Posts Tagged ‘WFTV-9’

Summer break over: Catching up on Orlando TV

August 23rd, 2010

After a nice summer break away from TV news, it’s time to catch up. And, wow, there has been a lot going on ….

WFTV-Channel 9: Some of the most newsworthy changes have come from an unexpected place: the usually rock-steady Eyewitness News juggernaut. The big shocker: longtime anchor Barbara West is being taken off the 5:30 p.m. news, making way for rising star Vanessa Welch. GM  Shawn Bartelt told Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker the station is making the 5:30 change to provide some flow its new  6:30 p.m. news on WRDQ-TV 27. “I have the utmost respect for Barbara West,” Bartelt said. “This is no reflection on Barbara. I have to get more faces into those 90 minutes” from 5 to 6:30 p.m. West has been at WFTV since 1986 and will continue to anchor at noon and report on the health beat. … Another longtime WFTV anchor is also getting her air time scaled back, too. Daybreak anchor Vanessa Echols will be replaced by newcomer Bianca Castro from 7-9 a.m. on the Eyewitness News This Morning show on WRDQ. “We felt she needed a break,” Bartelt said of Echols. … And even more changes at WFTV: Main sports anchor Phil Burton is being shuffled out the door to make way for Christian Bruey, 26, who does play by play for the Daytona Cubs. Bruey starts in September. Burton will hang around through football season. … Morning meteorologist Matt Makens is departing WFTV to accept a weather position at Denver’s KMGH-ABC 7. … Speaking of Channel 9′s new  6:30 p.m. news, with Welch and newcomer Josh Benson, it will debut on Labor Day. … Finally (whew!), WFTV announced it will replace Oprah at 4 p.m. with Dr. Oz, starting in 2011. So much for theories that WFTV was going to launch a 4 p.m. newscast.

WOFL-Fox 35: After eight years, General Manager Stan Knott announced plans to leave the Fox O&O. While he’s been on board, the station has greatly expanded its news footprint in the mornings, evenings and weekends. No word on a replacement yet. More here.  … Dr. Phil will be joining the Fox 35 family in 2011.

WKMG-Local 6: Well, when we last checked, WKMG was in the process of a major house cleaning. Gone were anchor Jacqueline London, reporter Donald Forbes and morning weather guy Eric Wilson. The changes kept on coming. Reporter Jessica D’Onofrio has left, stepping up to ABC O&O WLS-7 in her hometown of Chicago. The Chicago Sun-Times says she starts Aug. 30 will be covering breaking news in the mornings. So, what about all those openings at WKMG? Julie Broughton, formerly of Central Florida News 13, has been brought in temporarily to help anchor on the weekends. More new faces at the station: Shaun Chaiyabhat, from Memphis, is a GA; Quinn Schuler, from Tuscon, Ariz.,  is a GA; and Cortney Hall, from Champaign, Ill. is a morning reporter. … We mentioned earlier, WKMG is going to let Dr. Phil — which replaced its 5 p.m. news — go to WOFL in 2011. Will WKMG get back into the early evening news game? GM SkipValet isn’t saying.

WESH 2 News: Sunrise anchor Jason Guy became a daddy earlier this month. He and his wife welcome daughter Quinn Katherine Guy. … And congrats to Todd Grasley, who had been heading up WESH’s High School Playbook website. He’s off to Panama City for a new weekend sports anchor gig.

Central Florida News 13: Well, I was surprised. Hal Boedeker reported on News 13′s ratings and how they fare against the other stations in town. I didn’t think 13 was much of a player, but the local cable news station regularly beats some of its broadcast competitors in several news time slots. Who knew “Weather on the 1′s” could be so popular? … Anchor Jackie Brockington, missing for three months, returned to the air. Where was she? On medical leave. “Nothing serious — reconstructive foot surgery,” Brockington told Boedeker.

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Posted in Anchors, CF News 13, Orlando TV, WESH-2, WFTV-9, WKMG-6, WOFL-35, WRDQ-27

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WFTV adding 6:30 p.m. news on WRDQ

June 17th, 2010

WKMG’s THE 6 O’Clock News hour is about to get some competition.

WFTV announced today that it will expand its Eyewitness News by a half hour in September, adding a 6:30 p.m. show on sister station WRDQ-TV 27  – giving Central Floridians two choices for local news at a time that has traditionally been reserved for national news.

But don’t expect to see Bob Opsahl or Martie Salt working the extra half hour. Orlando Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker reports that Vanessa Welch and Josh Benson will co-anchor the 6:30 show — which goes up against ABC’s World News on WFTV.

