"Ping"

WKMG-Local 6 sports anchor David “Ping” Pingalore said Monday evening he stands behind his Saturday report that Florida Gators Coach Urban Meyer had a heart attack during mid-season — one health reason that may have led to the coach’s decision to take an indefinite leave of absence from the team.

During WKMG’s “The 6 O’Clock News,” Pingalore reported live via phone from New Orleans, where the Gators are set to play Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl. He elaborated on his Saturday report, saying Meyer himself told the Gators players he had a heart attack.

“On Saturday night I did report from a source that head coach Urban Meyer did tell the team sometime on Saturday that in mid-season he suffered a heart attack, and that source continues to stand by that story. We stand by that story,” Pingalore said. “Coach Meyer on Sunday denied any kind of rumor or fact or whatever it is that he suffered a heart attack. He said he did not suffer a heart attack. But our source inside that team meeting did say that Coach Meyer did tell the team he did suffer a heart attack. And Meyer, he kind of walked around a lot of those questions that were asked of him about his health [during Sunday's news conference.]”

“Ping” has been right with other Gators scoops, so that’s why this claim is being taken seriously by many despite UF’s denials.

Also one other interesting note about the Urban Meyer saga: WOFL-Fox 35 — which got rid of its full-time sports anchors and segments awhile ago — is running promos touting that it was the only station in town to carry Meyer’s Sunday afternoon news conference.

Former WKMG-Local 6 anchor Bob Frier, who recently signed with WOFL-Fox 35, will make his debut on his new station Dec. 14, according to station promos. Still no word on how the anchor duties at Fox 35 are going to be shuffled with Frier’s arrival. But it’s great that he will be back on TV — and may make the difference in pushing Fox 35 permanently ahead of WKMG in the early evening time slots where they square off. …

Holiday cheer, courtesy of Central Florida’s News Leader: When the City of Orlando said it would not have a Christmas tree this year due to budget cuts, WFTV-Channel 9 repsonded. According to the Orlando Sentinel, “A 31-foot blue spruce was donated by Warren Brown and Co., a tree farm, and the $6,800 cost of transporting it from North Carolina and installing it is being paid by AirTran Airways and WFTV.” Channel 9 is also a sponsor of the holiday Light Up UCF event. …

What will WFTV do when Oprah Winfrey ends her talk show in 2011? It’s probably too early to tell, but according to Broadcasting & Cable, most ABC O&O’s which air Oprah already know what they’re doing – more news. “According to many sources, executives at the ABC stations that serve as Oprah’s key station group have long said they will fill the time slots by expanding their local news. The ABC stations remain strong–even in today’s tough environment–and are news leaders,” B&C reported So, don’t be surprised to see WFTV’s Eyewitness News starting at 4 p.m. come September 2011. That’s still a long way off, and lots of things could happen, but that’s my bet. …

They’re hearing wedding bells over at WKMG. Local 6 evening anchor Mike Garofalo got hitched, and morning anchor Laura Diaz got engaged. Orlando Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker reports that Garofalo married Sasha Andrade, a reporter at Post-Newsweek sister station WPLG-Local 10 in Miami. Boedeker says Diaz got engaged a month ago “to a WKMG colleague she identifies only as Mike.” Diaz told Boedeker,  ”He’s in sales. He’s in the other world, what we call the dark side.”

New WESH 2 Sunrise anchor Jason Guy doesn’t officially start his new gig until Monday, but he’s been trying out the Channel 2 anchor desk. He co-anchored the Friday noon news with his Sunrise co-anchor Syan Rhodes, and he was spotted on the Saturday 11 p.m. news with Aixa Diaz. Guy, whose broadcasting career includes a stint as a contestant on CBS’ Big Brother, answered questions from Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker. On how the Big Brother experienced shaped him, Guy said, “I had a rare experience in reality. I was genuinely who I am. And I went in there and I said, ‘Even if I don’t win, I want to keep my integrity.’ It helped me figure out where I was heading in life. I started working in reality-television production after the show. I got hired by an executive producer of Big Brother. I did well with that one and kept getting hired.” Read the Sentinel Q&A with Guy here. …

