With Vice President Joe Biden due to visit Orlando on Wednesday, Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker revived the discussion about WFTV anchor Barbara West’s controversial interview with Biden during the 2008 campaign. Boedeker asked WFTV News Director Bob Jordan if West would cover Biden’s visit for Eyewitness News. “Just for…
Marla Weech is back in the anchor chair
Wonder what’s been up with former WFTV and WKMG anchor Marla Weech? Weech, who lost her job at Local 6 in the station’s first wave of layoffs in July 2008, was spotted back in the anchor chair on Tuesday — this time providing coverage of a satellite launch from the Baikonur…
Hurricane Charley anniversary telethon Thursday
WKMG broadcast fascinating recollections of Hurricane Charley — and the other storms of 2004 — on Wednesday night. Reporter Donald Forbes had a particulary moving tale of riding out the storm in Port Charlotte crouched next to a wall, finally reaching the safety of the station’s satellite truck only after the…
King of Orlando TV? Tom Sorrells, of course
The Orlando Sentinel’s fun summer online contest, the Orlando Celebrity Smackdown, has its championship match up. The winner among all the local television personalities is WKMG chief meteorologist Tom Sorrells. He reached the finals by knocking out fellow Channel 6 weatherman Eric Wilson in opening round, then dispatching Fox 35 morning…
Hurricane Charley: Orlando stations remember anniversary with special, Red Cross telethon
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…