So, here it is. Another important milestone has been passed in Orlando broadcast history.

WFTV began broadcasting its local news in high definition on Thursday. Along with the new technology came a new set, new graphics and new music. (Frame grabs of the new set are now posted in the HD 16:9 ratio on the RogerSimmons.com Channel 9 page.)

So far I've only been able to watch one WFTV newscast in HD, with the rest on the old standard definition TV. I really thought I would be wowed, but so far it's more like -- "OK, that's kinda cool." WFTV was at the top of its game before the change with a contemporary set that lasted nearly a decade and the best graphics package in the market.

The new set -- from Ocoee-based FX group -- is OK. I think I liked the old one better, but this one isn't going to distract from the news product, and that's really all that matters, isn't it?

The new graphics -- created with Giant Octopus from Clearwater and WFTV's staff -- are also sort of average. They really remind me of the old Hearst-Argyle corporate graphics WESH used for years. This is especially true when watching WFTV on an old standard definition 4:3 ratio screen. The graphics do look much, much better when viewed on a 16:9 screen.

The best thing so far about the news in HD is the weather. WFTV's upgraded HD Doppler really pops when there are storms across the area. The new Doppler is available on the station's digital subchannel 9.2, and it's now in the 16:9 ratio screen.

As with any new technology, there are sure to be some tweaks along the way. Give WFTV credit for diving in and becoming just the 10th station in the nation to do the news in HD.

What do you think?

>> Watch WFTV's noon news opening in HD.

Posted on Friday, June 30, 2006 at 3:05 PM

COMMENTS LINK E-MAIL THIS ITEM    SOCIAL BOOKMARK THIS ITEM

In case you missed it, Ross Mathews (aka, Ross the Intern) from NBC's Tonight Show, visited WESH recently as a "fill-in" with the weather department. He was providing additional help because of our busy storm season and Amy Sweezey's maternity leave.

He arrived in O-Town just as Tropical Storm Alberto was visiting Florida, too. His bit ran on Wednesday's Tonight Show. Lots of WESH anchors get air time in this video, and Ross makes fun of those anchor intros (when they turn toward the camera) and also made fun of those made-up TV weatherman names.

Here's the video ...

Posted on Friday, June 23, 2006 at 12:28 AM

COMMENTS LINK E-MAIL THIS ITEM    SOCIAL BOOKMARK THIS ITEM

Channel 9 will begin broadcasting Eyewitness News in high definition starting next Thursday (June 29), the station announced.

It will be the first station in the state to broadcast its news in HD and only the 10th in the nation to do so. "We are proud to be the market leader in the production and airing of local news in high definition, allowing our viewers the opportunity to watch all of the day's most important local news and weather with sharper images and detail, and in a 16 x 9 format," said WFTV GM and VP Shawn Bartelt.

As part of the switch to HD, the station will unveil a new set built specifically for high definition broadcasting as well as a new graphics package. And the station promises an all-new weather presentation, taking advantage of high definition technology with its Doppler radar, now dubbed "Early Warning Doppler 9 HD."

According to Bright House Networks, Central Florida has one of the highest penetrations of HD users in the country.

Posted on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 at 7:11 AM

COMMENTS LINK E-MAIL THIS ITEM    SOCIAL BOOKMARK THIS ITEM

What started as a temporary arrangement to have Marla Weech fill-in on the anchor desk at WKMG is about to be come a permanent gig.

That's what Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell is blogging about. He writes that with ratings up and management happy with what Weech is doing, "don't be surprised if the two sides reach an agreement to have the former longtime WFTV anchor at the station on a permanent basis."

You'll remember Weech was brought in to help out on the morning anchor desk while Marc McEwen recovers from a stroke suffered in November. Since her arrival, ratings for the morning show have increased, showing she's still popular with the O-Town crowd.

And there is about to be another anchor position to fill on a temporary basis, when Lauren Rowe goes on maternity leave. Whether Weech will factor into the early evening mix remains to be seen.

Posted on Wednesday, June 14, 2006 at 8:09 AM

COMMENTS LINK E-MAIL THIS ITEM    SOCIAL BOOKMARK THIS ITEM

When WKMG news director Skip Valet moves to his new job at KPRC in Houston, he'll be facing a huge challenge to fix the station's ratings-dwelling news.

But at least there were be some former O-Town folks there with him. A tipster points out that former WFTV reporter Carl Willis joined KPRC in January as a reporter. Also, former WOFL morning anchor and general assignment reporter Wendy Corona started at the Houston station in April as co-anchor of the 4 and 6 p.m. newscasts.

Put perhaps the most unusual employee awaiting Valet is in the weather department and has no ties to Central Florida. KPRC employs Radar the Weather Dog. The Wheaten terrier mixed-breed was adopted from the Houston Humane Society when he was 4 months old, and he made his on-air debut in April 2004. I hope they get along fine -- if not, Valet just needs to remember the old saying: dog bites man isn't news; man bites dog is news.

