Was Jim Van Fleet criticizing Orlando, Fox 35 in interview?

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The homepage of FTVLive.com's site with its Jim Van Fleet story.

I guess this one depends on your point of view. You can take some comments made by former WOFL-Fox 35 morning meteorologist Jim Van Fleet as either a diss at Orlando TV news or someone who’s just telling it like it is.

In an interview with St. Petersburg Times TV writer Eric Deggans, Van Fleet was asked to talk about his new job as the chief met at Tampa’s WTSP-CBS 10 — a job he started Monday.

“I’m actually here…and allowed to be on air,” joked Van Fleet Monday, referring to the contract issues which kept him from appearing on WTSP until his agreement with Orlando Fox station WOFL-TV fully expired. “That was Triple A, and now I’m ready for the majors.”

FTVLive.com blogger Scott Jones interpreted Van Fleet’s comments as a dig at Fox 35 and O-Town. Wrote Jones: “Not sure how calling his old station and market the minor leagues is going to go over with his former co-workers? But, we’re guessing they won’t be happy knowing they are just scrubs that can’t make it in the ‘Majors.’ ”

I’m willing to give Van Fleet the benefit of the doubt on this given that (a) he left a morning weather position to become a chief meteorologist, and (b) Orlando is the No. 19 television market, and Tampa is No. 14. In that respect, I could see how his new job is like the “majors” compared with ‘Triple A” Orlando. What do you think?

Lisa Bell joins WKMG, Jayme King to Fox 35 and Jim Van Fleet starts job

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Lisa BellSome personnel moves for a couple of Orlando TV news stations …

Former News 13 morning anchor Lisa Bell is coming back to Orlando TV news. In January, she’ll be a reporter and occasional anchor on WKMG-Local 6.  “She will report for the 5, 6 and 7 p.m. news and fill in as anchor wherever we need her,” WKMG General Manager Skip Valet told Orlando Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker. After working at the cable news station for four years, Bell left News 13 during the summer — and many viewers wondered what happened to her. Turns out she was just “on the beach.” …

Fox 35 has hired a new morning meteorologist to replace Jim Van Fleet. Jayme King is expected to join WOFL sometime early next year. He comes from Fox-owned sister station KSAZ in Phoenix. The Orlando Sentinel reports that King is a South Florida native whose weather experience included a first-hand encounter with Hurricane Andrew. …

Meanwhile, Jim Van Fleet began his new job in Tampa on Monday as chief meteorologist at WTSP-CBS 10. The station welcomed Van Fleet by inviting viewers to post questions for the new weather guy on Facebook, and he answered some of them during the 5 and 6 p.m. telecasts.

Jim Van Fleet offers one of his first forecasts at the new chief meteorologist at WTSP.

Orlando TV news pioneer Frank Vaught, 81, dies

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Frank Vaught as the Atlantic Weatherman for WDBO-TV early in his broadcasting career.

Frank Vaught, an Orlando TV news pioneer who began broadcasting here in 1958, has passed way. Vaught, 81, died Nov. 29 of complications related to esophageal cancer.

Vaught is likely remembered mostly for his sports reporting — which he did at WDBO-Channel 6 and later on radio stations WKIS-740 AM and WHOO-990 AM.

When we put together our Central Florida Golden 50 list in 2004 — commemorating the 50th anniversary of the start of television in Orlando — Vaught made our list. But the picture provided was of him as the “Atlantic Weatherman” for WDBO.

“The Atlantic Weatherman? I didn’t know what it was either at first. But it was Frank Vaught, who did the weather and sports in the early days of Channel 6. Apparently Atlantic Oil Company (today known as ARCO) sponsored the early Channel 6 weathercasts — which were reported by Vaught, in an Atlantic Oil uniform (like they were wearing down at the filling station). I’m not sure how long Vaught’s weathercasting duties lasted, but I do know he made the biggest impact as Channel 6?s longtime sports anchor. Even when he got out of the TV biz, he was still doing sport reports on radio into the 1980s.

Vaught joined Channel 6 two years after starting at WESH-2 in 1958. According to his obituary, at WDBO-TV he “was mostly in the role of sports broadcasting, on the news morning, noon and night for 16 years.”

