Catching up with the latest Orlando TV news … WESH 2’s Jim Payne was among several local anchors invited to the White House last week to interview President Obama — who was pushing his jobs plan. But why WESH instead of market-leader WFTV-Channel 9? I’m guessing the Obama team still hasn’t forgotten Barbara West’s satellite…
Jim Payne
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 meteorologist Jim Van Fleet in…
WESH anchors keep rolling in Celebrity Smackdown game
The WESH duo of Jim Payne and Martha Sugalski dispatched WKMG’s main anchors to move into the third round of OrlandoSentinel.com’s Celebrity Smackdown game. Also advancing to face the Channel 2 Cinderellas — the anchors of WFTV’s top-rated Daybreak show, Greg Warmoth and Vanessa Echols. Earlier, Payne and Sugalski upset WFTV evening anchors Bob Opsahl…
WESH’s Payne-Sugalski about to knock off WFTV’s Opsahl-Salt?
We’re in the dog days of summer. The Casey Anthony case has cooled down, the tropics are relatively quiet, and other than the python-killing mania sweeping the state, there’s not much going on. That’s why the folks in the Orlando Sentinel’s marketing department decided to shake up the summer a bit. They’ve produced an online contest to pick…
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 Tonight Show on NBC. WESH anchor…
After 20 years, Wendy Chioji to leave WESH
WESH veteran anchor Wendy Chioji — who celebrates her 20th anniversary with the station today — will leave Channel 2 at the end of the May sweeps. In a press release issued Thursday, WESH said Chioji’s decision to leave “was based on her personal interest in moving west and the opportunity to open a new…
Poor sports and hunkiest hunks
Orlando Sentinel sports columnist Jerry Greene reports that new WKMG sports anchor David Pingalore has been “delayed” in leaving Cleveland for his new O-Town gig. That has led to a further diminishing of the declining sports product on Local 6. For example, at 11 p.m. Tuesday night there was no sports anchor again — news…
Time for a lot of local TV goodbyes
Goodbye, Sports Jam. The WKMG Sunday night sports highlight show is apparently getting the ax. According to a Local 6 insider, a memo was circulated saying the 10-plus-year-old show will end after its Sunday, March 4 broadcast. As you may know, WKMG is not renewing the contract of sports anchor Todd Lewis — and now…
WESH prepares to swap anchors
Expect a complete makeover of Channel 2’s anchor assignments shortly, according to a WESH insider. Included will be a solo anchor shift at 6 p.m. for Wendy Chioji, a return to the 11 p.m. show by Jim Payne and a more prominent evening role for morning weather guy Tony Mainolfi. I haven’t received confirmation yet,…
Personnel Changes Coming to WESH
You’ll likely be seeing some new faces on WESH soon, but the real question is whether these new faces will be replacing any existing ones at the station. WESH is advertising for an evening news anchor and a meteorologist on its website. The anchor might be part of Channel 2’s plan to break its evening…