Posted on Monday, June 12, 2006 at 7:39 AM

COMMENTS LINK E-MAIL THIS ITEM    SOCIAL BOOKMARK THIS ITEM

Ah, the changes keep coming in Central Florida TV.

WKCF, which will leave the WB network to join the new CW network this fall, is airing promos about is new name: CW 18.

The CW logo has a very retro '70s look -- and it appears that WKCF will follow that theme with groovy green and yellow colors in its new logo.

Also, click here to see the promo about "future home of CW18."

Posted on Sunday, June 11, 2006 at 12:11 PM

COMMENTS LINK E-MAIL THIS ITEM    SOCIAL BOOKMARK THIS ITEM

Eagle-eyed viewers of WFTV have been e-mailing me over the weekend wondering what's up with Channel 9.

Saturday's Daybreak and midday newscast was done from WFTV's newsroom. And in the later evening shows, anchors are looking left to the weather center instead of right. The camera shots are a bit different, too. So ... the big guess by everyone is that a new set is in the works.

This current set is a little over eight years old. And here's some (what I think might be eerie) trivia about WFTV and its set. The current set went on the air on Feb. 23, 1998 -- the same night a strong weather system brought deadly tornadoes to the area that killed 42 people. The next major revision to this set came when the new Weather Center was added in 2004 -- just weeks before we had the worst hurricane season ever in the Sunshine State. Now the set is (possibly) being retired as the first (and very early) storm of the new hurricane season heads toward Florida. Weird? I think so.

And speaking of stormy, here's what one WFTV viewer had to say about Saturday's transition period to whatever is going on at Channel 9:

Apparently WFTV was pre-empting the postgame World Cup show to show a half hour newscast, and something unrelated in the one hour between matches. ... Anyways, master control was late on the button, because we saw about 2 seconds of the postgame before it jarringly switched to about 3 minutes of commercials/promos. Then black/dead-air for a solid minute. Next we saw the weekend anchor - not on the actual set, more like a traffic/live shot set. Well she was still miking up, looking back, clearly not aware she was on the air. Then the director took to a weather loop of the projected path of Tropical Depression #1. Then it cut back to anchor in midsentence who pitched to the meteo. He mike was muted, and the screen behind him had rapidly flickering bars. The camera then started zooming in towards the meteo, though the bars were clearly visible, and we couldn't hear him. I believe there was then another cut back to the anchor, who was now muted as well. This wasn't fast, btw, it went on forever. Finally MC switched to a promo, and then Lilo and Stitch was joined (already in progress). Hilarious.

Posted on at 11:54 AM

COMMENTS LINK E-MAIL THIS ITEM    SOCIAL BOOKMARK THIS ITEM

These things happen on the weekends, when staffing is light.

But I'm still not sure what the art is supposed to be with Local6.com's story about the first tropical depression of the season forming. Instead of a satellite image or a tracking map, it looks like a picture of Mars with the story.

Click on the image for a larger version.

Posted on Saturday, June 10, 2006 at 1:37 PM

COMMENTS LINK E-MAIL THIS ITEM    SOCIAL BOOKMARK THIS ITEM

Noticed on Friday night on WWOR in New York and on our own WRBW-Channel 65 that each of those Fox-owned stations have adopted the new My Network TV logo.

I even caught a My Network TV promo this morning for WRWB, or as it soon will be called, My 65.

Click here to watch the promo.

Posted on at 11:01 AM

COMMENTS LINK E-MAIL THIS ITEM    SOCIAL BOOKMARK THIS ITEM

Much to the surprise of no one, WFTV has named No. 2 sports guy Zach Klein as the station's new sports team leader, NewsBlues.com reports.

WFTV ND Bob Jordan doesn't like the term sports director, so that's why Klein is the "team leader." Klein, who joined WFTV in June 2003, replaces Dan Hellie, who is moving on to WRC in Washington, D.C.

Posted on Thursday, June 8, 2006 at 8:17 AM

COMMENTS LINK E-MAIL THIS ITEM    SOCIAL BOOKMARK THIS ITEM

UPDATE: Former WESH meteorologist Mike O'Lenick, whose contract was not renewed by Channel 2 about a year ago, is coming back to O-Town TV. This time as the weekend weather guy at WFTV. That's what Scott Maxwell of the Orlando Sentinel is reporting today.

Many thought that when WESH opted not to keep O'Lenick -- who had been with Channel 2 since 1998 -- the station was trying to make him the scape goat for its poor performance during Hurricane Charley in August 2004. Reviewing some video from that day, I would have to disagree. And apparently the folks at WFTV didn't think so either.

