Dave Marsh will give his last weather forecast tonight during WESH 2 News' 6 p.m. show. But if you are a fan of the longtime weatherman, you should tune in at 5 p.m. We're hearing there will be tribute to Dave from past and present co-workers and lots of old video of Orlando's senior meteorologist in action over the past 37 years.

WESH made it official earlier this week, announcing that longtime sportscaster Buddy Pittman will be retiring., effective Aug. 27.

"I've received tremendous support from my 'family' here at the station for the past three decades, and it's never easy to leave a place like WESH and the wonderful friends made along the way," Pittman said in a news release. "But after 27 years, it's time for me to try something new."

In addition to his longevity in the market -- working at Channel 2 and also for a time at Channel 6 -- Pittman also has an important place in Central Florida TV history. He started his career at WESH in video production, was the first ENG (electronic news gathering) videographer in the area and also performed the very first news "live shot" in Central Florida.

A Georgia native, Pittman moved to Central Florida in 1971 and graduated from what is now UCF in in 1974. In addition to most likely holding the record as longest serving sports anchor in the market, he's an expert on NASCAR racing -- which came in handy with Daytona International Speedway being so close.

He's married and has two daughters, with whom he's hoping to spend more time. "I've worked weekends since my girls were little," said Pittman. "I can't wait to spend some time on the weekend with the three most important people in my life. OK, and maybe work in a few rounds of golf, too."

WESH's news release said Pittman plans to join a new company being formed to meet the increased need for video product on the Web. Other sources have said that company is the one being run by former WESH anchors Marc Middleton and Andrea Coudriet.

Some quick hits to start off your work week...

In what is probably one of the market's worst-kept secrets, longtime sports anchor Buddy Pittman plans to retire from WESH shortly. The Orlando Sentinel's Scott Maxwell, in his Sunday column, pin-pointed why there's been no announcement about what most TV folks in town already know about Buddy. Maxwell writes, "Right now the station is being a little hush-hush about the departure of this well-liked Georgia native. That's because they want to first give a proper send-off to Dave Marsh, the godfather of local weather who revealed in this column last week that he would soon be leaving, as well." Hot rumor going around, which Maxwell mentions, is that Buddy will soon join the consulting business of former WESH anchors Andrea Coudriet and Marc Middleton. ...

A Fox 35 tipster provides more info on the exclusive interview with Mary Hill that ran on Friday. Reporter Keith Landry fronted the story, but the interview was reportedly conducted by dayside assignment editor Noelle Sliman. After speaking with Hill and her husband, the couple agreed to do their only TV interview with Sliman. The tipster wanted to make sure Sliman got some credit for doing the leg work that paid off with a great scoop -- and we're always happy to pass along such info. WOFL plans to run more of the interview this week. ...

Also, is WOFL getting the new Fox corporate graphics soon? I thought they would be up by now when the new web site went online. ...

I like starting my Sundays by reading the Orlando Sentinel, the New York Times and watching WKMG's public-affairs show, Flashpoint. It's great to have the show back on Sunday mornings, following Face the Nation. Bob Frier has been pinch-hitting for regular host Lauren Rowe, who is on maternity leave. This past Sunday's discussion about Orange County schools was informative and entertaining. We need more time devoted to important community issues on our stations -- at times when people might actually watch, too!

Here's what I wrote in the Orlando Sentinel on Friday, filling in as Sports' Weekend Watchdog: "Expect a retirement announcement soon from a longtime Orlando TV sportscaster. Who is it? Stay tuned. . . ."

Here's what colleague Scott Maxwell wrote on his Taking Names blog later Friday: "The turbulence at WESH-Channel 2 is about to continue -- with another one of the station's most well-known faces planning to depart this summer. Who? We'll have that in Sunday's column."

So, folks, connect the dots.

