Category Archives: WRDQ-27

Welch to anchor WRDQ’s 10 p.m. news

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 WFTV is promoting reporter Vanessa Welch to co-anchor of its 10 p.m. newscast on WRDQ.

“She’s one of the best I’ve ever worked with,” WFTV News Director Bob Jordan told Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker. “She’s our best enterprising reporter. When I think, over the years, of the people who have gone on to network jobs, she’s of that caliber. She’s got a big future.”

Welch joined WFTV in February 2007, coming to the station after stints at stations in Midland-Odessa, Texas, and in Raleigh, N.C.

Now, WFTV has big plans for Welch. Jordan told Boedeker that Welch just signed a 4-year deal with the station. She will co-anchor the 10 p.m. news with Darrell Greene and continue to report  two or three days a week, too.

Welch replaces Cynthia Demos, who left the WRDQ newscast nearly a year ago to jump to Miami’s CBS O&O, WFOR-4. Martie Salt has been filling in with Greene on the show since Demos departed.

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Weech out as anchor at WKMG

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Longtime O-Town anchor Marla Weech is being laid off from WKMG as the slowing economy starts to takes its toll at Local 6.

“I’m being laid off,” she told Orlando Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker on Friday. “It’s tough economic times. My position is being eliminated. My heart goes out to anyone who’s losing a job.”

Weech has been an anchor on Orlando TV since the early 1980s, first at Channel 6, then for more than 20 years at WFTV-Channel 9. She left WFTV in Sept. 2005 after being bumped to the 10 p.m. newscast on sister station WRDQ-Channel 27. She returned to Channel 6 in 2006.

Weech is the latest high-profile anchor to leave the air. Wendy Chioji departed WESH-Channel 2 in May after more than 20 years.

Chioji decided to leave the business, which — like all media — is facing a tough economic climate. In a memo to the Channel 6 staff explaining Weech’s anchor position being eliminated, GM Henry Maldonado warned, “The position being eliminated will not be the only measure we will have to take. But for now, everyone affected by these changes has already been informed.”

Weech’s last newscast will be tonight. Read the full Orlando Sentinel story here.
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Orlando TV ratings — what the stations say

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From WESH-Channel 2 press release ….The spin:

 

WESH-TV today announced continued growth and momentum in key time periods from May ’07. In early morning, WESH 2 News Sunrise (6 – 7 a.m.) maintains its strong No. 2 position and Today (7 – 9 a.m.) continues to grow in popularity with Central Florida viewers, increasing its audience by 11,000 households. In addition to mornings, the growth continues in early evening news, where WESH 2 News at 5 and WESH 2 News at 6 with Wendy Chioji both saw greater ratings increases from May than any other early evening newscasts in Central Florida.

The quote: “In May we saw significant growth for WESH 2 News over the previous year. It’s now very gratifying to see that viewers are continuing that vote of confidence and helping us build on that momentum.” — VP and Station Manager Bob Fein. Continue reading →

Orlando TV ratings — another WFTV domination

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The November ratings for Orlando showed another dominating performance by WFTV’s Eyewitness News. By my count, WFTV has now been the No. 1 newscast at 6 p.m. for 29 years. And the Channel 9 juggernaut seems to be getting even stronger.

According to WFTV, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., more than 50 percent of the homes watching news in Central Florida are turned to Channel 9. Its lead over No. 2 Local 6 is more than 78,000 households at 5 p.m. — and the lead grows to 94,914 more households at 6 p.m.

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Orlando TV ratings — a look at the numbers

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The November sweeps brought us original episodes of our favorite shows, but the ratings results for the O-Town news looked more like another rerun.

Based on information provided in news releases by WFTV and WESH, Channel 9 once again dominated the local news scene in a ratings period that saw most everyone dropping a bit from a year ago. Here’s how the stations rank in the news time periods:

5 a.m. – WFTV-Ch. 9, WKMG-Ch. 6, WESH-Ch. 2 and WOFL-Ch. 35. Local 6 displaces WESH 2 News at No. 2, but everyone was down in share

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Demos leaving WFTV/WRDQ for Miami

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Some news nuggets for you, even if you aren’t headed back to school today…

 

WFTV/WRDQ anchor Cynthia Demos is heading to Miami after five years in O-Town, NewsBlues.com reports. Where’s she headed in Miami? The station that seems to be filling up former O-Town folks — CBS O&O WFOR. …

 

We all know how competitive weather is around here — i.e. my Doppler is bigger than your Doppler. So, I thought it was interesting that WFTV brought in chief met Tom Terry and WKMG brought in chief met Tom Sorrells on Sunday to cover Hurricane Dean. WESH and WOFL stayed with their regular weekend forecasters. ….

 

Also, WFTV has sent morning meteorologist Brian Shields to Cancun to cover the approach of Hurricane Dean. …

 

Now confirmed … features reporter Candice Coleman is indeed leaving Local 6. That’s too bad. As our local newscasts continue to focus on crime, cars running into houses and dogs biting people, the type of feature stories Coleman reported certainly helped the story mix and gave a nice respite from the relentless pounding drumbeat of “breaking news.” …

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