Changes keep coming at Local 6

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Lots of personnel moves happening at WKMG.

First, morning anchor Jacquie Sosa — who was supposed to return from maternity leave on Monday — was told her contract had not been renewed. She’s not expected to appear on the air again at the station, according to an insider. Sosa’s original co-anchor in the morning was Mark McEwen, who suffered a stroke in 2005.

Main sports anchor Todd Lewis signed off for the last time during Tuesday’s 6 p.m. show. His contract was not renewed either. Lewis had been with WKMG since 1997, first as weekend sports guy, then morning news guy and back to sports as the main weekday anchor. No word on his replacement — if there will be one. WKMG has cut back on its sports coverage, canceling its longtime Sunday night highlight show. Holding down the sports fort is weekend sports anchor Lee Goldberg. When Ryan Baker left as WKMG in 2003, Goldberg worked an incredible 59 consecutive days covering all the sports shifts while before the station moved Lewis into the main sports seat.

And an insider at WKMG says reporter Samantha Knapp has told staff that she’s out of at the end of this month. She reportedly has been working month to month without a contract.

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Overweight? WESH wants to see you

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In what sounds like a possible May sweeps series, WESH is seeking some overweight volunteers to be on TV. According to a number of Atkins-related Web sites, Channel 2 wants four volunteers to test out different diets so it can report the results.

 

One site, Living La Vida Lo-Carb, reports, “WESH-TV will be featuring four different people who will follow one of four major diets, including low-carb, throughout the month of April and May.” Speculation is that four diets in the WESH report might be Atkins, Zone, LEARN, and Ornish diets — which were all featured in a recent Journal of the American Medical Association study about diets. In that report, the Atkins diet produced the most weight loss.

 

If you’re interested in taking part in the WESH report, you can contact a rep at the firm working with Channel 2 on the case study. That would be Lisa Strickland Harris at 212-229-0500 or e-mail her at LHarris@crt-tanaka.com.

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New anchor and future news anchor

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Central Florida News 13 is getting a new morning anchor starting Monday. Lisa Bell will be the 5 to 10 a.m. anchor with meteorologist Jeff Day, Orlando Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker reports. Bell comes to CFN13 from WEAR-ABC 3 in Pensacola. "Her talent and level of commitment make her the perfect person for this role at News 13," station GM Robin Smythe said of Bell.

Meanwhile, Katie Trexler is someone you may see on one of Orlando’s stations soon. She’s the morning and midday anchor at Denver’s KMGH-ABC 7, but she’s relocating to Orlando, according to the Rocky Mountain News. Trexler’s husband recently received a sweet gig from an O-Town company, so the family is heading East. Trexler, the mother of twin 4-year-olds, says she plans to take some time off before deciding whether to get back into TV here.

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Thief gets into WFTV, steals from employees

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Looks like WKMG’s new "Catch A Criminal" feature could have a new subject — the guy who robbed workers at WFTV this week.

According to Channel 9′s Web site, the station’s security cameras caught the thief trying to get into a locked employee entrance around 9:45 a.m. — during regular business hours. "Then he walked around the building, past the live vans to the back, where he slipped in a side door. He walked inside and stole debit cards from five WFTV employees," the story said. Those employees later saw thousands of dollars worth of charges on their debit cards.

Police think the man may be the same person who got into the Orlando Sentinel’s building and stole from employees there. Police said almost every large office building in downtown Orlando has been targeted by thieves, who have gotten away with cash, credit cards and even computers — all the time posing as workers or visitors in the buildings.

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WESH extends Wendy Chioji’s contract

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WESH has extended the contract of longtime anchor Wendy Chioji, according to NewsBlues.com . No word on contract details. Her solo-anchored WESH 2 News at 6 p.m. newscast was up 10 percent from a year ago in the February sweeps. Chioji has been with the station since 1988, as a reporter, weekend anchor and then lead anchor. To salute Wendy on her new deal, here’s a clip of her closing out the weekend news back in 1990, plus a 2 News promo from 17 years ago.

>> Click here to watch WESH weekend news close.

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Catching up: Lots of “new” news to report

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Dang, a lot of stuff has been going on since I took my spring break …

NEW BABY: Central Florida’s largest team of broadcast meteorologists just got larger. WESH’s Leslie Hudson gave birth to Avery Vy Russell last week. She was born at 7:26 a.m. on Wednesday and weighed in at 6 pounds, 12 ounces. You can find a couple of pics here. Congrats!

NEW TRAFFIC GUY: Ryan Harper of Metro Networks is the new morning traffic guy at WOFL-Fox 35. He replaces Ken Smith, who after nearly 3 years of flying in the chopper for WOFL, has flown west. Insiders say Smith landed a gig with top-rated KLAS in Las Vegas. He reportedly starts in April.

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