I sometimes knock Fox 35's news for being too fluffy, so it's only right that I recognize it when it does something right. Reporter Keith Landry landed an exclusive interview with Mary Hill, which aired in two parts on Fox 35 News at 10 on Thursday.

Hill is the Longwood mother who was convicted of vehicular homicide, two counts of manslaughter and one count of negligence from an August 2000 car crash that occurred while she was carpooling her daughter and some of her classmates. Out of appeals, she must surrender today to begin serving her prison term.

Click here for Landry's interview with Hill.

Midweek news nuggets ...

WESH owned coverage of the cruise ship accident off Port Canaveral on Tuesday. Channel 2 stayed with the story more than its network competitors and grabbed a phone interview with a passenger on the ship while it was still out at sea. He provided vivid descriptions of the conditions on board. And even when WESH 2 News gave way to NBC Nightly News at 6:30, the station continued its coverage until 8 p.m. on WESH.com. By doing so, it was able to show the injured passengers getting off the ship and being taken to area hospitals. ...

Want to know more about incoming WESH anchor Martha Sugalski? Channel 2 has posted videos with her chatting with her 4 p.m. co-anchor Jim Payne and with her 11 p.m. co-anchor Wendy Chioji. ...

WOFL will be among the Fox O&O's getting a new national morning show from its network. Here in O-Town, the show is expected to run live at 9 a.m. -- after Fox 35's four-hour morning news block. ...

Is Fox 35 news about to turn serious? I've chided the WOFL's newscasts previously for being a little too fluffy for my taste, but an e-mailer points out that Fox 35 has been advertising for an investigative reporter and producer on its website for weeks. ...

And a correction of sorts to a post last week saying that WESH's new 11 p.m. combo of Wendy Chioji and Martha Sugalski will be the first all-women anchor team since 1989 when Marla Weech and Barbara West anchored at 11 for WFTV in 1989. A former WESHer reports that back around 1997 Laurel Porter and Chioji anchored the Channel 2's 5:30 newscast together. OK, but I was talking about at 6 or 11. ...

The Daily Buzz's resident chef is movin' on up -- at least temporarily. Jon Ashton, who appears regularly on national morning show out of WB18's studios, will be a guest chef on NBC's Today show in New York on Aug. 18.

Just think about it. How many people can you name in television news that started their careers in the black and white film days and made it all the way through to the digital era ... in the same market ... with the same station?

Not many, but WESH's Dave Marsh did it. The man who has been forecasting the weather for Central Florida for nearly 37 years is retiring, Channel 2 announced Monday afternoon. Marsh's last day at the station will be on July 31.

"I've had an incredible run and I've been blessed to work with great teams of WESH broadcast professionals over the decades," Marsh said in a news release. "I've been fortunate to witness the tremendous growth of our area. I've also been humbled by the outpouring of affection from my good neighbors throughout the Central Florida community over the years."

Marsh added, "Few people have the opportunity to spend almost their entire career with one company. I may be retiring, but because of my long history with WESH, a part of me will always be here."

Marsh began his career at WESH on Dec. 2, 1968, joining the station after working as a weather forecaster for the U.S. Navy and National Meteorological Center (renamed the National Center for Environmental Prediction) in Washington, D.C. Interesting in that the man who would become a Central Florida broadcasting legend replaced another -- Charles Stump. He was the first meteorologist to appear on TV in Florida, coming to WESH in 1960 and would go on to work at WFTV for seven years after he left the WESH weather office to Marsh in 1968.

One of my first Central Florida TV memories is of Dave standing in front of his black and white 'Radar Weather' screen in WESH's Daytona Beach studios in the 1970s. Over the years, Marsh earned a reputation as a trusted weather expert. When Danny Treanor at WFTV was easily the most popular weather person on local TV in the early '80s, research supposedly showed that even the most loyal Channel 9 viewers would switch to Dave whenever severe weather approached.

