Sorry WESH — NBC pulls plug on WeatherPlus

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Anyone with concepts for a new weather slogan or ideas on how to program digital channel 2.2 should contact WESH-TV.

NBC has decided to kill its WeatherPlus franchise and informed employees on Tuesday, TV Week reported. The operation will be phased out in stages over the next year.

WESH is among approximately 80 NBC affiliates who embraced the WeatherPlus brand and created digital subchannels devoted to weather. It was a great idea — until NBC Universal decided to buy The Weather Channel, leaving no need nor desire for WeatherPlus.

WESH was one of the first NBC affiliates to join WeatherPlus. And one of the first “stars” of the NBC WeatherPlus national feed had O-Town ties — Bill Karins. He previously worked for WOFL-Fox 35 before joining WeatherPlus. What will happen with him and other WeatherPlus employees remains to be seen.

“I’m a huge fan of Jeff Ranieri and Bill Karins and some of the other folks, and we’re going to look at everybody and make a determination about what we’re going to do,” NBC News President Steve Capus told TV Week. “There are some real superstars behind the scenes whom we’ll work to move into other jobs. That’s going to be difficult, given the general climate right now, but we’ll do the best we can.”

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WHDO aims for ambitious local start-up

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A new local TV station is signing on with a big mission: all local programming in nothing by high definition. That’s the goal for WHDO-Channel 38 (digital channel 42).

The plan for the station is to produce a schedule of all local shows and to broadcast them in HD. Some very familiar Central Florida names are associated with the station, according to Central Florida Lifestyle magazine. Among them: former longtime WESH meteorologist Dave Marsh and sportscaster Buddy Pittman. Among those doing shows include well-known local gardening expert Robert Vincent Sims.

While that all sounds great, here’s the downside. WHDO is a low-power TV station — meaning the vast majority of Central Florida can’t pick up its signal (analog or digital). I’m in east Orlando, and it doesn’t show up on my TV.

 Joe Chaplionski, GM for the station, is hoping WHDO will be picked up by local cable carriers to extend its reach. “Folks who would like to view WHDO-TV and are anxious for the kind of programming we’ll be giving them, should call their cable or satellite provider and ask them to start carrying our station,” Chaplinski told Central Florida Lifestyle. “If they ask for it, the cable companies will deliver.”

The station has a Web site — whdotv.com. Here’s a demo video that appears on the site.


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Gibson to anchor World News from Orlando this week

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Some notes to start the week …

ABC’s World News with Charles Gibson will air from Orlando on Thursday night. His visit to the Sunshine State is part of ABC’s “Battleground Bus Tour,” which will take Gibson to key areas around the country that could decide the presidential election. Other stops after Orlando, according to ABC: Valdosta, Ga., on Friday; Dayton, Ohio, on Monday, Oct. 6; Bowling Green, Ohio, on Tuesday, Oct. 7; Kalamazoo, Mich., on Wednesday, Oct. 8; Racine, Wisc., on Thursday, Oct. 9; and Davenport, Iowa, on Friday, Oct. 10. In addition to anchoring World News from Orlando, Gibson will also remain in Orlando to anchor the Vice Presidential Debate that will be taking place Thursday night in St. Louis.

More politics: Orlando’s TV stations are enjoying the political season and the infusion of cash those annoying political ads bring. According to the Orlando Sentinel, since the Aug. 26 primary, candidates and parties have spent nearly $3.5 million on O-Town’s local TV stations and Bright House cable. The Sentinel says the Democrats are outspending the Republicans locally by a 2-to-1 margin. To give you an idea of how the money piles up, a 30-second spot on WFTV’s top-rated Eyewitness News at 6 p.m. costs $1,650 — and Barack Obama has been buying 2-minute blocks for some of his ads.

Help wanted: Want to be the news director at Fox 35? Just click here. The job is the one formerly help by Bob Clinkingbeard (great name for a pirate ). He left WOFL earlier this month after about three years at the station. Jeff Zeller, assistant ND, is running the newsroom until a replacement is found.

 

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New NBC station cutting into WESH’s territory

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WESH’s reach north is going to be diminished soon when Gainesville gets its own NBC affiliate. WNBW-DT 9 is scheduled to officially go on the air on Jan. 1 — but it has already been testing its signal (see the image to the left). Gainesville has had its own ABC affiliate, WCJB-Ch. 20, for a long time. It got a CBS affiliate a few years back — WGFL-Ch. 53.

According to the Gainesville Sun, Cox Cable in Gainesville must carry the new NBC station on its limited, basic lineup. But spokesman Rick Mulligan said there is still an agreement to carry WESH, so Gainesville cable viewers will have two NBC affiliates to watch.  We’ll have to see how long that lasts.

“We’re certainly going to brand the station to the point where they would rather watch the Gainesville NBC than the Orlando NBC,” Michael Yanuzzi, president of New Age Media, told the Sun. New Age Media operates both WGFL and WNBW on behalf of owner MPS Media. Both companies are based in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Interesting footnote is that the WNBW call sign is pretty historic. It originally belonged to what is now WRC-NBC 4 in Washington, D.C. When WNBW began broadcasting in 1947, it was the second NBC station to go on the air after the network’s flagship New York City station. It’s call letters — which stood for NBC Washington — were changed to WRC in 1954.

 

 

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Caylee Anthony case topic of today’s Dr. Phil show

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Because all the coverage on local TV and the Web, Nancy Grace and 20/20 just aren’t enough, Dr. Phil will give his take on the Caylee Anthony saga on his show today. It airs at 7 p.m. on WKMG-Local 6.

According to Dr. Phil’s Web site,  “Caylee Anthony’s face has been splashed across magazine covers and TV screens since July 2008, and her mom, Casey, has been named a person of interest in the case. Many fear that the worst has happened to the missing 3-year-old. Dr. Phil examines the psychological aspects of a story that continues to grip America’s imagination with its bizarre twists and turns.”

If you’ve been following the case — and who can avoid it — you’ll see lots of familiar faces. Plus, Dr. Phil brings in some new folks. Ernie Allen, president and founder of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, will answer questions about how come Caylee is getting such attention when other missing children — especially those who aren’t white — are not.

Get a full preview of the show by clicking here.

 

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