Could WESH be about to end WFTV’s 30-year reign as the king of TV news in Orlando? New Nielsen “people meters” data show — and parties at both stations acknowledge — a tight, two-station race between WFTV and WESH for the title of Central Florida’s news leader. According to Sentinel…
Forget extension, Orlando stations set to drop analog signals
Despite lawmakers’ approval of a plan to extend the digital transition period until June, at least three Orlando stations may pull the plug on their analog broadcasts as early as Feb. 17. Public broadcaster WMFE-Ch. 24, Univision’s WVEN-Ch. 26 and indy WRDQ-Ch. 27 may turn off their analog signals 12…
More layoffs at WMFE TV/radio
Public broadcaster WMFE is continuing to be hit hard by the economic downturn. According to the Orlando Sentinel, the local PBS/NPR station group laid off 28 percent of its staff — 15 employees — in its most recent cuts. This follows layoffs in October that cut 10 people from the stations’ staff….
Conan O’Brien with an alligator? Must be Super
Conan O’Brien got a first-hand look at some Central Florida media stars when he visited WESH on Saturday. O’Brien, in the area before attending Sunday’s Super Bowl in Tampa, dropped by the WESH 2 studios to talk about his Bud Light Super Bowl commerical as well as his upcoming move from Late Night to the…
Today looking for O-Town Super fans
Want to be on the Today show and get into Universal Orlando for free? You can if you’re a Cardinals or Steelers fan — or willing to at least pretend you are. Today weatherman Al Roker will be at Universal Orlando on Saturday, and the NBC morning show is looking for folks…
Fox 35 shuffles anchor assignments
New Fox 35 news director Gavin Maliska is starting to shake things up at WOFL. This week he shuffled the station’s anchor lineup. Mike Dunston, who was on Fox at 5, is now the morning co-anchor with Jacquie Sosa and Heidi Hatch. Former morning anchor Tom Johnson has been moved…
WKCF rises to top of CW
The CW network may be struggling, but you can’t blame that on WKCF-CW 18. The network has announced that O-Town’s CW station is the No. 2-rated affiliate in the nation. In the November 2008 demos, WKCF was rated No. 2 in the nation in Adults 18-34, Adults 19-49, Women 18-34,…
WESH, WFTV to launch mobile video
You’ll soon be able to watch the news from WESH and WFTV on your cell phone. At last week’s annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the Open Moible Video Coalition announced a group of broadcasters would launch mobile digital television service this year. Hearst-Argyle’s WESH-Channel 2 and Cox’s WFTV-Channel…
6 relaunches weekend morning news
After a hiatus of nearly three years, WKMG plans to relaunch its weekend morning newscasts starting Saturday, Jan. 17. With anchor Ramin Khalili and meterologist Elizabeth Hart, Local 6’s weekend morning news will air from 5 to 7 a.m. on Saturdays and 5 to 9 a.m. on Sundays. The Sunday…
Powerball drawn a little late on Local 6
With all the hype about the arrival of the new Powerball lottery, WKMG missed the live drawing on Wednesday night. CBS was airing the People’s Choice Awards, and apparently it was running just a tad long. While the Powerball drawing was being shown live on WTMO-Telemundo 31, the credits were…