It’s been a wild summer at WKMG-Local 6. And apparently it’s not over.
The big shocker: longtime anchor Jacqueline London was let go, as was longtime reporter Donald Forbes. Now comes word that a relative newcomer is gone too.
FTVLive.com is reporting that Local 6 morning meteorologist Eric Wilson “was given his walking papers.”
According to the website, “Sources says [sic] he was was called into the GM’s office after the noon show and told that he would no longer be the AM and Noon meteorologist. Word is he still [has] six months to go on his contract. They’ve offered to let him stay on the air on the weekends until it expires, but word is he said he will not return to the air.”
Sure enough, on Tuesday morning, Troy Bridges was doing the morning weather in place of Wilson.
With college football in the midst of an expansion craze, WKMG Sports Director David “Ping” Pingalorehad a big scoop Wednesday: “multiple college football sources have said that the University of Central Florida and Memphis could be invited to join the Big East conference as soon as next week.”
Big East commissioner John Marinatto and other league officials told FanHouse that an Orlando TV report claiming the Memphis and the University of Central Florida would be invited to join the Big East as soon as next week is inaccurate. ”Those reports are not true,” Marinatto told FanHouse Thursday.
This isn’t the first time Ping has gone out on a limb with a report. Back in December, he reported that Florida Gators football Coach Urban Meyer had a heart attack during mid-season — one health reason that may have led to the coach’s decision to take an indefinite leave of absence from the team.
As a UCF grad and Knights fan, I hope Ping’s latest report proves to be true.
WKMG’s THE 6 O’Clock News hour is about to get some competition.
WFTV announced today that it will expand its Eyewitness News by a half hour in September, adding a 6:30 p.m. show on sister station WRDQ-TV 27 – giving Central Floridians two choices for local news at a time that has traditionally been reserved for national news.
But don’t expect to see Bob Opsahl or Martie Salt working the extra half hour. Orlando Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker reports that Vanessa Welch and Josh Benson will co-anchor the 6:30 show — which goes up against ABC’s World News on WFTV.
“I don’t think you’re going to see a reduction in ABC ‘World News’ at all,” WFTV/WRDQ GM Shawn Bartelt told Boedeker. “You’ll see people who want local news at 6:30 coming to WRDQ.”
My 2 Cents:Benson was hired to be WFTV’s weekend anchor, but he’s moving the WRDQ 10 p.m. and 6:30 shows to replace Darrell Greene, who is leaving for Memphis. Sure looks like he’s being groomed as Opsahl’s eventual replacement. … Perhaps this new show is WFTV’s way of also gearing up to add news at 4 p.m. in the fall of 2011 once Oprah goes away. … Knowing the rivalry between WFTV and WESH, it wouldn’t surprise me if WESH had planned a 6:30 show on its sister station, WKCF-CW 18, and WFTV wanted to trump its foe by announcing now. Also wouldn’t surprise me if WESH now decides to to add a 6:30 show on CW18. … And, how embarassing would it be for WKMG’s low-rated 6 p.m. hour to get beat by WRDQ this fall!
Doug Kammerer (left), Melissa Ross and Mike Brooks on Fox 35's Good Day Orlando show.
Some quick out-of-town news with Orlando connections …
Former WOFL-Fox 35 meteorologist Doug Kammerer — who was part of the team that launched the station’s first morning show, Good Day Orlando – is making news in the nation’s capital. He’s been named the new chief met at NBC O&O WRC-4. The Washington Post reports, “The hiring of Kammerer suggests management at NBC-4 prioritized injecting youth into its evening news team of veterans Jim Vance, Doreen Gentzler, and Dan Hellie [the former WFTV-Channel 9 sports anchor]. Kammerer just celebrated his 35th birthday last month which will make him the youngest chief meteorologist in the D.C. area by a long shot. He is young enough to be [departing weatherman] Bob Ryan’s son … and younger than any of the meteorologists at NBC-4 who will be under him.” …
Cox’s Charlotte dupolopy — WSOC-ABC 9 and WAXN-TV 64 — is taking a page out of its Orlando sister stations’ playbook. Just as WFTV launched an expanded Eyewitness News This Morning show on WRDQ-TV 27 from 7 to 9 a.m. weekdays, WSOC will now do the same in Charlotte on WAXN. The Charlotte Observer reports, “WSOC has two sister stations in Orlando, also owned by Atlanta-based Cox, that use the same model — two hours of early news on the network affiliate, then another two hours on the independent station. It has proven successful, says Joe Pomilla, WSOC vice president.”
You may remember Scott Walker, the former WESH 2 Sunrise anchor who left O-Town to anchor at Hearst sister station WDSU-NBC 6 in New Orleans. He’s been out on the front lines of the oil spill — and he’s been trying to do his job reporting from the beaches where BP workers are cleaning up oil. Only problem is BP doesn’t want Walker there. This video clip of Walker’s attempt to talk to BP workers has made the rounds, even earning him a mention on Huffington Post.
Walker, an avid Tweeter, posted earlier on Twitter, “I’m getting e-mails and tweets from all over the U.S. after this video. Thanks to everyone sending kind words.”
