Tag Archives: Bob Longo

WESH gang back together again at Growing Bolder

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Catching up on Orlando TV news after being busy Christmas shopping …

Former WESH anchor Wendy Chioji has reunited with former Channel 2 colleagues Marc Middleton and Bill Shafer on their Growing Bolder television venture. She’s joining the show for its second season on public television. She was at the show’s Maitland headquarters recently to tape segments for season 2. Click here to see a video of the shoot. And the Orlando Sentinel  has more on Chioji’s new role with Growing Bolder. …

WESH News Director Bob Longo responded to Comedy Central’s poking of the station for its incorrect report about “red and green” being banned at Heathrow Elementary for the holidays. Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker says Longo sent him the following email: “We pride ourselves on providing our viewers with accurate information. It’s one of our core tenets. And while we always strive to be accurate, in this case we made a mistake We regret it. We spoke to the school superintendent after the story aired and asked what we could do to make it right. We corrected our mistake immediately on TV and posted the school’s entire statement on line, which was two weeks ago. They are satisfied.” …

WKMG reacts to that news, reported here via NewsBlues.com, that it was dropping weekend sports anchor Todd Romero and bringing in Jamie Seh from Albany, N.Y., as his replacement. “It’s a personnel matter. He has left the station following the conclusion of his contract,” WKMG General Manager Skip Valet told Boedeker. Said Romero, “My contract was ending Dec. 31. I just think they didn’t want me to say goodbye on the air.” …

Finally, another WKMG alumnus, Donald Forbes, has joined Bright House Networks as its senior director of corporate communications. Congrats.

O-Town Tweeters make news, plus other notes

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twitter2Some quick notes for midweek:

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:

No charges for hoe-swinging grandma

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WESH and WOFL will not press charges against the hoe-swinging grandma who attacked their news crews earlier this week. But if some folks had their way, there would be charges filed against the news crews.

First, the stations’ points of view. “While the incident and the woman’s actions are disturbing, and in my opinion criminal, our employees have at this time decided to not pursue charges against her,” WESH News Director Bob Longo told Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker. Fox 35 GM Stan Knott told Boedeker, “Obviously, the lady was very upset. Fortunately, none of our guys was hit or hurt. It’s just a good reminder to keep your head up. It’s wild.”

Boedeker reported the story on his Sentinel blog. At least 40 comments were left on the posting — with a surprising number supporting grandma. A sampling of the comments: “Maybe some of these TV people should think about knock on someone’s door and shoving a camera in their face” … “Shows the intelligence of reporters and journalist in general” … “The news crews were out of line. Lucky she only had a hoe.”

Cabrera leaves WESH, Garofalo and Longo come to town

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It’s been a good, long while since I’ve blogged about anything. Buy my resolution for 2009 is to write more — so I’m getting an early start. Here’s some of the stuff that’s been going on recently in O-Town’s TV Land …

Meteorologist Ivan Cabrera has left WESH. Cabrera’s agent, Rob Jordan, told Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker, “He signed a confidentiality agreement and is not commenting. It was all very amicable.” According to Boedeker, WESH space reporter Dan Billow — who has a meteorology degree — may be helping out with the weather now that Channel 2 is down to just four mets. Cabrera had been with WESH since May 2006, but what’s next for him? Well, he is doing voiceover work. He has a Web site where you can hear some of his samples.

Is Bob Frier getting pushed out at WKMG? We hope not, but it sure looks suspicious over at Local 6. The station has brought in Mike Garofalo from KOAT in Albuquerque to anchor the 4 and 6 p.m. newscasts with Jacqueline London. Frier will now co-anchor the 5 and 11 p.m. shows with London, and Garofalo will report for the 11 p.m. show. There is an O-Town connection with Garofalo. Back in New Mexico, working with Garofalo at KOAT was former WOFL-Fox 35 anchor Shelly Ribando.

Do you realize that as we head into 2009, the only news director who started 2008 with an O-Town station and is finishing the year is WFTV’s Bob Jordan? Bob Longo at WESH is the newest ND in town, coming from WTAE in Pittsburgh to replace Barb Maushard, who took a corporate job with Hearst-Argyle. WOFL-Fox 35 brought in Gavin Maliska in November to replace Bob Clinkingbeard, and in February WKMG hired Steve Hyvonen from WEWS in Cleveland in replace Susan Forbes.

 

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