Now with retirement looming, Marsh said he's looking forward to the opportunity to spend more time with wife Karen, daughter Lisa and grandson Jarrett. And even after his final newscast, WESH GM Bill Bauman said Marsh will continue to represent the station at community events throughout the area.

Best of luck, Dave.

My, how time flies. I was hoping to put together something on the Web site to mark WESH's 50th anniversary -- which occurred on June 11.

Well, I finally got around to doing it -- and hopefully you'll enjoy it. It's a Flash piece -- the first one I've ever done -- highlighting the evolution of WESH with screen shots I have collected over the years. Click here to watch it.
(Bonus points for you if you recognize the music.)

And WESH has assembled a great 50th anniversary section on its Web site with lots of information. If you haven't checked it out, click here.

Just in case you didn't know, Channel 2 was the second TV station in Central Florida to go on the air in 1956. But it wasn't until a little more than a year later that the Daytona Beach station moved to a new transmission tower that boosted it signal all the way to Orlando. It has been a ground-breaking station with the market's first hourlong newscast, first live truck and minicams, first 7 p.m. newscast, first satellite truck, first live Doppler radar and first 4 p.m. newscast. Congrats, WESH.

Next up on the birthday list will be WFTV, which celebrates its 50th in 2008.

Here are your Friday morning news nuggets:

Congrats go out to WKMG morning anchor Jacquie Sosa, who announced on-air this week that she's pregnant. Florida Today reported that on Tuesday, "It was apparent she wasn't feeling well during the broadcast. Finally, after a station break, she politely apologized to viewers and announced she was pregnant -- again." Is it just me or do there seem to be a lot more pregnancies involving the on-air talent than years ago? I wonder if it has to do with newsroom managers being more understanding about family or that we have more federal regulations protecting workers' jobs? Am I alone in thinking we're seeing more mothers-to-be on TV?

Ocala-area viewers are going to have an opportunity to watch WFTV on cable now. Cox Communications announced that it will add O-Town's Channel 9 to its Marion County cable system on channel 9 starting Saturday. The cable system will also add WFTV's HD channel on cable channel 729. WFTV was the only major Orlando network station missing from the cable company's lineup, mainly due to the fact that Gainesville has an ABC affiliate.

Forgot to mention yesterday that WESH's new 4 p.m. newscast starts on Aug. 14. The new show, fronted by Jim Payne and newcomer Martha Sugalski, is described by Channel 2 as "a new generation of late-afternoon news programming designed to prove powerful, in-depth coverage of breaking news and weather stories, locally, around the nation and around the world." The new newscast will also be streamed live on wesh.com. The Orlando Sentinel also has more on the WESH anchor switches announced Thursday.

Orlando's bucking the national trend when it comes to female sportscasters. I thought this Orlando Sentinel story did an excellent job explaining it, but I'm a little biased.

You may have heard about former Channel 6 anchor Ronald Allen Meroney -- known on-air in O-Town as Ron Allen -- being accused of statutory rape in an incident dating back to 1974. He was officially charged on Thursday.

As reported earlier today and now confirmed, Martha Sugalski from WTVJ in Miami will join WESH to anchor its new 4 p.m. newscast -- as well as its 11 p.m. newscast. She replaces Jim Payne on the late show with Wendy Chioji, giving WESH an all-woman anchor team.

Once chief met Amy Sweezey returns from maternity leave, sports anchor Pat Clarke will be the only male on WESH's late anchor desk. But the move isn't that surprising when you check out what Hearst-Argyle sister station WPBF-ABC 25 is doing in South Florida. That station, partially managed from WESH, has a three-woman anchor team at 11 p.m. and saw its ratings increase 17 percent during the May sweeps -- the biggest gain of any Palm Beach market newscast.

The other news from the anchor swaps is Payne's limited role. We're hearing that he will anchor only two shows now -- the new 4 p.m. and the 6 p.m. 'cast. Sources say weekend anchor Raoul Martinez will return to the early evening to anchor the hourlong 5 p.m. block with Chioji.

