube.) I’ve created a YouTube playlist with some of my favorite Orlando TV News videos I’ve spotted on the site. You can take a look here. There are more than 40 clips, representing WCPX, WKMG, WESH, WFTV, WOFL, WKCF and even WAYK (now known as WOPX).

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Hawk terrorizes Fox 35 employees — again

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You have to be tough to be in the TV news business — dealing with angry viewers, demanding bosses and overprotective hawks.

Yep, hawks. Folks at WOFL-Fox 35 are making news themselves after an agressive mother hawk has been attacking employees outside the station’s Lake Mary studios. One recent high-profile victim: sports anchor Kevin Holden. The Orlando Sentinel reported that Holden was outside the station early Saturday when something that felt like a heavy book struck the back of his head.  “It kind of pushed me forward,” Holden said.

No, it wasn’t a Nielsen book — it was a protective red-shouldered hawk that nests at the station. Holden wasn’t seriously injured by the bird — he has a several-inch scratch and a few small marks where the hawk’s talons struck. “I have a unique story to tell if nothing else,” he told the Sentinel.

The nesting bird has been terrorizing employees at businesses around its nest, including Fox 35 and a FEMA office. And this isn’t the first time this has happened. The same bird was causing the same problem at the same station in 2007.

The kicker is that because the bird is a protected species, no one at WOFL or the other businesses can do anything about the hawk — except wait for it to fly away

See the video below from Fox 35 news:


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Digital signals bring good news, bad news

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When Orlando’s TV stations — and all others in the nation — finally turn off their analog transmitters on June 12, some Central Florida viewers might be in for a surprise.

Because of tower relocations and the switch to a digital signal, many area stations will reach more households over the air than they did with their analog signals — especially households in and around the Metro Orlando area. Here’s the map showing the new digital signal areas vs. the old analog signal areas for all of Orlando’s stations.

One of the big losers is WESH 2 (NBC). The good news: Homes with digital boxes in Polk, Brevard, Osceola and Indian River counties can pick up WESH’s digital signal — thanks to its digital broadcast tower being in east Orange county. The bad news: When WESH’s transmitter on its tower in Orange City is turned off, households in Pasco, Hernando, Citrus, Sumter, Marion, Levy, Alachua, Putnam, Clay and St. Johns counties won’t get WESH’s signal anymore. You can read more about WESH’s signal here.

Here’s how some other area stations will fare:

  • WRDQ- 27 (Independent): Analog tower in Osceola County; digital tower in east Orange. It picks up a larger number of households in Volusia, Putnam, Marion, Sumter, Hernando, Pasco and Polk. The more northerly digital tower means the loss of households in Hardee, Highlands, Okechobee and Indian River counties. 
  • WOFL-35 (Fox): Analog tower in east Orange; digital tower in east Orange. With new digital footprint, it gains households in Flagler, Putnam, Marion, Sumter, Hernando, Citrus, Polk, Osceola, Brevard and Indian River counties. 
  • WKMG-6 (CBS): Analog tower in east Orange; digital tower in east Orange. It gains households in Flagler, Putnum, Marion and Sumter; it loses homes in Pasco and Polk counties. 
  • WFTV- 9 (ABC):  Analog tower in east Orange; digital tower in east Orange. It keeps its signal footprint vitrually the same, but it gains households in Polk and Indian River counties. 
  • WMFE-24 (PBS): Analog tower in east Orange; digital tower in east Orange. Gains households in Flagler, Marion, Lake, Sumter, Polk, Osceola and Brevard counties. 
  • WVEN-26 (Univision): Analog tower in northwest Volusia County; digital tower in Orange City. It gains households in Lake, northern Osceola and northern Brevard. It loses households in St. Johns, Putnam, Alachua and Marion counties. 
  • WBCC-68 (PBS): Analog tower in Oscoela; digital tower in east Orange. It gains households in Volusia, Seminole, Lake and Polk counties. 
  • WDSC-15 (PBS): Analog tower in Daytona Beach; digital tower in east Orange. It  picks up households in Lake, Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Polk and Brevard counties.

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Fox 35′s singing anchors in video

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We knew that Fox 35 weatherman Jim Van Fleet could sing, but who knew about some of the other anchors over at WOFL?

This clip I stumbled across on YouTube is more than a year old, but still entertaining nonetheless. I believe it was produced by “John” aka Jhbmw007. You can check out his YouTube channel here or his Web site here which has more examples of his animation work..



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