Thursday will mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Charley’s surprising and destructive visit to Orlando. Orlando’s TV stations performed a great public service on Aug. 13, 2004 — dismissing the official National Hurricane Center track for the storm and correctly predicting the hurricane was headed to Orlando, not to Tampa….
Orlando Magazine readers pick TV favorites
The fine readers of Orlando Magazine have once again selected the choices for “Best of Orlando” in a number of categories. Alas, RogerSimmons.com didn’t place among best local Web sites this time, but here are the results for the television categories: Best Local TV Station: (1) WFTV-Channel 9, (2) WESH-Channel 2, (3)…
WKMG anchor duties change for London, Rowe, Diaz
Something is up at WKMG — and it’s not the ratings. That’s one likely reason the station is playing musical anchors. GM Skip Valet told the Sentinel’s Hal Boedeker that morning anchor Lauren Rowe will now anchor the 11 p.m. newscast — displacing Jacqueline London, who will still anchor at…
News 13 jumps out of news-sharing pool
It didn’t take long for Orlando’s news pool to spring a leak. The Sentinel’s Hal Boedeker reports that Central Florida News 13 has left the news-sharing pool that also included WKMG-Local 6 and WOFL-Fox 35. “I don’t think it’s as beneficial to our organization as we hoped,” News 13 GM…
WOFL promises new $1.5M radar will be most powerful in state
WOFL-Fox 35 is upping the ante in the area’s Doppler competition, announcing plans to build a $1.5 million Dual Polarization radar it says will be more powerful than all the other radars in the market combined. The announcement of the new radar system — dubbed “Guardian” — was made during…
Martha Sugalski gets her own song
We knew WESH 2 anchor Martha Sugalski has many admirers (one former co-worker I know seemed a little obsessed with her — but he moved to another state, so I think Martha is OK.) Daniel Dennis of Real Radio 104.1’s Monsters in the Morning decided to put his affection for…
WKMG looking for new traffic anchor
WKMG traffic anchor Kim Sanders is leaving the station. Mike James’ O-Town TV quotes Channel 6 GM Skip Valet as saying, “We are going to make a change in our morning traffic.” James says that change comes Aug. 21. You may recall that Sanders was the winner of WKMG’s search for a…
Former WMFE chief launches non-profit media venture
Some say the future of journalism will be in non-profit groups. One Central Florida media executive is going see if that’s true. Former longtime WMFE TV and radio president and CEO Stephen McKenney Steck has announced the formation of the Carroll McKenney Foundation for Public Media. “Carroll McKenney Foundation for…
Local 6 News finishes July in 4th place
Orlando Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker has more on the July ratings races in O-Town TV, including WKMG’s fourth-place showing in the evening in the 25-54 demo. “We were No. 4 before we made the changes,” WKMG General Manager Skip Valet told Boedeker. “I think I’m better serving the audience….
WESH moves ahead of WFTV in the morning
For the first time in five years, WESH 2 Sunrise at 6 a.m. finished July ahead of WFTV’s Eyewitness News Daybreak in the adults 25-54 demo, WESH reports. The station also notes that it is closing in on WFTV’s top-rated Eyewitness News in the evening — trailing now by 9,600…