Posts Tagged ‘News 13’

Birthday time for WESH, WRBW

June 13th, 2010

Some quick notes from the news that is television …

Happy birthday, WESH. Channel 2 turned 54 years old on Friday. The station went on the air June 11, 1956, from Daytona Beach. Some fun facts about WESH: It was the 19th television station in Florida. … It wasn’t the only NBC affiliate in Central Florida when it went on the air. It shared NBC with WDBO-Channel 6 because most folks outside of Volusia County could not receive WESH, which was broadcasting on a 300-foot tower in Daytona at the time. On November 5, 1957 — the day WESH  activated a new 1,000-foot tower in Orange City — it got the NBC affiliation all to itself. … Of the Big 4 network affiliates in Orlando, WESH is the only station with its original call letters. Check out our WESH history page for more information. …

Fox-owned WRBW-My 65 celebrated its sweet 16  birthday on June 4. It went on the air as independent Rainbow 65 in 1994.  …

I’ve been traveling a lot lately and came across some familiar faces on TV. In Chicago, former WKMG sports anchor Ryan Baker is now at WBBM-CBS 2 as the main sports guy at the CBS O&O. In Norfolk/Virginia Beach, former WESH morning anchor Tom Schaad is the main anchor at WAVY-NBC 10. …

Eboni Deon has joined WFTV as Channel 9′s new weekend meteorologist. She previously worked at CNN International and The Weather Channel — which could explain why she has admirers from across the globe on her Facebook Fan Page. She replaces Ben Smith, who moved from Channel 9 to WHNT-CBS 19 in Huntsville, Ala. (And WHNT is also the home of former WESH meteorologist Dan Sattefield.) …

I don’t write much about Central Florida News 13 — since I can’t get it on my home TV — but the cable station says it will launch a new website soon. “More video. Easier to Use. More of What YOU Want,” is how News 13 is describing its new cfnews13.com page. Stay turned.

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Posted in Anchors, Orlando TV, WESH-2, WFTV-9, WOFL-35, Weather

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Hurricane Charley anniversary telethon Thursday

August 12th, 2009
Credit: Orlando Weekly

Courtesy Orlando Weekly

WKMG broadcast fascinating recollections of Hurricane Charley — and the other storms of 2004 — on Wednesday night. Reporter Donald Forbes had a particulary moving tale of riding out the storm in Port Charlotte crouched next to a wall, finally reaching the safety of the station’s satellite truck only after the storm’s eye arrived with an eerie orange glow.

A reminder that on Thursday — the fifth anniversary of Charley — WKMG-Local 6, WOFL-Fox 35 and Central Florida News 13 are teaming up for a daylong telethon to benefit the Red Cross. The stations will be providing coverage of the telethon, which runs from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. To donate, you can call 1-888-288-9279.

Finally, I couldn’t let the Charley anniversary pass without another look at one of my favorite Orlando Weekly cartoons from 2004. Tom Terry and Tom Sorrells became the most popular people in Central Florida for their endless hours of on-air work during Charley, Frances and Jeanne — but, no offense guys, we don’t ever want to see that much of you two again!

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Posted in CF News 13, WKMG-6, WOFL-35

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Hurricane Charley: Orlando stations remember anniversary with special, Red Cross telethon

August 10th, 2009

hurricanecharleyThursday will mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Charley’s surprising and destructive visit to Orlando.

Orlando’s TV stations performed a great public service on Aug. 13, 2004 — dismissing the official National Hurricane Center track for the storm and correctly predicting the hurricane was headed to Orlando, not to Tampa. The stations gave residents extra time to prepare for the storm — but no one could have known it would be a hurricane drill that would have to be repeated two more times during our relentless summer of storms.

Area stations are marking the anniversary in different ways. WKMG-Local 6 — which lost power during Hurricane Charley and remained on the air only by using a generator from one of its live trucks — will air a one-hour special Wednesday that recalls not only Charley but the other storms of 2004. “Charley, Frances & Jeanne: Five Years Later” will air at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

WKMG is joining WOFL-Fox 35 and Central Florida News 13 in hosting a daylong telethon, beginning at 5 a.m. Thursday. Money collected will go to the American Red Cross — which provided relief to Central Floridians during Charley, Frances and Jeanne. Read more about the telethon here.

After the jump, photos and video of Hurricane Charley’s Orlando visit

» Read more: Hurricane Charley: Orlando stations remember anniversary with special, Red Cross telethon

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Posted in CF News 13, Orlando TV, WKMG-6, WOFL-35, Weather

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News 13 jumps out of news-sharing pool

August 6th, 2009

ttt-cfn13It didn’t take long for Orlando’s news pool to spring a leak.

The Sentinel’s Hal Boedeker reports that Central Florida News 13 has left the news-sharing pool that also included WKMG-Local 6 and WOFL-Fox 35.  “I don’t think it’s as beneficial to our organization as we hoped,” News 13 GM Robin Smythe told Boedeker. “We’re stepping away from it on a daily basis. The experiment is going extremely well. Everyone is playing well with each other. We have a different deadline structure from the traditional newscasts. Our story coverage needs are different, the timing is different.”

The news-sharing agreement — in which News 13, Local 6 and Fox 35 shared video of certain news events — started less than a month ago. It mirrored news sharing deals that have been popping up in other markets across the nation.

WKMG GM Skip Valet told Boedeker the pool will continue with Local 6 and Fox 35. “For now, it’s the two of us,” Valet said. “It’s going fine. Robin wasn’t specific about what didn’t work for her. WOFL and WKMG are pleased with how it’s working out.”

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Posted in CF News 13, Orlando TV, WKMG-6, WOFL-35

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Local 6, Fox 35 and News 13 start pooling coverage as experiment

July 15th, 2009

Orlando’s TV news departments have jumped into the pool — hoping to save a splash of cash.

Following a national trend, the newsrooms at WKMG-Local 6, WOFL-Fox 35 and Central Florida News 13 have startinged pooling their video on certain assignments. NewsBlues.com reports that the experiment began Tuesday, and it involves assignment managers at the three stations determining stories they can share video on. Then, the stories will be fed via FTP to the other stations at 11:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. In theory, the deal saves stations money — instead of each sending a crew to cover a news conference, only one crew will go and share the video with the others. (You save money because you need fewer crews; or in the case of Orlando’s stations — you can cover more news because you have already have fewer feet on the street because of staff reductions.)

Interesting that the big dogs in town — top-rated WFTV-Channel 9 and No.2 WESH-2 – are not participating. Also intersting will be seeing how long this experiment will last in our ultra-competitive market.

Just last week, a similar pool agreement among several Atlanta stations started falling apart when CBS affiliate WGCL pulled out of the month-old agreement. WGCL thought the pool agreement was slow to respond to breaking news (and we have none of the around here, right?). Read more about the Atlanta situation here.


» Read more: Local 6, Fox 35 and News 13 start pooling coverage as experiment

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Posted in CF News 13, Orlando TV, WKMG-6, WOFL-35

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