Traffic and hunks on Local 6

Some quick notes to start off your week …

Kim Sanders, who works at a voice-over production company, was introduced as the new WKMG traffic reporter on the Local 6 Morning News on Monday. Click here to see her audition tape. …

Central Floridians think WKMG has the hunkiest hunks in local TV. That’s the message from the Scott and Erica Show’s Orlando TV’s Hunkiest Hunk contest. Local 6 weekend anchor Todd Jurkowski edged out main anchor Bob Frier for the award, given by Mix 105.1 (WOMX-FM). Others in the top 5: WOFL’s Jim Van Fleet, WFTV’s Brian Shields, WESH’s Tom Schaad. The Sentinel’s Scott Maxwell has more info, including how the silly contest actually turned into a way to benefit local charities. …

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Weird stories? It must be sweeps

Sorry for the lack of posts this week — it’s been very hectic. In addition to everything else, a new puppy has joined our family after our 17-year-old pomeranian died two months ago. "Butch" is a 2-pound ball of wonder who loves to chew and who is requiring a lot of attention. Anyway, more posts to come soon …

> The Sentinel’s TV Guy is keeping tabs on the sweeps stories going on O-Town, including the ghostly hoax that WKMG used as part of its Haunted I-4 package. Read all about it here.

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Flying saucers! How did stations miss this?

Actually that headline is a tease. We’ll have more on that later in this post. But first …

> Have you been seeing those promos on Local 6: "Ping! is coming" they proclaim. Yeah, I’m a little slow. I finally put it together with the impending arrival of new sports anchor David Pingalore. So, scratch that off your list of things to wonder about …

> We told you about WESH meteorologist Tony Mainolfi’s 20-day, 20-location trip along the Central Florida coast. In addition to doing his live shots, he’s also writing short stories about the experience. Read Tony’s Scrapbook here.

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Did O-Town sweeps stunt rob viewers?

Here’s your May sweeps update:

Sentinel TV critic Hal Boedeker slams WKMG-Local 6 for its sweeps kickoff: a staged home burglary on Thursday’s 11 p.m. news. Boedeker wrote in his blog, "This tired stunt was a shameless bid to inject drama into the newscast" and "I’m expecting better from WKMG. Viewers are, too, after the Guetzloe Files." Read the full post here. …

WKMG was the only one of the local stations to have its main weeknight anchor team working the 11 p.m. shift Sunday night. …

According to the electronic program guide on my TV, WOFL-Fox 35 ditched the second half-hour of its Friday 10 p.m. news to air a "Does it Work?" special. Stations do this so they can drop low-rated quarter or half hours from their sweeps ratings average. I would have thought WOFL’s news numbers would be sky high thanks to American Idol. Not sure why the station needs to "code out" part of their newscasts now. ….

WFTV’s sweeps offering Monday night is anchor/reporter Chris Egert’s look at dirty supermarkets. …

While WOFL and WKMG debuted new sets, graphics and music to start sweeps, WESH got into the makeover act and redid its anchor intros. Click the links to view video and frame grabs showing the changes at WKMG , and the changes at WOFL, and the new anchor intro at WESH.

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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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