Tag Archives: WKMG-6

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

TV changes in ’11: WKMG, Daily Buzz, Golf Channel

Posted on by
Reply

Some big changes with Orlando-based television start on Monday — the first weekday of the new year.

Cellar-dweller WKMG launches its new 7 p.m. newscast with Lauren Rowe as primary anchor. The station has split its hour-long 6 p.m. news into two 30-minute segments with the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric sandwiched in between at 6:30 p.m. Local 6 has been heavily promoting the new 7 p.m. news — but will Orlando folks decide to tune into to it over Jeopardy or Entertainment Tonight?

The Orlando-based The Daily Buzz hits the big time on Monday, with its debut in a top 10 market. The nationally syndicated morning show, based at Full Sail Studios in Winter Park, begins airing on Boston’s WLVI-CW 56. It will be the 165th station to carry the show, but most of those stations are in small markets. How will it fare in the nation’s No. 7 market? Lots of folks will be keeping an eye on the progress. Meanwhile, I was pleasantly surprised to find that The Buzz still airs in Orlando on WRDQ-TV 27 from 6 to 7 a.m., then continues until 9 a.m. on the WRDQ-27.2 digital subchannel.

And not to be left out, Orlando-based Golf Channel gets into the morning show business with the launch of its new show, The Morning Drive. Veteran sports broadcasters Erik Kuselias and Gary Williams anchor the show, which will air from 7 to 9 a.m. each weekday from Orlando. Central Florida icon Arnold Palmer is penciled in to appear on Monday’s first telecast.

Former Orlando newsers talk about O-Town days

Posted on by
3

Orlando Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker catches up with a group of O-Town TV alumni, asking about their days covering the news in Orlando.

The roster includes CBS News’ Byron Pitts (1986-88 at WESH), CNN’s Jessica Yellin (1998-2000 at News 13), ABC News’ Deborah Roberts (1997-90 at WFTV), CBS News’ Wyatt Andrews (1977-79 at WFTV) and Fox News’ Trace Gallagher (1993-96 at WCPX).

A couple of others I thought of who went on to bigger and better things after their Orlando TV news days: Milissa Rehberger and Bill Karins, both formerly of WOFL and now with MSNBC; Shepard Smith, formerly of WCPX and now with Fox News; Lisa Colagrossi, formerly of WKMG now with WABC; Rob Stafford, formerly of WFTV and Dateline NBC, now anchor at WMAQ Chicago; Ryan Baker, formerly of WCPX-WKMG, now sports anchor at WBBM Chicago; Stewart Scott, formerly of WESH now at ESPN; Anne Craig, formerly of WOFL now at WNYW in New York; and James Ford, formerly of WFTV now at WPIX in New York.

If you know of others, add them as a comment on this post.

Blast from the Past: Channel 6′s Sunday night

Posted on by
Reply

Continuing our Blast from the Past series of newspaper ads for Orlando TV stations, today we roll back the clock to 1968.

Here’s an advertisement that appeared for CBS’ Sunday night lineup on WDBO-Channel 6. “Channel 6 has the look of a winner,” was the Orlando station’s slogan — and it was likely true that the station was the top-rated one in the Orlando market that year.

What was happening that Sunday night?

According to the advertisement’s text, Lassie tries to elude a timber wolf in Alaska, while Mark trains a dog on Gentle Ben.

Here’s the description from Ed Sullivan: “Ed’s guests: Tom Jones, singer, Wayne & Shuster, comedy team, and Jimi Hendrix, recording star, with Ray Bloch’s Orchestra.”

The Smothers Brothers were welcoming Kate Smith and Jefferson Airplane, and on Mission: Impossible, Phelps and Cinnamon try to stop a dangerous adversary’s plans.

And the ad also previews Monday morning’s Merv Griffin show. The scheduled  guests were Alejandro Rey, Bill Dana, Xavier Cugart & Charo, Richard Pryor, with Arthur Treacher.

Orlando stations grab Emmy nominations

Posted on by
Reply

Five Orlando news outlets grabbed 30 nominations in the 34th annual Suncoast Emmy Awards competition.

Market ratings leader WFTV-Channel 9 pulled in the most nominations among the Orlando stations with 11. It was followed by Fox Sports Florida/Sun Sports followed with 10, WKMG-Local 6 with five, Central Florida News 14 with three and WOFL-Fox 35 with one.

Winners will be announced on Dec. 4 at the Westin Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale. The Suncoast Chapter competition includes all the TV markets in Florida; the Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles and New Orleans markets in Louisiana; the Mobile, Ala., market; the Thomasville, Ga., market; and Puerto Rico.

For the full list of nominees, click here.

Media picking up story of Mark McEwen’s return to CBS

Posted on by
Reply
Mark McEwen on CBS' Early Show

Mark McEwen on CBS' Early Show in 2006 (courtesy CBSNews.com)

As we mentioned earlier this week, former WKMG-Local 6 anchor Mark McEwen returns to television this Saturday when he fills-in as the weatherman on CBS’ Saturday Early Show.

Now, media outlets around the country are picking up the feel-good story — noting McEwen’s miraculous recovery from his massive stroke nearly five years ago. …

  • “Mark McEwen is a survivor, who has beat all odds and is returning to his true passion — reporting,” CBS News reports.
  • “Mark McEwen will return to ‘The Early Show’ on Saturday. But it’s more than a homecoming — it will be McEwen’s first nationally televised weather forecast since suffering a devastating and debilitating stroke in 2005,” the New York Post reports.
  • “Mark McEwen returning to visit ‘The Early Show,’ ” The Associated Press reports.
  • “Weatherman Mark McEwen will return to CBS News and The Early Show Saturday for the first time since recovering from a near-fatal stroke,” Broadcasting & Cable reports.
  • “Mark McEwen, who worked for CBS from 1987 to 2002, will appear in his first nationally televised weather forecast — and he’ll sit down for an interview — since recovering from a near-fatal stroke in 2005,”  USA Today reports.

By the way, this won’t be his first appearance on the CBS morning program since his stroke. He returned in 2006 to discuss it and his recovery.

Laura Diaz, Todd Romero news at WKMG

Posted on by
1

Finally … news from WKMG-Local 6 about folks who AREN’T leaving.

MediaStars talent representation reports that weekend sports anchor Todd Romero has signed a contract extension with WKMG.

FTVLive.com, citing MediaStars, says morning anchor Laura Diaz signed a multi-year deal with WKMG — but that bit of information is not listed on MediaStars’ website. So maybe she did, maybe she didn’t — but at least she’s not leaving.