But there still are some questions about his new role. For instance, since O'Lenick is taking the weekend job at WFTV -- what does that mean for current weekend guy Arch Kennedy? And since Channel 9 has an opening on its morning shift with Joe Smith leaving, does that mean Kennedy is moving to the morning or is someone else filling in that slot?

I'm sure we'll have answers soon.

(Interesting side note: O'Lenick's bio is still online on WESH's Web site. Probably won't be there much longer after this post.)

Posted on Wednesday, June 7, 2006 at 9:25 PM

COMMENTS LINK E-MAIL THIS ITEM    SOCIAL BOOKMARK THIS ITEM

News director Skip Valet, who helped guide WKMG from being an also-ran in news into the home of top-rated late newscast in Orlando and the second-ranked one in the early evening, is leaving the station. He'll be the new ND at Post-Newsweek sister station KPRC-NBC 2, it was announced Wednesday.

He will be replaced at WKMG by Susan Forbes.

Valet has been at Channel 6 for five years, coming to the station from another Post-Newsweek outlet, WJXT in Jacksonville. He has been with Post-Newsweek since 1982.

Based on the e-mail I receive and from what people in the industry say, this is a huge loss for Local 6. Valet seems to be that rare combination of an executive who is talented, well-liked and respected by his peers.

According to a memo announcing the change, Valet will be in Houston next week but his exact start date is yet to be set. He replaces Nancy Shafran as ND at KPRC.

Posted on at 8:49 PM

COMMENTS LINK E-MAIL THIS ITEM    SOCIAL BOOKMARK THIS ITEM

WESH is getting ready to celebrate its 50th birthday on Saturday. The station signed on the air on June 10, 1956.

As part of the celebration, look for NBC and other celebs to pop up on Channel 2 to congratulate the station. Among those expected to send their best wishes are Brian Williams, Donald Trump, Jay Leno and Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa, just to name a few.

WESH is also interested in doing a "where are they now" feature about former Channel 2 anchors and personalities. If you're one of them, contact Don Smith, assistant creative services director, to update him on what you're doing.

If I can find time (which I seem to have precious little of lately), I'll try to put together at WESH anniversary page. If you have any photos or other WESH items you would like to contribute for such a page, please e-mail to me. Thanks.

Posted on at 7:21 AM

COMMENTS LINK E-MAIL THIS ITEM    SOCIAL BOOKMARK THIS ITEM

WFTV, which made quite a name for itself during the past two hurricanes seasons, has beefed up its weather equipment in time for this storm season.

The station has revamped its radar. The new system has a much higher resolution -- 16 times more colors when checking out storms -- and has 100,000 watts more power.

In addition, the there's a new pedestal for WFTV's Doppler dish that allows it to make a sweep of the region 10 times faster. I saw this in action one night on WFTV's digital radar channel, and it looked like someone was playing a VCR tape on fast forward -- I think took only about 20 seconds to complete an entire sweep of the area. Pretty cool.

WFTV also has added a new experimental storm forecasting model for hurricanes.

Chief meteorologist Tom Terry has a behind the scenes tour of the Severe Weather Center 9 on WFTV.com, explaining the new toys. It's worth a look.

Posted on at 7:11 AM

COMMENTS LINK E-MAIL THIS ITEM    SOCIAL BOOKMARK THIS ITEM

A lot of catching up to do, and not a lot of time to do it in ...

WFTV is losing top sports anchor Dan Hellie to NBC O&O WRC in Washington, D.C. Hellie, who came to Channel 9 from WPTV in Palm Beach three years ago, is from the D.C. area and had an out-clause in his contract that allowed him to leave O-Town for a job back home. Hellie will replace longtime WRC sports anchor Wally Bruckner. Back in Orlando, WFTV No. 2 sports guy Zach Klein might move up to Hellie's No. 1 spot. ...

WESH's newest meteorologist is Ivan Cabrera, who formerly was with WSI Corp., a national weather provider to outlets such as Fox News Channel. Cabrera was part of Channel 2's hurricane season town hall meeting. And the bilingual Cabrera will be playing a big role as the station reaches out to Hispanic viewers. WESH announced a deal with La Prensa, Central Florida's oldest weekly Latino newspaper, to provide weekly forecasts and an "Ask Ivan" feature. ...

Former WESH morning anchors Marc Middleton and Claire Metz are teaming up again -- this time in print. Hometown News, a weekly newspaper delivered along the coast, is featuring columns by Middleton and Metz. Here's a link to Middleton's column, and here's a link to Metz's. WESH has a content deal with the newspaper, which explains Metz's column. But WESH cut loose Middleton, who opened a consulting business with former Channel 2 anchor Andrea Coudriet.

Posted on at 6:42 AM

COMMENTS LINK E-MAIL THIS ITEM    SOCIAL BOOKMARK THIS ITEM