Back from a Fall break from blogging. Here’s what been going on …
New WESH 2 Sunrise anchor Jason Guy doesn’t officially start his new gig until Monday, but he’s been trying out the Channel 2 anchor desk. He co-anchored the Friday noon news with his Sunrise co-anchor Syan Rhodes, and he was spotted on the Saturday 11 p.m. news with Aixa Diaz. Guy, whose broadcasting career includes a stint as a contestant on CBS’ Big Brother, answered questions from Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker. On how the Big Brother experienced shaped him, Guy said, “I had a rare experience in reality. I was genuinely who I am. And I went in there and I said, ‘Even if I don’t win, I want to keep my integrity.’ It helped me figure out where I was heading in life. I started working in reality-television production after the show. I got hired by an executive producer of Big Brother. I did well with that one and kept getting hired.” Read the Sentinel Q&A with Guy here. …
For anyone watching WKMG over the past couple of months, this probably comes as no surprise. The station has installed meteorologist Troy Bridges as the 11 p.m. weather guy, with chief meteorologist Tom Sorrells staying on the 6-7 p.m. news. For several months, Bridges and Sorrells have been sharing weather duties in the evenings — which at least to me has seemed awkward. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m not alone in thinking that Local 6 seems to be easing out Sorrells in favor of Bridges. It may be part of a cost-cutting move. As you recall WKMG laid off 20 people in May and canceled its 4, 5 and 5:30 p.m. newscasts. …
One of those laid off in the Local 6 May purge was reporter Kimberly Houk. She’s back working again — now on weekend assignments for WESH 2. …
Gavin Maliska’s stint as news director at WOFL-Fox 35 didn’t even last a year. He was shown the door last month. and now GM Stan Knott has elevated Jeff Zeller to ND from assistant news director. For those keeping score, Zeller replaces Maliska, who replaced Bob Clinkingbeard, who replaced John Sears, who replaced Lena Sadiwskyj. In all, Zeller is Fox 35’s fifth news director in six years. Broadcasting and Cable says that before he joined WOFL 3-1/2 years ago, Zeller spent six years at WPXI in Pittsburgh — first as an executive producer and then as a managing editor/senior executive producer — and two years at WHIO in Dayton, Ohio.