Recent RogerSimmons.com Orlando TV News reports involving WKMG-Channel 6, the CBS affiliate for Central Florida. The station calls its newscasts Local 6 News. Channel 6 was the first TV station in Orlando and has previously used the call letters WDBO-TV (Way Down By Orlando) and WCPX
“The news is out! Read some of the comments people wrote…they are hilarious. I want what some of them are having.”
That’s how WKMG anchor Laura Diaz responded on her Facebook account to the Orlando Sentinel’s online story about her departure from Local 6 and broadcast journalism. Her last newscast will be Friday morning. And, she says, it will be the last time she does television news.
“I don’t think I can do television anymore,” she told TV Guy Hal Boedeker on Monday. “It’s just a lot of pressure. I got into it young. I moved up quickly. It’s really a tough job to do. You have to have a certain thick skin.”
She added: “Being on the air every day is getting to me. I’m too down-to-earth to be an on-air personality. There’s a lot of wondering in my mind and heart. I don’t want to wait another 10 years and be too far in my career to make a switch.”
WKMG GM Skip Valet stressed to the Sentinel that this wasn’t the station’s decision. In fact, he says had been trying to talk Diaz, 28, out of her decision. No luck, though.
Starting Monday, Matt Austin from Oklahoma City — who was hired to be Diaz’s co-anchor — will helm the Local 6 morning newscast with traffic reporter Jessica Sanchez and meteorologist Troy Bridges.
Interesting tidbit about Orlando TV ratings for the Casey Anthony trial, courtesy of TVNewser.com…
“Bob Jordan, news director of ABC affiliate WFTV, tells TVNewser more people watched the trial on his station as well as on Fox O&O WOFL and cable station CFN13 combined, than watched the Miami Heat – Dallas Mavericks NBA playoff game in prime time [Thursday] night.” Full report here.
“Fox-owned WOFL-Channel 35 and ABC affiliate WFTV-Channel 9 were in a tight race Thursday morning with their wall-to-wall coverage. … WOFL drew 91,800 viewers to WFTV’s 91,700. Central Florida News 13, which is available to customers of Bright House Networks, drew 66,800 viewers. …
“From 1:30 to 5 p.m. Thursday, WFTV rose to the top with its trial coverage. WFTV averaged 116,500 viewers. WOFL was second with 93,900. News 13 drew 84,800. CBS affiliate WKMG-Channel 6 decided to go wall to wall Thursday afternoon and drew 27,500 viewers. “In Session,” which ends it coverage at 3 p.m., had 16,400 viewers. And HLN drew 11,500.” Full report here.
Casey Anthony coverage on all 4 major network affiliates in Central Florida.
Casey Anthony’s murder trial is easily the biggest television news event in Orlando’s history.
Each day, it seems, the local television stations keep turning their coverage up a notch. All aired the opening statements, then planned to settle into live streaming coverage that would appear mostly online. But that plan went out the window almost immediately when Casey’s father, George Anthony, was called as the state’s first witness. Just minutes after they had returned to regular programming, they were cutting in with George’s testimony. It was a sign of things to come.
WKMG-Local 6 began broadcasting the trial on its digital subchannel 6.2, but has been dropping its afternoon programming to air the trial on its main 6.1 channel.
WFTV-Channel 9 opted to start carrying coverage on its sister station, WRDQ-TV 27. But once Oprah Winfrey’s show ended, WFTV replaced it at 4 p.m. with live coverage of the trial to lead into its 5 p.m. newscast. Now, WFTV has moved all Casey coverage throughout the day over to Channel 9.1 – bumping ABC soaps for this real-life drama.
Today, WOFL-Fox 35 — which is also airing the trial on its main channel, aired a station promo touting that its “the No. 1 choice for Casey Anthony coverage” — based on Nielsen ratings. (Really, a promo for that? See for yourself below.)
But its not just Orlando stations that are obsessed with the trial. Tru TV and HLN have been adding live coverage, and HLN’s primetime shows with Dr. Drew and Joy Behar are dominated by Casey trial discussion.
If and when Casey Anthony takes the witness stand, I would not be at all surprised to see CNN, Fox News and MSNBC carry that live. The only question is when the jury finally delivers its verdict, will main networks ABC, CBS and NBC carry that live? I wouldn’t bet against it.
The other question I have is how much is this coverage costing Orlando’s stations’ pocketbooks? In addition to fees for parking their mobile “studios” across the street from the Orange County Courthouse and the Monday-Saturday staffing for trial sessions, they are losing commercial revenue during non-stop trial coverage. (I won’t even get into the online costs involved with bandwidth fees for all the streaming video folks are watching online.)
It worked with departing morning anchor Erick Weber — hiring a sports anchor to make the transition to news anchor. So, Local 6 is going to do it again.
NewsBlues.com and OrlandoSentinel.com report that WKMG is hiring Gaard Swanson as its new main male anchor. Starting Feb. 3, he will co-anchor the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts with Lauren Rowe.
Swanson is the former sports director at Seattle’s Cox-owned CBS affiliate, KIRO-7. Before joining KIRO in July 2002, he was with Fox Sports Northwest, Fox Sports in LA and Seattle NBC powerhouse KING-5. NewsBlues describes Swanson as “a talented and likable personality” who has been on the beach for more than a year. Since leaving KIRO, he’s been doing freelance work and hosting a series on HGTV. His wife is a freelance weathercaster at Tribune’s KCPQ-Fox 13 in Seattle.
“I think he’s exactly what we were looking for,” WKMG GM Skip Valettold the Sentinel. “He’s a warm and personable guy, an engaging communicator, a family guy, very likable, very smart.”
At WKMG, Swanson will replace Mike Garofalo, who left the Local 6 anchor desk in September to move to Miami to be with his wife. Erick Von Ancken, who has been filling in on the Local 6 anchor desk with Rowe since Garofalo’s departure and was vying for the main anchor gig, will return to his weekend anchor duties.
If Swanson needs any inside info about Orlando, he can turn to a former KIRO colleague, Chris Egert — the former anchor at WFTV and WRDQ moved to the Seattle station in 2007.
WKMG Morning News and noon anchor Erick Weber announced on his Facebook page Monday that he’s leaving Orlando.
“It is with both great excitement and great sadness that I am announcing I have accepted a morning news position in Boston, ” he wrote. “Central Florida has been home to me and my family for the past four years and while I am thrilled with the new opportunity, I will sincerely miss all of you who have made the choice to watch Local 6 during my time in Orlando.”
It was thanks to his time in Orlando that Weber got this break in Boston. Before becoming Local 6′s morning news anchor in 2007, he previously was a sports anchor in Milwaukee. “This was my first news job,” Weber told the Sentinel. “They took a chance on me. They offered me the opportunity to be a morning news guy and craft my skills.”
“The news is out! Read some of the comments people wrote…they are hilarious. I want what some of them are having.”