A public memorial service for Frank Vaught will be Friday at 11 a.m. at All Faiths, 4901 S. Orange Ave., Orlando, FL 32806. Mr. Vaught will be receiving full military honors on the 13th of December, 2011 at 12:30 p.m. at the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell.

‘Casey Anthony trial’ is top searched news term of 2011

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To even the most casual Orlando TV news watcher, this will come as no surprise: Search engine Bing on Tuesday listed the top searches for 2011 — and Orlando’s own Casey Anthony topped the list as the most searched news term.

The Casey Anthony-Caylee Anthony saga played out over several years on Orlando TV news, culminating this summer with the jury verdict that found the mother not guilty of her young daughter’s death. As you recall, Orlando stations saw huge viewership surges with their extended coverage during the trial, with all the area stations eventually breaking down and carrying it gavel-to-gavel each day. WKMG even started bumping CBS primetime shows to air trial specials.

Even today, if you do a search on “Casey Anthony trial” on Google, WFTV.com still ranks high — just behind market web leader OrlandoSentinel.com.

By the way, behind “Casey Anthony trial” as the top news search team of 2011 was   “Osama Bin Laden death” at No. 2 followed by “Hurricane Irene” at No. 3. Incredible.

 

WKMG’s election coverage plans include free airtime for candidates

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It’s almost 2012, and WKMG-Local 6 join its fellow Post-Newsweek stations in offering free airtime to candidates in the upcoming election.

In a news release out Monday, Post-Newsweek said its six stations would offer “free airtime and free web time opportunities to candidates in the 30 days preceding the general elections. The Free Airtime will give candidates a unique ability to directly address and describe why voters should cast their vote for them.”

In addition, P-N said that each of its stations will devote at least 10 minutes each weekday to locally produced political news coverage during the political season. “The coverage will continue throughout the entire broadcast day from the all-important early morning news to the early evening and late newscasts,” according to the news release.

WKMG and the other Post-Newsweek stations will also look for opportunities allowing candidates to participate in on-air debates and town hall meetings during key time-periods. In addition to WKMG, the other P-N stations are WPLG-ABC 10 in Miami, WJXT-Channel 4 in Jacksonville, WDIV-NBC 4 in Detroit, KPRC-NBC 2 in Houston and KSAT-NBC 12 in San Antonio.

Read the full news release here.

WKMG’s Ping gets Urban Meyer story right; 6 raises money for homeless

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Several Orlando TV news items for you …

“Ping” was right. And, yes, that’s news. As WKMG sports anchor David Pingalore first reported Tuesday, former Florida Gators coach Urban Meyer accepted the head coaching job at The Ohio State University on Monday. While Ping said Meyer agreed to a 7-year, $40-million contract, USA Today says. “Meyer agreed to a six-year contract worth $4 million annually with retention bonuses for 2014, 2016 and 2018.”  Local 6 was crowing about Ping’s scoop on Monday. Still waiting for this Ping scoop to happen. …

Following a 60 Minutes report on Sunday about homeless children in Central Florida, WKMG held a telethon on Monday. The station raised more than $19,000 and had additional offers of food and clothing. Nice job, Local 6. Read the full story here …

WKMG and WFTV weren’t able to agree on who won the demo crown for most viewers at 11 p.m. during the November sweeps — until now. Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker reported Monday that in the fight for viewers in the 25-to-54 age group, Channel 9′s Eyewitness News averaged 29,000 viewers and WKMG’s Local 6 News had 28,300 — a difference of just 700 viewers. WFTV easily won in the household count in all newscasts. More November ratings results here. …

Former WKMG reporter Tarik Minor, now at WJXT-Channel 4 in Jacksonville, and wife Melanie Lawson are expecting a baby. Why is this news? Lawson, a morning anchor at the Jacksonville station, announced their happy news during a newscast on Friday. Click here for the video. …

An eagle-eyed Orlando TV news viewer sent us an email noting that WKMG did its Saturday night newscast “at a table in the newsroom.” Not sure what was up, but the Sixers were back at their regular anchor desk on Sunday night.