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Posts Tagged ‘Shawn Bartelt’

Without American Idol, Fox 35 falls behind WRDQ

September 7th, 2009

WRDQ beats WOFL at 10 -- but the gap was not as large as this WRDQ graphic would make it appear on first glance

Catching up on some Orlando TV News after taking a short blogging break…

Yes, it’s really true. For the first time since its launch in 2002, WRDQ’s 10 p.m. newscast knocked off the No. 1 early-late news in town: Fox 35 News at 10. According to a WRDQ news release, Eyewitness News at Ten won the time period with adults 25-54 Monday through Friday in the August ratings period. TV27 delivered 1,113 more adults than Fox 35, despite having a lower-rated lead-in. TV27 grew 136 percent off its Oprah rerun lead-in while WOFL lost 33 percent of its lead-in audience. “The tremendous growth Eyewitness News at Ten has shown in August is a testament to TV27’s dedication to provide viewers with a quality fast-paced newscast,” said WFTV/WRDQ GM Shawn Bartelt. “I’m excited to see this trend continue for our Eyewitness News brand.” …

And after being dethroned in July as the morning news king by WESH, WFTV was back on top in August. From 5-7 a.m., Channel 9’s Eyewitness News Daybreak pulled in 20,538 adults 25-45. WESH 2’s Sunrise was No. 2 with 14,440, followed closely by Local 6’s Morning News with 14,180 and Fox 35 Morning News with 12,250. …

WFTV won all the news time periods in August, including the iconic 6 p.m. time period where it had 49,042 adults 25-54, followed by WESH (29,152), WKMG (14,665) and WOFL (11,775) …

A new Twitter site is posting Orlando TV ratings daily.OrlandoRatings has the scoop. The numbers look legit, but analyze at your own risk.

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Posted in Orlando TV, WESH-2, WFTV-9, WKMG-6, WOFL-35

Tags: Ratings Shawn Bartelt WESH-2 WFTV-9 WKMG-6 WOFL-35 WRDQ-27

WESH blames WFTV’s Jordan for swine flu report

April 29th, 2009

Reports of swine flu in Orlando are raising the temperatures of some folks running the local news stations.

On Tuesday, WFTV-Channel 9 reported that there was a confirmed case of swine flu in Orlando. The report turned out to be false. WFTV blamed the error on an email it received from a doctor at Florida Hospital; WESH-Channel 2 blamed WFTV News Director Bob Jordan.

“Hospital Denies Report of Swine Flu in Orlando” was the headline on WESH.com. The report detailed a news conference at Florida Hospital about the incident. Channel 2 reported: “The news conference was held in response to a media report that a tourist from Mexico who was at the Disney attractions had swine flu. The report, first posted on the WFTV news director’s Twitter account at 10:35 a.m., quoted an e-mail sent by Florida Hospital’s chief medical officer Dr. Loran Hauck.”

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Posted in Orlando TV, WESH-2, WFTV-9

Tags: Bob Jordan Shawn Bartelt WESH-2 WFTV-9

New news leader? WFTV, WESH battling it out

February 6th, 2009

Could WESH be about to end WFTV’s 30-year reign as the king of TV news in Orlando?

New Nielsen “people meters” data show — and parties at both stations acknowledge — a tight, two-station race between WFTV and WESH for the title of Central Florida’s news leader.

According to Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker, WFTV averaged 48,000 viewers to WESH’s 46,400 at 6 p.m. in the news-coveted 25-to-54 age group. For the demo at 11, WFTV had 43,200 to WESH’s 37,500.

Here’s the amazing part: Among viewers ages 18-to-49, WESH is the No. 1 station at 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m. — 30,000 viewers for WESH to 29,000 for WFTV.

“It’s a two-station race,” WFTV GM Shawn Bartelt told the Sentinel.

WESH GM Jim Carter agreed: “Based on the ratings I see, it’s a two-station race, and closer than it’s been in a long time. We were No. 2 at 11, just slightly behind WFTV. The rest of the time periods, we’re right there with them. The horse heads are next to one other. They’re neck and neck.”

WFTV still leads in the overall household ratings — 128,800 homes to WESH’s 100,100 at 6 p.m. But the demo results are a bit startling and perhaps indicate a shift in Central Florida’s viewing habits.