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.

Oh, Oprah! WESH pulls ahead of WFTV at 5 p.m.

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The folks at WFTV are missing Oprah right now. In the just completed July ratings, WESH 2 News finished ahead of Channel 9′s Eyewitness News at 5 p.m. in the 25-54 demo.

For years, WFTV’s 5 o’clock news benefited from following the Oprah Winfrey Show. But Oprah’s show is over — and so is the Casey Anthony trial — creating a new early news race for viewers. According to the Orlando Sentinel,  WESH averaged 27,600 viewers at 5 p.m. to  WFTV’s 27,200 in the 25-54 demographic. WOFL’s Fox 35 News averaged 15,300 while WKMG’s Local 6 News had  8,200.

WESH also finished No. 1 in the demo at 11 p.m. Still, when using total viewers, WFTV won all newscasts.

But anytime WFTV doesn’t win a news time period, it is news.  And if you think not finishing No. 1 in the demo isn’t important to Channel 9, think again. Did you see the last-minute push WFTV rolled out — using a cash stunt to get viewers to watch the last 5 minutes of Oprah (which, leads into Eyewitness News)? If WESH remains strong at 5 p.m., look for more cash giveaways from Central Florida’s News Leader.

Read the full Orlando Sentinel story here.

Heidi Hatch, Todd Romero, Laura Diaz find new roles

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Former Fox 35 morning anchor Heidi Hatch (left) with new KUTV 4 p.m. co-anchors Jill Marggetts and Cristina Flores.

Yes, Virginia — there really is life after Orlando TV, and here are some examples to prove it.

Former Fox 35 morning anchor Heidi Hatch, who left the station in June, has landed at Salt Lake City’s  KUTV. She’ll be anchoring a new 4 p.m. newscast at the CBS affiliate  – with “Utah’s only all-female anchor team,” the station says. “KUTV is proud to welcome Heidi Hatch back to Utah to co-anchor the show. Heidi is a Utah native who is returning home from Orlando where she was a morning anchor for 5 years.”  Hatch is definitely missed by her former Good Day viewers, who keep posting comments about her departure.

Another former morning host has switched mediums. WKMG morning anchor Laura Diaz has officially joined the morning crew at WXXL-106.7 FM. She popped up on the radio show just after she left Channel 6. Now, she’s known on radio as Lady Laura.

Former WESH weekend anchor Craig Lucie has moved up to Cox flagship WSB-ABC 2, while WFTV reporter Mark Boyle has headed to Texas to Post-Newsweek’s KPRC-NBC 2 in Houston.

Meanwhile, former WKMG sports anchor Todd Romero (below) has also found employment out west. He’s been spotted doing sports report in Denver at the Tribune/Local TV LLC duopoly of  KWGN-CW 2 and KDVR-Fox 31.

Blast from the past: WOFL ad from 1979

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WOFL is now quite the ratings force locally, thanks in large part to Fox. But back in 1979, WOFL was just trying to survive. Orlando’s original “independent” station, WSWB-Channel 35, signed on in 1974 but ran into money troubles and went dark just three years later. A new ownership group returned Channel 35 to the air in 1979 — hoping for a little more success. Here’s an ad from November of that year, showing what Channel 35 had to offer Orlando viewers in prime time. And since it was still the swinging 1970s, check out the “groovy” slogan for the station too.

Orlando TV news covers final space shuttle launch

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The final launch of the space shuttle on Friday capped what arguably has been one of the busiest news weeks ever for Orlando TV news. Like the shuttle program, the Casey Anthony story is starting to wind down. But if the launch of Atlantis was any indication, some of the local TV innovations from the Casey saga will stay with us for awhile.

WFTV-9 moved its mobile courthouse studio over to the Kennedy Space Center, where Bob Opsahl anchored the final shuttle launch. WKMG-6 can’t seem to break out of wall-to-wall coverage — pre-empting CBS’ Early Show and other daytime programming to provide non-stop shuttle launch coverage all Friday morning. In another holdover of the Casey Anthony trial, Local 6 displayed online blog comments during the shuttle launch — the same thing it did during the trial.

Here’s a quick look at how Orlando TV news covered the final space shuttle launch:

Channel 6 displays comments from its live blog during the shuttle Atlantis launch.

WFTV's mobile courthouse studio (left) becomes its space center studio for Atlantis.

Axia Diaz and veteran space reporter Dan Billow anchor coverage on WESH.

Fox 35 had anchor Cale Ramaker on site for the launch of Atlantis.

Casey Anthony verdict: How Orlando TV covered it

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After three years of constant surprises, the Casey Anthony saga saved its biggest one for last: a stunning not guilty verdict. Orlando TV stations have been covering the trial wall-to-wall — even bumping regular programming again today to talk while the jury deliberations were ongoing.

Hours after the verdict, the Orlando stations continued their coverage. WKMG bumped the CBS Evening News to stay in Casey mode, and continued with coverage at 7, 8 and 9 p.m. WESH broke for NBC Nightly News, but returned with hourlong specials at 7 and 8 p.m., too. WFTV did air ABC World News, but then followed with its own hourlong Casey Anthony special. Only WOFL-Fox 35 — which has seen surprisingly high ratings for its marathon coverage — went back to regular programming after its 5-6:30 p.m. news. Of course, it has 90 minutes of news later tonight to continue coverage.

Below is how  Orlando’s main TV news channels broadcast the verdict in the most watched trial in Central Florida history:

Heidi Hatch leaves Fox 35 for ….

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I’ve had a couple of people ask what’s happened to Fox 35 morning anchor Heidi Hatch.

Here’s what she posted on her Facebook page on June 3 …

After 8 hours straight of live TV on a Friday morning I want to say thanks to all my FOX 35 viewers. You’ve welcomed me into your homes for 5 fabulous years while you’ve crawled out of bed, brushed your teeth and packed school lunches. Thanks for taking me along during your morning rush. Goodbye’s are always bittersweet. I will miss the friends I’ve worked alongside while covering everything from tornado’s to the Casey Anthony Case. This is not the end but a new chapter. One with more sleep and hopefully more family time. Thanks for your friendship.

On her Twitter account, Hatch says she’s in the process of moving. But, she tells those who ask where she’s heading, “I can’t say where I’m moving just yet ….”