Former WKMG-Local 6 anchor Bob Frier, who recently signed with WOFL-Fox 35, will make his debut on his new station Dec. 14, according to station promos. Still no word on how the anchor duties at Fox 35 are going to be shuffled with Frier’s arrival. But it’s great that he will be back on TV — and may make the difference in pushing Fox 35 permanently ahead of WKMG in the early evening time slots where they square off. …

Holiday cheer, courtesy of Central Florida’s News Leader: When the City of Orlando said it would not have a Christmas tree this year due to budget cuts, WFTV-Channel 9 repsonded. According to the Orlando Sentinel, “A 31-foot blue spruce was donated by Warren Brown and Co., a tree farm, and the $6,800 cost of transporting it from North Carolina and installing it is being paid by AirTran Airways and WFTV.” Channel 9 is also a sponsor of the holiday Light Up UCF event. …

What will WFTV do when Oprah Winfrey ends her talk show in 2011? It’s probably too early to tell, but according to Broadcasting & Cable, most ABC O&O’s which air Oprah already know what they’re doing – more news. “According to many sources, executives at the ABC stations that serve as Oprah’s key station group have long said they will fill the time slots by expanding their local news. The ABC stations remain strong–even in today’s tough environment–and are news leaders,” B&C reported So, don’t be surprised to see WFTV’s Eyewitness News starting at 4 p.m. come September 2011. That’s still a long way off, and lots of things could happen, but that’s my bet. …

They’re hearing wedding bells over at WKMG. Local 6 evening anchor Mike Garofalo got hitched, and morning anchor Laura Diaz got engaged. Orlando Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker reports that Garofalo married Sasha Andrade, a reporter at Post-Newsweek sister station WPLG-Local 10 in Miami. Boedeker says Diaz got engaged a month ago “to a WKMG colleague she identifies only as Mike.” Diaz told Boedeker,  ”He’s in sales. He’s in the other world, what we call the dark side.”

TVNewsCheck.com is noting how Twitter has become popular in TV newsrooms, and it called upon two of O-Town’s top TV Tweeters to explain the craze. ”I thought the social networking sites were strictly a phenomenon of teenagers and young kids. I thought it was meaningless chatter, but it’s not,” WFTV News Director Bob Jordan told the site.  “It’s now the primary way a lot of people communicate, share and obtain information. Not to be in that space would be just the dumbest thing anyone could do, if you’re in the communications business.” WESH ND Bob Longo – another Twitter fan and occasional target of Jordan’s Tweets — told TVNewsCheck,  “I like it for a few reasons: It’s a little bit town crier, a little bit police scanner and another news monitor on the assignment desk wall.” You can read the full story here. …

Former WKMG anchor Bob Frier is back on the air. You can catch him in the mornings this week filling in for vacationing Erica Lee on Mix 105.1 FM’s Scott and Erica Show. As you are probably aware, Frier and DJ Scott McKenzie are part of the band Simulcast. It’s good to hear Bob again. Maybe radio is in his future? That’s what happened to former Channel 6 anchor Leslye Gayle when the station dropped her — she popped up on Magic 107.7 and has been doing mornings there since. …

Fox 35 is gearing up for next week’s launch of its expanded morning news. The 8:30 to 10 a.m. segment is being branded as “Good Day.” Amy Kaufeldt, Heidi Hatch, Jacquie Sosa and Christine van Blokland will helm the show. Promos have started airing. You can check one out below:

Why did WKMG let go longtime anchor Bob Frier? Could be a combination of things — budget tightening, wanting to go in a different direction … yadda, yadda, yadda.

But one key reason has to be Local 6′s ratings. Yes, WKMG’s 11 p.m. newscast — once ranked No. 1 — does well following CBS’ primetime, but the station’s early evening newscasts are ailing. When other stations are promoting their upcoming 11 p.m. shows during network primetime, WKMG has been running spots trying to lure viewers to its 5 p.m. newscast.

And according to NewsBlues.com, WKMG may need a lot more promos. When Frier signed off on Friday night at the end of the 6 p.m. newscast, fewer than 1,000 homes in the key 25-54 demo were tuned in … and WKMG was the seventh-rated station in that quarter hour.

Here’s the viewer info from Friday evening, from NewsBlues.com:

Bob Frier

Orlando Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker reports the station and the longtime anchor have “mutually agreed to part ways.”

New arrival Mike Garofalo will become the main anchor along side Jacqueline London. Garofalo came to the station in December and has been anchoring at 4 and 6 with London.

Read Bob’s bio here.

More to come.

The UCF Knights have to thank WESH for part of their Conference USA Championship. Heavy rains late last week make the field at Bright House Networks Stadium soggy, so the school asked WESH to bring over its chopper to help dry the field. While school officials have been concerned about how fans jump up and down and shake the stadium, from the video, flying a chopper inside the bowl looks far more dangerous. Watch the video. (It’s the second one under the video player.) …

Former WKMG reporter Candice Coleman, now working for the Disney News Bureau, did a story about the pardoned Thanksgiving turkey arriving at Disney World for Good Morning America’s Web cast. Here’s a link. (Also, I know it’s Disney Co.-synergy, but do you think ABC News has ever run a PR release video from any other company?) …

I couldn’t get by without posting a link to the “Blondes Make Men Dumb” clip that reportedly cost someone at WESH their job (at least that’s what the folks on our message board are saying). For the O-Town TV watcher who’s just now climbing out from under a rock, here’s the clip. …

News WESH anchor Aixa Diaz made a trip to “back home” to Puerto Rico for the station — documenting the trip, of course. With the area’s Puerto Rican population surging, advertising an anchor’s ties to the island seems to be a smart idea.

WKMG anchor Bob Frier will sing (yes) and help light the City of Orlando’s Christmas tree on Wednesday at 5:15 p.m. at City Hall.

Simulcast — the Orlando band that features WKMG anchor Bob Frier and Mix 105.1 FM morning guy Scott McKenzie — makes its debut on Friday night at 9:30 at Dexter’s in Lake Mary. “The number one goal of Simulcast is to raise loads of money to help bring ‘music education and appreciation’ to the Children of the Orlando area,” according to the band’s MySpace page. One way of doing that is supporting the Steinway Society of Central Florida — one of Frier’s favorite charities.

Click below to check out Frier singing with the band.