WKMG morning anchor Mark McEwen is recovering from a stroke he suffered last week. The Orlando Sentinel's Scott Maxwell reports that the weekend before last, McEwen was out of town and not feeling well. Tests revealed that what he thought was a stomach flu was actually a stroke. Station manager Henry Maldonado told Maxwell that McEwen, 51, feels much better and is expected to make a full recovery -- but he will be off the air until January. "He claims he can be back in two weeks," Maldonado said. "But we said, ' No, take your time.' " McEwen is the second member of the Local 6's First News crew to suffer a stroke this year. Back in February, while on the air, traffic reporter Secily Wilson started having trouble speaking and was slurring her words. After being taken to the hospital, Wilson, 39, was told she had suffered two minor strokes.
Whether or not it has something to do with Ted Koppel leaving Nightline, WFTV has decided to start airing Jimmy Kimmel Live, beginning Nov. 21. The announcement was made Thursday by Bill Hoffman, Vice President and General Manager of WFTV. "I am delighted that the people of Orlando will finally get a chance to see how good I look in a suit," Kimmel said. Since the late-night talk show began airing on ABC in January 2003, Channel 9 has refused to carry it. The show has one advantage over its late-night counterparts in that it is taped at 8 p.m. on the West Coast, giving it more time to be topical.
I've been traveling around on business, and I came across something I thought was unusual in the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport last week. There among the usual Starbucks and other usual airport terminal stores was a "Fox News Channel Store." I had to go check it out, since a Bill O'Reilly phone answering machine would make a perfect Christmas gift. But to my surprise there was no FNC merchandise to be found -- only the usual newspapers, candies and other stuff you find in those airport newsstand shops. But the store did have Fox News Channel running on eight big screens in the store and a Fox ticker zipping along all the walls. I guess this is the only way Fox can get its news channel into airports that have contracts with CNN's airport news service. But I must say that after buying a Minneapolis Star Tribune and a box of Good & Plenty, I thought the FNC store's prices were "fair and balanced."
Central Florida News 13 is adding to its weather department, albeit for just one day. Orlando Magic guard Steve Francis will join the CFN13 Storm Chasers for a special appearance during Thursday evening's weather reports. It's all part of the Magic’s commitment to the community effort. Francis will report the weather as he co-hosts "Weather on the 1’s" with CFN 13’s meteorologist Dave Cocchiarella.
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