The juggernaut that is Channel 9′s Eyewitness News showed no signs of weakness. WFTV’s newscasts won in all time periods — morning, noon, evening and night.

According to results in the Orlando Sentinel, WFTV’s 6 p.m. newscast had more viewers (128,500 homes) than the combined audiences of WESH 2 News (68,300), WKMG’s Local 6 News (27,400) and WOFL’s Fox 35 News (23,900).  The results were the same in the 25-to-54 demo: WFTV (40,100), WESH (15,700), WKMG (11,300) and WOFL (10,800).

Despite CBS’ popular prime-time lineup on WKMG finishing No. 1. locally, WFTV’s 11 p.m. news was tops — pulling 42,200 homes in the demo compared with 27,900 for WKMG, 21,200 for WESH and 15,500 for WOFL.

The only dent in WFTV’s armor? It’s 10 p.m. newscast on sister station WRDQ-TV 27 finished behind WOFL’s Fox 35 News at 10. Those 10 p.m. demo numbers: Fox 35 (27,000), WRDQ (16,500) and WESH’s news on WKCF (8,700).

As for entertainment shows, Dancing With the Stars was the No. 1 show locally in May — but CBS took five of the top 10 spots. Here’s the top 10 from the Sentinel’s TV Guy:

1. Dancing With the Stars, Monday, ABC, 308,100
2. American Idol, Wednesday, Fox, 287,900
3. Dancing With the Stars, Tuesday, ABC, 263,100
4. NCIS, CBS, 258,200
5. American Idol,”Tuesday, 250,000
6. NCIS: Los Angeles, CBS, 230,800
7. Survivor finale, Sunday, CBS, 222,000
8. Survivor, Thursday, CBS, 219,400
9. The Mentalist, CBS, 199,300
10. Desperate Housewives, ABC, 194,400

See the top 20 on the Sentinel’s TV Guy blog here.

The station announced Thursday that it received the APEX Award from The CW for being the network’s “Model Affiliate of the Year.”

According to the press release, “The Model Affiliate is the highest award given by the CW Television Network for being an overall outstanding local TV station. The award is based on the quality and involvement of all aspects of television operations such as CW18 marketing and station branding, on and off air promotional efforts, sales and advertiser ventures, duopoly integration with sister station WESH 2 and local media partnerships.”

The “Model Affiliate” was selected among all the CW affiliates throughout the country and was announced during the CW Upfront Dinner last week.

“What’s exciting about winning this award is that it is based on all departments working together as a team to provide a quality product,” WESH/WKCF GM Jim Carter said. “To have that total team effort recognized by the CW Network in Los Angeles is a tremendous compliment.”

“We are always looking for opportunities to serve the local news and weather needs of our viewers at times that are both convenient and valuable to them,” WESH GM Jim Carter said in a news release. “We saw that need in this time period and we filled it.”

Many stations across the nation have been moving up their morning newscasts to 4:30 a.m. The reason? With longer commutes, folks are getting up earlier. And, as one TV wag once said, the best lead-in to news is news.

WESH 2 News Sunrise usually runs No. 2 behind WFTV’s Eyewitness News Daybreak. Will getting a 30-minute jump on the competition at 4:30 a.m. make a difference?

The new  half hour of news will be anchored by Syan Rhodes, with meteorologist Amy Sweezey and traffic reporter Kimberly Williams, WESH said.

With the new 4:30 a.m. show, and continuing local news through 9 a.m. on WESH and then sister station WKCF-CW 18, the Channel 2 folks are now producing 4-1/2 hours of morning news each Monday-Friday.

Back in July, WESH-2,  WKCF-CW 18 and parent Hearst Television announced a partnership with Liberman Broadcasting to offer its Estrella TV to Central Florida viewers on WKCF’s digital sub-channel 18.3. The original start date was sometime in in mid-August; now Estrella will go live on Monday.

According to Broadcasting and Cable, Orlando is one of 17 markets nationally where Estrella is launching. Among the other Florida markets are Miami, on Sunbeam’s WSVN-Fox 7, and West Palm Beach, on Hearst’s WPBF-ABC 25

Estrella is giving partnering stations an opportunity to cash in with Hispanic-targeted advertising. According to B&C, “The affiliate model sees the stations keep 40 percent of the commercial inventory, according to Liberman, with Estrella retaining the other 60 percent. Stations will have the opportunity to put local touches on the programming lineup, such as a Spanish-language newscast produced by station talent to air on Estrella.”

Said WESH/WKCF GM Jim Carter in a news release: “We are always looking for ways to better serve our large and growing Hispanic population, and with LBI’s Spanish-language broadcast experience reaching back to the 70’s, we know we’ve found the right partner.”

Hearst sister station WESH-2 will produce the 30-minute newscast, which will air seven days a week.

“WESH 2 News at 11 has developed a very strong following. We believe the time is right to offer a 10 p.m. newscast for Central Florida viewers who prefer an earlier news option,” Jim Carter, WESH/WKCF president and general manager, said in a news release.

Monday-Friday, the newscast will be anchored by WESH’s 11 p.m. anchor team: Martha Sugalski, Jim Payne, sports director Guy Rawlings and Chief Meteorologist Tony Mainolfi. The Saturday and Sunday news will feature Aixa Diaz and meteorologist Malachi Rodgers. 

Bud Hedinger was the anchor on WKCF’s previous 10 p.m. news — the area’s first 10 o’clock newscast. It was very popular, often topping WOFL’s then-upstart 10 p.m. news. But WKCF’s owner at the time decided it was better to show sitcom reruns than to compete against Fox 35 and then-newcomer WRDQ (which started airing a WFTV-produced newscast).

“At a time when some news organizations are cutting back on their coverage, we’re excited to provide Central Florida news viewers with even more options at a time they may find more convenient,” Carter said.

Read more from WESH here.

The station also notes that it is closing in on WFTV’s top-rated Eyewitness News in the evening — trailing now by 9,600 adults in the demo.

In the morning race, WESH’s audience is up 34 percent from last July. In the early evening — and without competition from WKMG from 5-6 — WESH 2 is up 58 percent. In late news — despite being saddled with NBC’s prime time as a lead-in — WESH is up 27 percent.

More good and some bad news for WESH after the jump …

“We are extremely pleased that more and more Central Floridians are choosing WESH 2 News as their source for local ‘big story’ coverage and the area’s most accurate local forecast,” WESH GM Jim Carter said in a news release.

Now the bad news. Just as WESH’s morning team moves into first place, it likely won’t be there for long. Sunrise anchor Scott Walker leaves for a new gig in New Orleans on Aug. 21, and viewers typically don’t like change.

In more O-Town TV news, WESH sister station WKCF-CW 18 is boasting that its Seinfeld reruns at 11 and 11:30 p.m. are tied for No. 1 in the adults 18-49 demo. The station says that with its late-night comedy block of King of Queens, Everybody Loves Raymond and Seinfeld, it has four of the top five shows in the demo in the weeknight late fringe race (10 p.m. to 2 a.m.).