Here's the likely new anchor lineup:
WESH 2 News at 4: Jim Payne and Martha Sugalski
WESH 2 News at 5: Raoul Martinez and Wendy Chioji
WESH 2 News at 6: Jim Payne and Wendy Chioji
WESH 2 News at 11: Wendy Chioji and Martha Sugalski

By the way, the new Chioji-Sugalski anchor team at 11 p.m. will be the first all-woman anchor team in Orlando since 1989, I believe. That's when WFTV experimented with having Marla Weech and Barbara West anchor its late newscast. Click to see that newscast opening.

Now arriving: Heard from two folks -- but haven't confirmed myself -- that WESH has hired Miami anchor Martha Sugalski to anchor its new 4 p.m. newscast. Suglaski, now at NBC O&O WTVJ, co-anchors the 10 p.m. news the station produces for WBZL-WB 39 in South Florida. She has been with WTVJ since 1996 when she started as a general assignment reporter.

Now departing: Dan Hellie signed off as sports team leader at WFTV on Sunday night. He's headed to NBC O&O WRC in his hometown of Washington. Zack Klein has moved up to sports team leader -- and Jenny Dunn from WLOS replaces Klein as weekend sports anchor.

If you never thought of Central Florida as being "progressive," consider this: Dunn's arrival will mean 25 percent of all O-Town sports anchors will be women -- the national average is about 8 percent. More on that in Friday's Orlando Sentinel sports section.

I've been battling a cold, so I'm blaming this on too much NyQuil ...

In an earlier posting this week I mentioned that Jenny Dunn from Asheville's WLOS will be joining WFTV as weekend sports anchor and said she would be the first full-time woman sports anchor in O-Town since Dina Falco was at WKMG about five years ago.

Well, except that Denise Cullen has been with Central Florida News 13 for several years. Big oops on my part, especially considering Cullen is Sports Director at CFN 13 and gets to fill the most minutes of any sportscaster in O-Town each night. Apologies to Denise.

We're heading for the dog days of summer -- it's too hot to chase news, so here's some that made its way to our front porch on its own, probably looking for a cool, tall glass of iced-tea.

-- As WOFL still works on launching its new MyFoxOrlando.com website -- which looks pretty cool, even in its beta testing phase -- the competition has taken notice. WKMG is preparing to relaunch Local6.com and will offer much more video on the site.

-- Cox flagship WSB in Atlanta hired WFTV assistant news director Marian Pittman to become its new ND, replacing Jennifer Rigby. Pittman has been with Channel 9 for three years, and she previously worked seven years at WSB serving 6 p.m. producer, nightbeat executive producer and senior executive producer. Who hired her in Atlanta? That would be former WFTV GM Bill Hoffman, now the GM in Atlanta. Here's an Atlanta Business Journal story about it all.

-- Orlando is getting another woman sportscaster. Jenny Dunn from Asheville's WLOS will be the weekend sports anchor at WFTV. She replaces Zach Klein, who replaces Dan Hellie, who is heading to WRC in Washington, D.C. The last full-time woman sports anchor in O-Town was Dina Falco at WKMG about five years ago.

-- Former WESH meteorologist Mike O'Lenick returned to the air this past weekend, starting his new gig as the weekend weather guy at WFTV.

-- Melissa Fountain, who was a writer-producer for O-Town Fox duopoly WOFL/WRBW, has moved on to be the creative services director at WHAG Hagerstown, Md.

-- The blog HD Beat is discussing WFTV's move to high-definition broadcasting of local news. That move came just as DirecTV started offering Orlando's major networks in HD on its satellite service in late June. Dish Network promises to add Orlando HD signals soon, too.

-- Here's an example of another one of those O-Town mixed media marriages -- WTKS-104.1 FM's Shannon Burke and Daily Buzz marketing director Deanne Schulz.

-- It's July sweeps. Does anyone care?