December 28th, 2009
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Bob Opsahl
Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings and Dan Rather were iconic anchors for their networks. But Bob Opsahl has them beat.
Opsahl has been anchoring the news at WFTV-Channel 9 for more than 30 years — even before Rather, Brokaw or Jennings took over the lead roles on their network newscasts. Granted, Opsahl wasn’t the main anchor for Eyewitness News when he started at the station in 1978, but he’s still going long after those other guys left their respective network desks.
But, as they say, all good things must come to an end. Orlando Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker reports that WFTV is starting to look for Opsahl’s replacement.
“Bob Opsahl is going to retire sometime. It would behoove us to be ready,” said WFTV News Director Bob Jordan – the man who hired Opsahl years ago. “I know one day I’m going to have to replace Bob Opsahl. I’ve be happy if he stayed forever, but he has a contract that runs out. He’s had a fantastic career. He’s an extremely valuable player.”
For now, the station is holding auditions for a male weekend anchor — but folks can see the writing on the wall. Fortunately for Opsahl’s many viewers, he’s probably not going anywhere anytime soon.
“Not next year,” Jordan said. “As long as he’s going to be here for 2010, aren’t goodbyes premature?”
December 15th, 2009
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Last week, Central Florida News 13 introduced updated graphics and music. Have to say, they both are a big improvement — and the biggest changes the 24-hour cable channel has made to its on-air appearance since starting in 1997.
The graphics are bold, but the colors are softer. The familiar jingles for “Weather on the 1’s” and other features have been updated too. Even the set has been tweaked a bit, with a softer, lighter blue background.
You can see some examples below. (Note, these were taken from the CFNews13 Web site, so the “13″ bug is missing from the lower right corner)
December 15th, 2009
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Nick Pfeifauf (left) anchoring at WESH
Former WESH 2 pioneer Nick Pfeifauf, 77, died last week after having a heart attack. Pfeifauf was the anchor for WESH news when I first started watching Central Florida television back in the 1970s.
According
to WESH.com, Pfeifauf worked as news anchor, news director and vice president of research and development at Channel 2 from the 1960s until 1990. His wife, Eloise, said Pfeifauf started as a cameraman.
”About two months later, someone could not go on the air and since Nick had a shirt and tie on, he was asked to deliver the news,” she said. “With his 10 years in radio, he was able to pull it off, and from then on he was on the air. ”
I believe he was the first anchor of “NewsCenter 2″ when WESH first tried to emulate the Star Trek-like set (not the one in the picture) that was pioneered by WNBC, and I believe he was succeeded by Wayne Bennett. More on Pfeifauf here from the Orlando Sentinel.
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