Ed Trauschke, whose four-year run as news director at WESH ended in August, has landed in Little Rock, Ark. The Arkansas TV News blog reports that Clear Channel’s WLRT-Fox 16 has hired Trauschke as its new ND. He replaces Michael Fabrac, who left the station in Nielsen market No. 57 in August. Trauschke was a longtime reporter for O-Town’s Channel 6 before becoming WESH’s ND.
Annetta Wilson, former anchor at Channel 6 and marketing director at CFN 13, checks in to report that life off-air is great. Well, actually, she’s still involved in television.
Recently received this photo of former 1980s WESH anchors Bobby Estill, Bruce Hamilton and Carol Granstrom, posing on the Channel 2 anchor desk. If only Dave Marsh had been around for the photo!
WESH Sunrise reporter Shannon FitzPatrick signed off Wednesday morning. She’s leaving the TV biz to pursue a career in real estate and marketing. (I’d like to have a dollar for every TV person who has gone into real estate, but I digress.) FitzPatrick started at WESH in 1998 and moved to the Sunrise show in 2005. Little-known trivia about FitzPatrick: She’s the niece of 1980s WESH anchor Carol Granstrom.
Meanwhile, over at WFTV, I failed to note the departure of weekend anchor Jorge Estevez. His last day on the air was March 19. He’s heading to Miami’s CBS O&O, WFOR. No word on his replacement at Channel 9, although with Cynthia Demos also off this past Saturday-Sunday, it was Greg Warmoth and Chris Egert filling in on the weekend desk.
Marc Middleton, who is leaving WESH at the end of the month after 18 years at the station, is teaming up with former Channel 2 anchor Andrea Coudriet to form a media relations company.
Middleton Coudriet Media Group already has its first client —Tavistock Cup, the annual Isleworth vs. Lake Nona golf competition that is televised internationally on The Golf Channel.
"We are thrilled to be working with an internationally respected company like the Tavistock Group," Middleton said in a news release. "We feel like we’ve made a hole in one off the first tee."
Added Coudriet: "The Tavistock Cup will provide the perfect opportunity to demonstrate what we can do. This event deserves a lot of attention. We’re anxious to help tell this story."
Middleton is leaving WESH after joining the station the 1980s and has served as sports director, news anchor and business and technology reporter. Coudriet left the WESH anchor desk in 1996 and has become one of Central Florida’s most successful event organizers and fundraisers.