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Weather forecast for WFTV: More Tom Terry

Roger — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:24:07 +0000

Tom Terry

You may watch him or you may not – but you most certainly know about WFTV chief meterologist Tom Terry.

The man who helped Central Floridians “hunker down” during the historic hurricane season of 2004 is going to be with Channel 9 through at least another six storm seasons.

Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker reports that WFTV has signed Terry to a new six-year deal.

“It [his contract] was supposed to be up at the end of the year, but we went to him early,” WFTV News Director Bob Jordan said. “He’s the best meteorologist I’ve ever worked with.”

Read the full story here

Click here for photos, video from hurricane season 2004

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Hurricane Charley anniversary telethon Thursday

Roger — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 02:49:20 +0000

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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Orlando Magazine readers pick TV favorites

Roger — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:36:15 +0000

The fine readers of Orlando Magazine have once again selected the choices for “Best of Orlando” in a number of categories. Alas, RogerSimmons.com didn’t place among best local Web sites this time, but here are the results for the television categories:

Best Local TV Station: (1) WFTV-Channel 9, (2) WESH-Channel 2, (3) WOFL-Channel 35

Best TV News Team: (1) WESH-Channel 2, (2) WFTV-Channel 9, (3) WKMG-Channel 6

Best TV Sportscaster: (1) Pat Clarke, WESH; (2) David Pingalore, WKMG; (3) TIE: Phil Burton, WFTV; Stuart Scott, ESPN

Best TV Forecaster: (1) Tom Terry, WFTV; (2) TIE: Tom Sorrells, WKMG; Danny Treanor, Central Florida News 13

Check out the full list of winners at OrlandoMagazine.com

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WESH anchors keep rolling in Celebrity Smackdown game

Roger — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:32:38 +0000

The WESH duo of Jim Payne and Martha Sugalski dispatched WKMG’s main anchors to move into the third round of OrlandoSentinel.com’s Celebrity Smackdown game. Also advancing to face the Channel 2 Cinderellas — the anchors of WFTV’s top-rated Daybreak show, Greg Warmoth and Vanessa Echols. Earlier, Payne and Sugalski upset WFTV evening anchors Bob Opsahl and Martie Salt.

More on the other big O-Town TV matchup after the jump …

The other big Orlando TV battle is between the matchup is a battle of the Toms — chief meteorologist Tom Terry of WFTV vs. chief met Tom Sorrells of WKMG.

On the radio side of the bracket, Ellis Feaster and Tyler McKenzie of Z88 take on the Monsters of 104.1, and Doc and Grace of K92 tackle Johnny and Jayde of 106.7.

Voting in this round continues until Sunday. Nearly 30,000 votes were cast in the second round.

To cast your vote or to just check on the totals, click here.

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Demos leaving WFTV/WRDQ for Miami

Roger — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 16:59:29 +0000

Some news nuggets for you, even if you aren’t headed back to school today…

WFTV/WRDQ anchor Cynthia Demos is heading to Miami after five years in O-Town, NewsBlues.com reports. Where’s she headed in Miami? The station that seems to be filling up former O-Town folks — CBS O&O WFOR. …

We all know how competitive weather is around here — i.e. my Doppler is bigger than your Doppler. So, I thought it was interesting that WFTV brought in chief met Tom Terry and WKMG brought in chief met Tom Sorrells on Sunday to cover Hurricane Dean. WESH and WOFL stayed with their regular weekend forecasters. ….

Also, WFTV has sent morning meteorologist Brian Shields to Cancun to cover the approach of Hurricane Dean. …

Now confirmed … features reporter Candice Coleman is indeed leaving Local 6. That’s too bad. As our local newscasts continue to focus on crime, cars running into houses and dogs biting people, the type of feature stories Coleman reported certainly helped the story mix and gave a nice respite from the relentless pounding drumbeat of “breaking news.” …

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WKMG’s new look is a little familiar

Roger — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 17:26:35 +0000

WKMG unveiled its new set — as well as new graphics, news music and a new weather center on Tuesday. The Local 6 Big Picture Weather Center is out — in is the Storm Tracking Center. But a couple of people have noticed this new WKMG weather center looks a lot like another one here in town. Hmmmm. Still, nice upgrades all around by WKMG.

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