Go ahead and call me crazy. But what if WESH did something dramatic with its anchor line-up … like move Pat Clarke over one seat, from sports to the main anchor chair next to Wendy Chioji? When I’ve seen Clarke and Chioji on Channel 2’s Olympic Zone broadcasts, they really…
9’s New GM Comes From Charlotte
Shawn Bartelt, director of sales for Cox’s stations in Charlotte, N.C. (WSOC and WAXN) will succeed Bill Hoffman as vice president and general manager of Orlando’s WFTV and WRDQ. According to a press release, Bartelt joined Cox in 2000 as director of sales at WSOC and WAXN. She began her…
WFTV, WRDQ lose GM to Atlanta
WFTV and WRDQ General Manager Bill Hoffman is leaving Orlando to become GM at Cox-owned flagship WSB in Atlanta. It was under Hoffman’s tenure that stability returned to WFTV, including the re-hiring of news director Bob Jordan and the return of Eyewitness News to ratings dominance across the board. Hoffman…
Olympic Spirit Sinks in Orlando
NBC’s ratings woes from its Torino Olympics coverage have been well-documented already. The ratings are expected to pick up this week with the figure skating competition, but will that be enough to ignite Olympics TV fever in Orlando? So far, through Tuesday night’s Olympics programming, WESH-Channel 2 is getting some…
Fox Builds New Net With O-Town’s 65
Orlando’s former UPN 65 is getting a new name and a new network. Get ready for My TV 65. News Corp. announced plans Wednesday to create a new network for its Fox-owned stations that are losing UPN affiliation when that network shuts down this fall. News Corp. will launch My…
The Golden Age of MySpace.com
Following up on the item about the two WKMG reporters who posted on MySpace.com, listing themselves as 15 year olds … Heard from several people, including one person who said he was a friend of the women, who explained this is a common practice on the MySpace site to keep…
Jurkowski Returning to WKMG
Former Local 6 reporter Todd Jurkowski has been hired as Channel 6’s new weekend anchor. Jurkowski currently is the 4 p.m. anchor/reporter for his hometown NBC affiliate, WBBH in Fort Myers. He’s a Lee County native and worked at the station before he came to Orlando the first time, then…
Prank or Sweeps Story in the Making?
I received an e-mail late last week saying to check out two postings on the popular site MySpace.com. The first link was to a 15-year-old girl named Jessica (top left) who lives in Orlando. The second link was to another girl named "Lady J" (top right), this one saying she…
First on Fox! Super Sweeps Exaggeration
Sweeps are a time when some stations try to grab viewers by, well, stretching the truth a bit to pass off old news as "breaking news" or by labeling widely reported stories as "exclusives." Some like, Fox 35, try both — to con viewers into thinking they’re breaking an exclusive…
Hijacking in Orlando? Hmmm, Maybe
I’m not sure if it was a terrorist group — or more likely some bored loner kid in a basement somewhere — but the RogerSimmons.com Orlando TV Talk Forum message board was hacked on Friday morning. (And when I say "hacked," basically that means they were able to overwrite some…