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 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
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.
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.
Central Florida News 13 took home three awards from the Florida Associated Press Broadcasters competition on Saturday. Chief met Jeff Day won first place for best weathercast for his coverage of Tropical Storm Fay. Scott Fais won second place for best short light feature about Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon. And the station took second place for best Web site. If there were other O-Town winners, just let me know. The AP has not updated its Web site with the results of the awards.
Meanwhile, WESH reporter Greg Fox recently picked his his second consecutive USC Annenberg Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Television Political Journalism in the category of Individual Achievement at a Local Station. According to the judges, Fox was recognized for excellent journalistic analysis and helping voters evaluate what candidates said in a ‘Truth Test’ series. It was also WESH parent Hearst-Argyle’s fifth consecutive Cronkite award.
And, Hearst-Argyle also won a Peabody Award from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism for its Commitment 2008 election and issues series. The honor recognizes the work of WESH as well as other Hearst-Argyle stations in covering the 2008 elections. It was H-A’s fifth Peabody in the past seven years — included in that group was the 2003 award WESH won for the “Building Homes, Building Problems” series looking at Florida’s homebuilding practices. The Peabody awards will be presented on May 18 in New York.
Former Local 6 news director Skip Valet returned to WKMG last week as its new general manager. He’s replacing retiring GM Henry Maldonado – and it sounds like he’s ready to get to work to push WKMG out of the ratings cellar.
In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, Valet said, “I don’t think a great newscast is defined by the number of hours. I don’t think people are clamoring for more and more news. People want a real, honest accounting of what happened in our town. They get sick of repetition.”
So, does that mean viwers should expect to see elimination of some newscasts at WKMG? “Or expanding somewhere else. We have to figure out where the viewers are. You’ll see an ever-increasing presence by us on the Internet,” Valet said.
One thing that will remain the same at WKMG: on-air editorials. Valet said he will continue to practice started under Maldonado of having the station GM deliver commentaries.
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 hereor his Web site here which has more examples of his animation work..
You have to be tough to be in the TV news business — dealing with angry viewers, demanding bosses and overprotective hawks.
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.
Central Florida News 13 took home three awards from the Florida Associated Press Broadcasters competition on Saturday. Chief met Jeff Day won first place for best weathercast for his coverage of Tropical Storm Fay. Scott Fais won second place for best short light feature about Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon. And the station took second place for best Web site. If there were other O-Town winners, just let me know. The AP 
Former Local 6 news director Skip Valet returned to WKMG last week as its new general manager. He’s replacing retiring GM Henry Maldonado – and it sounds like he’s ready to get to work to push WKMG out of the ratings cellar.
