January 27th, 2009
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New Fox 35 news director Gavin Maliska is starting to shake things up at WOFL.
This week he shuffled the station’s anchor lineup. Mike Dunston, who was on Fox at 5, is now the morning co-anchor with Jacquie Sosa and Heidi Hatch. Former morning anchor Tom Johnson has been moved to sports anchor. And temporarily filling in on the 5 p.m. newscast is weekend anchor and Fox 35 utilityman Keith Landry.
Johnson, who previously was a sportscaster, has been helping out in the Fox 35 sports department for awhile. Fox has been short-handed in sports for nearly a year after sportcaster Thomas Forester departed the station after an ugly incident with then-news director Bob Clinkingbeard.
Will it help improve ratings? We’ll see, but Fox 35 traditional sees a bump from American Idol — so making the change now that Idol is starting up makes sense.
» Read more: Fox 35 shuffles anchor assignments
January 27th, 2009
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The CW network may be struggling, but you can’t blame that on WKCF-CW 18.
The network has announced that O-Town’s CW station is the No. 2-rated affiliate in the nation. In the November 2008 demos, WKCF was rated No. 2 in the nation in Adults 18-34, Adults 19-49, Women 18-34, Persons 12-34.
“TV is a very competitive environment and to have CW18/WKCF as one of the top two stations in the country is a huge achievement,” WKCF/WESH President and GM Jim Carter said in a press release. “It also shows that the Central Florida viewers support CW18 and enjoy its programming.”
WKCF has always been a very strong affiliate for its network. Back when it was with the defunct WB network, WKCF was consistently one of the top WB affiliates in the nation.
» Read more: WKCF rises to top of CW
January 12th, 2009
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You’ll soon be able to watch the news from WESH and WFTV on your cell phone.
At last week’s annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the Open Moible Video Coalition announced a group of broadcasters would launch mobile digital television service this year. Hearst-Argyle’s WESH-Channel 2 and Cox’s WFTV-Channel 9 were among 62 stations in 22 markets who will take part in the digital launch.
The new technology will provide live over-the-air digital television signals to folks with cell phones and other mobile devices. In a news release, WESH said “users will be able to receive the broadcast signal throughout the Central Florida viewing area, even while riding in vehicles.”
The new technology also represents a new way to generate revenue for local TV stations and a way to reach more viewers – no matter where or on what they might be watching.
You can find out more here.
» Read more: WESH, WFTV to launch mobile video
January 11th, 2009
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After a hiatus of nearly three years, WKMG plans to relaunch its weekend morning newscasts starting Saturday, Jan. 17.
With anchor Ramin Khalili and meterologist Elizabeth Hart, Local 6′s weekend morning news will air from 5 to 7 a.m. on Saturdays and 5 to 9 a.m. on Sundays. The Sunday news block will include Lauren Rowe’s Flashpoint public affairs show.
WKMG first jumped into the weekend morning news game back in 2003, but ratings and resources were lacking. It slowly cut the length of of the morning news several times before finally pulling the plug in March 2006.
If Khalili needs any advice about handling the morning show, he can ask fellow WKMG reporter Steven Cooper. He was the anchor of the weekend news the last time Local 6 tried it. Michelle Cimino was the weekend weather person back then.
» Read more: 6 relaunches weekend morning news
January 8th, 2009
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With all the hype about the arrival of the new Powerball lottery, WKMG missed the live drawing on Wednesday night. CBS was airing the People’s Choice Awards, and apparently it was running just a tad long. While the Powerball drawing was being shown live on WTMO-Telemundo 31, the credits were still rolling on the People’s Choice Awards on Local 6. Just as the final number — the big Powerball – had finished being drawn, WKMG began airing the drawing on a tape-delayed basis. I’m pretty sure the 11:15 p.m. Lotto drawing was also shown tape-delayed, too. …
WKMG was also dealt a possible setback from one its most interesting sweeps pieces, Tony Pipitone’s reports on the Guetzloe Files, the Orlando Sentinel reports. If you’ll recall, back in late 2006 and early 2007, WKMG obtained some personal files of tax activist/political consultant Doug Guetzloe. The facility where Guetzloe had his files put them up for auction because it had not received payment for Guetzloe’s storage unit. Guetzloe filed suit against the station and Public Storage, claiming they acted illegally in obtaining his personal and business papers. Lawyers for Public Storage and the TV station asked for a summary judgment against Guetzloe. Well, Judge Reginald Whitehead refused to do that, meaning there could be a courtroom showdown on the case. “The judge made his decision two weeks ago, but because of the holiday, we just found out about it,” Guetzloe told the Sentinel on Wednesday. Read more here. …
WOFL-Fox 35 is airing a one-hour pre-game show tonight starting at 6:30 p.m., leading up to Fox’s coverage of the BCS Championship between the Florida Gators and Oklahoma Sooners. … And finally, TV Guy Hal Boedeker says that reporters Gustavo Almodovar and Andrea Conklin have left WFTV-Channel 9.
» Read more: Powerball drawn a little late on Local 6