 “I don’t think you’re going to see a reduction in ABC ‘World News’ at all,” WFTV/WRDQ GM Shawn Bartelt told Boedeker. “You’ll see people who want local news at 6:30 coming to WRDQ.”

My 2 Cents: Benson was hired to be WFTV’s weekend anchor, but he’s moving the WRDQ 10 p.m. and 6:30 shows to replace Darrell Greene, who is leaving for Memphis. Sure looks like he’s being groomed as Opsahl’s eventual replacement. … Perhaps this new show is WFTV’s way of also gearing up to add news at 4 p.m. in the fall of 2011 once Oprah goes away. … Knowing the rivalry between WFTV and WESH, it wouldn’t surprise me if WESH had planned a 6:30 show on its sister station, WKCF-CW 18, and WFTV wanted to trump its foe by announcing now. Also wouldn’t surprise me if WESH now decides to to add a 6:30 show on CW18. … And, how embarassing would it be for WKMG’s low-rated 6 p.m. hour to get beat by WRDQ this fall!

Read more from the Orlando Sentinel here.

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Posted in Orlando TV, WFTV-9, WRDQ-27

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O-Town news from out of town

June 14th, 2010

Doug Kammerer (left), Melissa Ross and Mike Brooks on Fox 35's Good Day Orlando show.

Some quick out-of-town news with Orlando connections …

Former WOFL-Fox 35 meteorologist Doug Kammerer — who was part of the team that launched the station’s first morning show, Good Day Orlando  – is making news in the nation’s capital. He’s been named the new chief met at NBC O&O WRC-4. The Washington Post reports, “The hiring of Kammerer suggests management at NBC-4 prioritized injecting youth into its evening news team of veterans Jim Vance, Doreen Gentzler, and Dan Hellie [the former WFTV-Channel 9 sports anchor]. Kammerer just celebrated his 35th birthday last month which will make him the youngest chief meteorologist in the D.C. area by a long shot. He is young enough to be  [departing weatherman] Bob Ryan’s son … and younger than any of the meteorologists at NBC-4 who will be under him.” …

Cox’s Charlotte dupolopy — WSOC-ABC 9 and WAXN-TV 64 — is taking a page out of its Orlando sister stations’ playbook. Just as WFTV launched an expanded Eyewitness News This Morning show on WRDQ-TV 27  from 7 to 9 a.m. weekdays, WSOC will now do the same in Charlotte on WAXN. The Charlotte Observer reports, “WSOC has two sister stations in Orlando, also owned by Atlanta-based Cox, that use the same model — two hours of early news on the network affiliate, then another two hours on the independent station. It has proven successful, says Joe Pomilla, WSOC vice president.”

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Posted in Orlando TV, WFTV-9, WOFL-35

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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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FCC fines WFTV $40,000 for kids show violations

June 3rd, 2010

Orlando’s WFTV-Channel 9 is among seven TV stations across the nation being penalized by the Federal Communications Commission for violations of the Children’s Television Act of 1990.  WFTV was ordered to pay a $40,000 fine  for exceeding the limits on commercials allowed during kids’  TV shows more than 150 times.

According to FCC documents, the violations were self reported by WFTV during its 2004 license renewal. The station blamed a former employee for not understanding the FCC rules.

Here’s part of what the FCC report said:

“In Exhibit 25, the Licensee reported that the Station exceeded the children’s television commercial limits on 154 occasions during the license term. Of these overages, 153 were 15 seconds in duration. The Licensee appeared to indicate that the remaining overage was two minutes and 45 seconds in duration, and indicated that this overage was caused by a technical failure.

“… The Licensee attributed the overages to human error by the Station’s staff in scheduling the ABC network children’s programs to accommodate the Station’s local news. The Licensee stated that pursuant to its review of the Station’s programming after the departure of the employee handling the Station’s children’s programming responsibilities, it discovered an apparent misunderstanding by this former employee of the Commission’s commercial limits requirements. The Licensee asserted that it took immediate steps to ensure the Station’s future compliance with the children’s television commercial limits. The Licensee also averred that the overages were not motivated by monetary benefit. According to the Licensee, the Station is committed to broadcast and non-broadcast efforts for children and has participated in programs and events dedicated to supporting families and children during the license term. The Licensee requested that in reviewing its admitted overages, the Commission consider the mitigating circumstances7 and the Station’s “record as a licensee with a demonstrated commitment to children and children’s programming.”

You can read the full FCC report on WFTV here.

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Posted in Orlando TV, WFTV-9

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