Here’s the latest Orlando TV News …
WKMG’s much-discussed mandatory “newsroom summit” is now history … but what happened? According to some folks who were there, it wasn’t nearly as draconian as anticipated. “It was a lot of uproar over nothing,” a Local 6 staffer told the Orlando Sentinel. “It was really fun, helpful. Everyone walked out feeling better about their jobs. It was a positive thing. People left with an appreciation for what others do.” Basically, as I predicted, it was more of a corporate team-building exercise. The staff met to discuss ways to improve improve TV news, and workers switched duties to experience how others do their jobs. Did you attend and have a different view? Then email me by clicking the “Contact Us” link at the top of the page. …
Speaking of the summit, remember last week when MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann named WKMG news director Steve Hyvonen one of his “Worst Persons in the World”? Turns out there may be more of a backstory there. According to TVNewser.com, Hyvonen used to work as a news manager at MSNBC dayside in the early 2000s, but not with Olbermann. As Olbermann ended his segment by telling Local 6 staffers to write down Hyvonen’s name as a newsroom “battery drainer,” he added cryptically, “That was for the staff here.” Click here to watch the segment again. …
Switching over to Fox 35: Saturday’s Fox 35 News at 10 started about an hour late — due to Fox’s 4 p.m. baseball game going into the 20th inning! Yes, the game lasted nearly 7 hours, with the New York Mets finally beating the host St. Louis Cardinals 2-1. Imagine if the game had started in prime time? Also, I noticed that in place of usual weekend anchors Keith Landry and Talitha Vickers, WOFL had Tom Johnson and Tracy Jacim anchoring on Saturday and Sunday. Is that something new, or were they just filling in? …
Finally, former WOFL reporter Erin Logan has been fired from her anchor-reporter job at WNDU-NBC 16 in South Bend, Ind. She was dismissed after being arrested following a domestic dispute involving a former NFL player. Click here to read more from the South Bend Tribune. She was at Fox 35 in 2005-06.