2 others follow WFTV’s lead with HD

Some notes to start off the new week…

WFTV has lost its distinction as having Florida’s only HD newscast. Scripps-owned WFTS-ABC 28 started airing its news in HD on July 28, and sister station WPTV-NBC 5 in West Palm Beach became the first South Florida station to take the HD plunge last week. …

I recently asked if anyone had any info on the cryptic e-mail I received about big changes coming to WESH. A former WESH insider says the word is it’s contract renewal time for some of the station’s biggest names — and who knows if all of them will still be with WESH once negotiations end. Stay tuned …

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WFTV-Channel 9 sweeps July sweeps

There are a lot of re-runs in the summer … and also in the O-Town ratings competition. WFTV-Channel 9′s Eyewitness News was again the top choice for Central Floridians. WFTV was No. 1 from 5-7 a.m., from 5-6:30 p.m. and at 11 p.m., according to the Orlando Sentinel’s TV Guy.

In the 6 p.m. competition, WFTV had 141,000 homes to 61,00o for WKMG-Local 6 News and 57,000 for WESH 2 News.
At 11 p.m., Eyewitness News wast No. 1 with 98,000 homes followed by Local 6 at 76,000 and WESH at 64,000. The Sentinel’s TV Guy says in that late-night timeslot, WKMG was down 11,000 from a year ago, WESH was up by 28,000 and WFTV was up by 4,000.

 

WESH was up across the board, actually. In a press release, Channel 2 said it was the only local broadcast station to see growth in all weekday newscasts. “We saw significant growth in both households and adult viewers in May, and it’s gratifying to see it continuing in July. It’s clear we are building some solid momentum,” said station President and General Manager Bill Bauman. High points for WESH: up 96 percent at 4 p.m. from a year ago, up 27 percent at 5 p.m., up 16 percent at 5:30, up 10 percent at 6 p.m. and up 13 percent at 11 p.m.

 

WESH was also eager to point out that its morning news on sister station WKCF-CW 18 from 7 to 9 a.m. is drawing 13 percent more viewers than The Daily Buzz did in the timeslot a year ago. Of course, now the Buzz is over on WRDQ-Channel 27, but it appears before and after WFTV’s morning news its sister station.

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Did O-Town stations stage news?

All the stations in town picked up on the story about a 9-year-old boy who called 911 when his mother fell unconscious on the floor. But when area stations showed the "first meeting" between the Alex Swee and 911 dispatcher Matt Nicotra — it was actually staged for two local stations who showed up late.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, "crews from WESH-Channel 2 and WFTV-Channel 9 were on time to film the exchange of hugs when Alex and his mom met Nicotra for the first time. But WOFL-Channel 35 showed up late and asked the three to do it all over again so they could tape it. Then in the middle of the second ‘first’ meeting, a WKMG-Channel 6 crew arrived and asked the three, ‘Can you do it one more time?’ "

The paper wryly pointed out, "The ‘first’ meeting ended up taking almost as long as the six-minute 911 call between Alex and Nicotra."

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Forget traffic reporting, aim for network job

Some quick notes and links to end the week …

> If case you’ve been living under a rock, WKMG is having tryouts for its new traffic reporter. Hal Boedeker of the Sentinel blogs about the finalists.

> Hey, forget traffic reporting — maybe you should be a network correspondent? The South Florida chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is presenting a seminar on Saturday in Miami called, "How to Break into Network News … and Stay There." Susan Candiotti of CNN and Mark Potter of NBC will be on hand to provide the skinny. Click here for information.

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WKMG’s new look is a little familiar

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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Angry worker confronts WFTV crew

WFTV Eyewitness News reporter Tim Wetzel and his cameraman got roughed up a little during a confrontation with a Marion County businessman on Thursday.

The news crew was at Hercules Fence to do a story about what the company had on its sign outside. Every week, the fencing firm apparently puts what it thinks is a funny saying on its sign. This week’s "joke" offended a lot of folks: "What has 4 wheels and flies? A dead cripple in a wheelchair."

Marion residents contacted Channel 9 to say they were upset about the joke on the sign, and they said that despite their complaints, the company wasn’t doing anything about it. When the Channel 9 crew arrived at the company to ask about the sign, a man there pushed Wetzel and his cameraman out the door. Click here to watch video of the confrontation.

WFTV says it filed an incident report with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office over the confrontation.

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