Tag Archives: WOFL-35

Recent RogerSimmons.com Orlando TV News reports involving WOFL-Channel 35, the Fox affiliate for Central Florida. The station calls its newscasts Fox 35 News. WOFL is owned by Fox Broadcasting and is part of an Orlando duopoly with WRBW-Channel 65. Channel 35′s original call letters were WSWB.

Antenna TV lands on WRDQ’s 27.2 subchannel

Posted on by
1

Somehow I missed this when it happened, but WRDQ recently added Antenna TV on its digital 27.2 subchannel.

Much like Me TV on WESH’s Channel 2.2, Antenna TV features classic TV shows — but the fare is a little more recent than MeTV. We’re talking 70′s and 80′s shows on Antenna, like Three’s Company and Married With Children. Still, good stuff — and in my view an upgrade over the RTV fare that WRDQ was airing on previously on 27.2.

If you have Bright House cable, you can watch Antenna TV on channel 465. It’s on channel 210 on Comcast, too. And with good, old rabbit ears, it’s on 27.2, of course. Get the program schedule and learn more about Antenna TV here.

(Full disclosure: I work for Tribune Co., which is the parent of Antenna TV — but that has nothing to do with me liking the programming.)

In other news …

  • So much for Orlando TV News going crazy over murder trials. When the jury in the Bob Ward trial returned its guilty verdict on Saturday morning, it appears only WFTV and WOFL broke into programming to air it. The other stations ran the video on their websites. Seemed a bit anticlimactic considering the amount of air time they gave coverage of the trial.
  • WUCF TV finished its first PBS pledge drive, and pulled in $60,000, Orlando Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker reports. Even though this drive is over, the station will always need funds. Between drives, or during a drive, you can make a donation here.
  • Speaking PBS, when is WMFE-TV supposed to switch to its new religious format? It’s still airing the V-Me programming.

More Orlando and Florida TV history added to the site

Posted on by
Reply

These 1975 ads for Channel 2 News with Dave Walker, Dave Marsh and Ken Brown are some of the many that have been added.

So now you’ll know why you haven’t seen many story updates recently on the site. We’ve been busy adding content in other areas — continuing to build the television history scrapbook for Orlando and for Florida. Here’s some of the new stuff on the site:

  • Our Orlando TV ad section has grown, now with more than 600 newspaper advertisements for our local stations. Look at the Orlando TV ad section here.
  • We’ve also divided the Orlando TV ad galleries by stations. Just scroll over the navigation at the top for WESH, WKMG, WFTV and WOFL to see their specific galleries.
  • Wonder what was on Orlando TV in its early years? We’ve compiled sample TV schedules for the first 25 years of Orlando television, from 1954 to 1978. See the year-by-year Orlando TV schedules here.
  • Miami is where television started in the Sunshine State, and there’s great history down south. Our gallery for South Florida stations has grown to more than 300 newspaper ads, going back to the start of TV there in 1949. See the South Florida TV ad gallery here.
  • What about other nearby markets? We’ve started work on those and invite you to check out the Tampa Bay TV station ad gallery, with more than 80 ads so far. The Jacksonville TV station ad gallery is now also up, with some 20 images.

You can access all of the above and more in our navigation at the top of the page. Just look under the “More TV” tab. And keep checking as we continue to add to all of those sections.

September ratings: Most Orlando news down year-over-year

Posted on by
Reply

So much for keeping the audience that was glued to Orlando TV news stations during the Casey Anthony trial. In the just completed September ratings period, most of the O-Town stations saw year-over-year declines in household and demo numbers for nearly every newscast. One of the few bright spots was WOFL-Fox 35 — which increased its 5, 10 and 11 p.m. news audiences over the same period from 2010. Read the full ratings report from TV Guy Hal Boedeker. And read the 2010 September ratings here.

5 p.m. weeknights (households):

  • WFTV with 77,700 (86,800 in 2010)
  • WESH with 51,000 (66,700 in 2010)
  • WOFL with 31,000 (27,000 in 2010)
  • WKMG with 18,600 (no 5 p.m. news in 2010)

5 p.m. weekdays (25-54 demo):

  • WFTV with 19,400 (31,400 in 2010)
  • WESH with 18,800 (27,300 in 2010),
  • WOFL with 12,900 (11,900 in 2010),
  • WKMG with 7,000 (no 5 p.m news in 2010)

Continue reading →

Republicans come to town, and Fox 35 will be there

Posted on by
Reply

The latest in the series of debates for the Republican candidates seeking to oust President Obama takes place in Orlando on Thursday night.

The Presidency 5 debate will be televised by Fox News Channel from 8-11 p.m. In a bit of corporate synergy, Fox 35 will air part of its 11 p.m. newscast from the debate.

“Late assignment. Will anchor live from ‘Presidency 5′ at the OC Convention Center Thursday. Every GOP Presidential candidate will be there,” WOFL anchor Cale Ramaker tweeted on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, if you missed it, there’s a great Orlando Sentinel Q&A with Fox 35 GM Dennis Welsh, who discussed what he’s doing to make WOFL’s newscasts stand out in crowded Orlando TV news scene. Check it out here.

Orlando TV news history chronicled in new galleries

Posted on by
Reply

Channel 9's news team in 1978

Bob Jordan never looked so young. Same with Danny Treanor.

And remember Dave Walker from CNN’s early days? Before he went to cable, he was on the anchor desk at WESH-Channel 2, reporting “Newscope” each evening.

Those are just a few of the many images you can view in three new galleries being posted on RogerSimmons.com today. We’ve spent the past several months going through thousands of pages of online archives of several area newspapers to create galleries of advertisements promoting Orlando TV news. We have compiled advertisements from the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. And we’re only getting started. So click around and take a look back at Orlando TV history.

Fox 35′s Jim Van Fleet heading to Tampa’s WTSP

Posted on by
Reply

from MyFoxOrlando.com

Meteorologist Jim Van Fleet, who has spent a decade forecasting the weather at WOFL-Fox 35, is heading to Tampa’s WTSP-CBS 10 to take over its chief meteorologist job.

“Fox 35 did make an offer for me to stay and it was a very generous offer, but quite simply this opportunity with WTSP is something meteorologists spend their entire lives working towards, and to have this door open for me right now is a dream come true and one I would be foolish to pass up,” Van Fleet told Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker.

Van Fleet came to WOFL from Texas for Fox 35′s chief meteorologist job — but was bumped after a year when former WFTV chief met Glenn Richards became available and joined Fox 35. Van Fleet ended up on the morning shift, where he became one of the area’s most popular TV personalities.

But you won’t stop seeing Van Fleet on Fox 35 anytime soon. He’ll be in O-Town until his current deal runs out in December. According to NewsBlues.com, Van Fleet asked to be released early from his WOFL contract but his request was refused. Why? In Tampa, he’ll be competing against Fox O&O WTVT-Fox 13.

NewsBlues also reported that Van Fleet got the new gig after WTSP GM Ken Tonning saw him on TV while visiting Gainesville. After being contacted by the WTSP, Van Fleet — who didn’t have an agent — hired Rick Carr, who got the deal done.

WTSP announced Van Fleet’s hiring on its website Monday afternoon.