For anyone watching WKMG over the past couple of months, this probably comes as no surprise. The station has installed meteorologist Troy Bridges as the 11 p.m. weather guy, with chief meteorologist Tom Sorrells staying on the 6-7 p.m. news. For several months, Bridges and Sorrells have been sharing weather duties in the evenings — which at least to me has seemed awkward. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m not alone in thinking that Local 6 seems to be easing out Sorrells in favor of Bridges. It may be part of a cost-cutting move. As you recall WKMG laid off 20 people in May  and canceled its 4, 5 and 5:30 p.m. newscasts. …

One of those laid off in the Local 6 May purge was reporter Kimberly Houk. She’s back working again — now on weekend assignments for WESH 2. …

Gavin Maliska’s stint as news director at WOFL-Fox 35 didn’t even last a year. He was shown the door last month. and now GM Stan Knott has elevated Jeff Zeller to ND from assistant news director. For those keeping score, Zeller replaces Maliska, who replaced Bob Clinkingbeard, who replaced John Sears, who replaced Lena Sadiwskyj. In all, Zeller is Fox 35’s fifth news director in six years. Broadcasting and Cable says that before he joined WOFL 3-1/2 years ago, Zeller spent six years at WPXI in Pittsburgh – first as an executive producer and then as a managing editor/senior executive producer — and two years at WHIO in Dayton, Ohio.

Mark McEwen

A Maryland doctor will not be held liable for failing to diagnose the pre-stroke symptoms of former CBS and WKMG  anchor Mark McEwen.

The Associated Press reports that Monday’s ruling in U.S. District Court in Baltimore is a setback for McEwen, who was diagnosed by the doctor with stomach flu two days before he suffered a massive stroke while flying home to Orlando in November 2005. McEwen and his attorneys claimed the stroke could have been prevented if McEwen had been given drugs including aspirin and anti-coagulates when he was examined by Dr. Michael Bond at Baltimore Washington Medical Center.

“I was very disappointed,” McEwen told The AP. “When you’re up against something that’s kind of murky, it tends to throw a person who’s used to knowing the difference between right and wrong.”

McEwen’s stroke and his recovery have been documented by WKMG  as well as the networks. Despite an amazing recovery, McEwen was never able to return to the anchor chair.

Read the full AP story here.

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.

“Just for old time’s sake? That’s a great idea,” Jordan told Boedeker with a laugh. Turning serious, Jordan said, “I saw a brief e-mail that he’s coming. I haven’t discussed how we’ll cover him. We certainly will cover him.”

One of the issues that West sparred with Biden in her interview was health care. On Monday night at a town hall meeting by Rep. Alan Grayson to discuss President Obama’s hot-button health care plan, West’s husband was on hand. According to Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell, who was live blogging from the event: “Wade West, husband of WFTV anchor Barbara West, just stormed out, yelling ‘Shame on all of us!’ at the entire room.  West was reacting to Grayson saying he wasn’t going to be able to take questions from everyone – and complaining about the number of Democrats front-ended loaded into the forum.”

• Click here to read the rest of Boedeker’s inteview with Jordan
• Click here to see video of West’s interview with Biden from October 2008

After the jump, why one local TV web site has closed, plus more notes

O-Town TV pioneer Mike James has shuttered his short-lived OTownTV.com Web site. If you visit now, the site redirects to his NewsBlues.com site. James, former sportscaster at WFTV-Channel 9, asked O-Town anchors and reporters to respond to emailed questions so he could post profiles of area on-air folks. Few responded, and he cited corporate pressure as one reason for the lack of participation.

WKMG-Local 6 chief meteorologist Tom Sorrells finished as the runner-up in the Orlando Sentinel’s Celebrity Smackdown contest. Sorrells smoked the TV side of the bracket to move into the finals against radio DJ’s Doc and Grace of K92FM. But in this battle, radio was the winner with Doc and Grace garnering more votes from online visitors than Sorrells. The contest will return next year with a larger field.

How bad are things? Last Friday night, WFTV-Channel 9 ran a pair of infomercials in the 8-9 p.m. hour. Network prime time turned over to infomercials? Yikes.