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Roger Simmons
Roger Simmons

Birds, Words, Pics + TV

Month: June 2017

Anchors

WKMG’s Jamie Seh joins elite group of TV women

Roger Simmons, June 25, 2017

In the process of elevating Jamie Seh from weekend sports anchor to sports director, Channel 6 is making a bit of history.

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Anchors

David Pingalore out as WKMG sports anchor after 10 years

Roger Simmons, June 22, 2017

WKMG Channel 6 is dropping longtime sports anchor David Pingalore, reports Hal Boedeker of the Orlando Sentinel.

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WKMG-6

Comedian Bill Dana passes, helped launch short-lived United Network on Channel 6

Roger Simmons, June 20, 2017

Comedian Bill Dana, whose death at age 92 was announced Monday, was best known for his “Jose Jimenez” character in the 1960s. But he also had a small role in Orlando TV history.

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Orlando TV

Greed, movies and soda: How Channel 6 became WCPX-TV in 1982

Roger Simmons, June 18, 2017

Thirty-five years ago this month, there was a big change in Orlando television. You can blame a greedy, lazy station owner as well as the FCC, a movie company and even a soft-drink maker. 

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Orlando TV

Former Fox 35 meteorologist Jim Van Fleet forecasting weather for Royal Caribbean cruises

Roger Simmons, June 15, 2017

Former Fox 35 morning meteorologist Jim Van Fleet has a new gig on the high seas. He’s the chief meteorologist for Royal Caribbean Cruises – the cruise industry’s first such position.

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Orlando TV

Orlando’s massive TV tower came crashing down in 1973

Roger Simmons, June 11, 2017

The Bithlo TV tower was called the tallest structure on the planet at one point.  But as workers were preparing to install an an antenna for educational station WMFE-Channel 24  on June 8, 1973, the tower collapsed into a massive pile of steel and wires. A structural failure was cited as the cause.

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Orlando TV

Orlando’s first TV signal broadcast 63 years ago

Roger Simmons, June 11, 2017

It was at 11:16 p.m. on Friday, June 4, that Channel 6 turned on its transmitter for the first time and sent out its first broadcast, a test pattern. The signal came from an 80-foot antenna atop the station’s new 500-foot tower on Texas Avenue, just north of West Colonial Drive. 

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Orlando TV

‘Batman’ Adam West dies at 88, had huge impact on ABC, WFTV-Channel 9

Roger Simmons, June 10, 2017

Adam West, the  caped crusader “Batman”  who helped change the ratings fortunes of ABC and WFTV-Channel 9 in the mid-1960s, died Friday night at age 88.  West is best known as TV’s “Batman,” and the show’s three-season run made a huge impact across the nation and here in Central Florida on Channel 9

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Anchors

The man who helped Channel 9 launch ‘Central Florida News’

Roger Simmons, June 5, 2017

When Channel 9 went on the air in February 1958 as WLOF-TV, it took about a year and half to launch a regular evening and late-night newscast. That finally happened on Monday, Sept. 7, 1959, when the station began an ambitious program called “Central Florida News.”

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Latest Posts

  • Shorebirds and sunset at Fort DeSoto
  • Orlando Wetlands sunset visits are rewarding
  • Great Egrets and their babies in St. Augustine
  • Roseate Spoonbills by the side of the road
  • Fort DeSoto reopens and the birds return

Top Locations

Orlando Wetlands

Posts about visits to Orlando Wetlands


UCF Arboretum

Posts about visits to UCF Arboretum


Merritt Island

Posts about visits to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge


Lake Apopka

Posts about visits to Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive


Fort DeSoto

Posts about visits to Fort DeSoto Park


Galleries

Roger's Favorites

An ever-changing collection of my favorite pictures


American Flamingos

Photos of American Flamingos in Indian River


Belted Kingfishers

Photos of Belted Kingfishers across Central Florida.


Oystercatchers

Pictures of American Oystercatchers at Fort DeSoto Park


Spoonbills

Pictures of Roseate Spoonbills in Central Florida


Whooping Crane

Pictures of one of the last Whooping Cranes in Florida


MORE GALLERIES


Topics

American Kestrel Anhinga Awards Bald Eagles Barred Owl Belted Kingfisher Black-and-White Warbler Black-Crowned Night-Heron Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Caspian Tern Common Gallinule Common Yellowthroat Digital TV Eastern Bluebird Great Blue Heron Great Egret Green Heron Limpkin Little Blue Heron Loggerhead SHrike Northern Cardinal Northern Parula Orlando Wetlands Park Osprey Palm Warbler Prairie Warbler Red-bellied Woodpecker Red-shouldered Hawk Red-Winged Blackbird Reddish Egret Roseate Spoonbills Sandhill Crane Savannah Sparrow Snowy Egret Tricolored Heron Tufted Titmouse WESH-2 WFTV-9 White Ibis WKCF-18 WKMG-6 WMFE-24 WOFL-35 Wood Stork WRDQ-27

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