European vacation over — now, back to work

My picture of the Eiffel Tower at night ...

I still have a little jetlag after spending most of the past two weeks on a family vacation in Europe. It was an incredible experience as we toured Paris and Barceolona.

There were visits to Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, Versallies and the Louvre while in France, plus Las Ramblas, Parc Guell, Sagrada Familia, Montjuïc and Montserrat while in Spain. The history was great in Paris, but the food was better in Barcelona.

And in both countries, I had an opportunity to view their TV news programs. You know what? Despite being divided by the Atlantic and different languages, there really isn’t a lot of difference between American and European news broadcasts.

... at Gaudi's Parc Guell in Barcelona with the family on a beautiful day.

But here’s one difference — one I liked. Euronews, one of local news channels, has a segment called “No Comment” — stories are shown with natural sound and no narration. Some of the segments could be serious — such as a protest in Chile; others could be light-hearted — such as a festival in Russia. But letting the camera “be” the reporter added to the connection between the viewer and the subjects in the reports.

Euronews has a “No Comment” section on its website so you can sample some of the videos. Just click here. Here’s what Euronews says about the segments: “At Euronews we believe in the intelligence of our viewers and we think that the mission of a news channel is to deliver facts without any opinion or bias, so that the viewers can make their own opinion on world events. We also think that sometimes images need no explanation or commentary, which is why we created No Comment … to show the world from a different angle. ”

I hope some of the Orlando TV stations experiment with “no comment” features — because sometimes video images don’t need words.

Fox 35′s Jim Van Fleet heading to Tampa’s WTSP

from MyFoxOrlando.com

Meteorologist Jim Van Fleet, who has spent a decade forecasting the weather at WOFL-Fox 35, is heading to Tampa’s WTSP-CBS 10 to take over its chief meteorologist job.

“Fox 35 did make an offer for me to stay and it was a very generous offer, but quite simply this opportunity with WTSP is something meteorologists spend their entire lives working towards, and to have this door open for me right now is a dream come true and one I would be foolish to pass up,” Van Fleet told Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker.

Van Fleet came to WOFL from Texas for Fox 35′s chief meteorologist job — but was bumped after a year when former WFTV chief met Glenn Richards became available and joined Fox 35. Van Fleet ended up on the morning shift, where he became one of the area’s most popular TV personalities.

But you won’t stop seeing Van Fleet on Fox 35 anytime soon. He’ll be in O-Town until his current deal runs out in December. According to NewsBlues.com, Van Fleet asked to be released early from his WOFL contract but his request was refused. Why? In Tampa, he’ll be competing against Fox O&O WTVT-Fox 13.

NewsBlues also reported that Van Fleet got the new gig after WTSP GM Ken Tonning saw him on TV while visiting Gainesville. After being contacted by the WTSP, Van Fleet — who didn’t have an agent — hired Rick Carr, who got the deal done.

WTSP announced Van Fleet’s hiring on its website Monday afternoon.

Blast from the past: It’s Mike Douglas on WESH

Blast from the Past features an icon of TV talk shows, Mike Douglas.

This ad from November 1965 touts Douglas’ show on WESH-Channel 2 as a “merry go round of mirth and madness.” I vaguely remember the Mike Douglas Show, and not sure I would use the words “mirth” and “madness” to describe it. But hey, I was only 9 months old when this ad appeared.

Blast from the past: Channel 9 news ad from 1969

Blast from the Past focuses today on WFTV-Channel 9 and ABC.

This ad is from February 1969, promoting the ratings-challenged news on ABC and Channel 9. Frank Reynolds was the anchor of the “ABC Evening News.” Ray Reuster — who would later have a long career with the Daytona Beach News-Journal — was at the helm of the “Channel 9 News.” (Yep, there really was a time when there wasn’t Eyewitness News on WFTV.)

Blast from the past: WDBO-6 ad from 1975

Blast from the Past continues with a bit of history in this classic advertisment.

The date was June 14, 1973. You would think having an embattled President Richard Nixon in town give the commencement address at UCF (then known as Florida Technological University) would be the top story on Orlando TV, but it wasn’t.

Tragedy struck in Central Florida. Two workers were killed when a 1,500-foot transmission tower — the tallest structure in Florida at the time — came crashing down in Bithlo. The tower included transmitters for Channels 6, 9 and 24 plus radio stations WDBO-92.3 FM and WDIZ-100.3 FM. The accident would have a profound impact on Central Florida media.

WFTV was off the air for several weeks after the accident. WDBO-TV was able to use an old backup tower, but with a greatly reduced transmission. Neither station would return to full power until more than two years. In the meanwhile, WESH-2 — with its transmitter in Orange City — became the dominant (and only full-power) station.

Here’s the advertisement from Channel 6 in November 1975 announcing that it was back to full power on a new TV tower.