Catching up on Orlando TV news after being busy Christmas shopping … Former WESH anchor Wendy Chioji has reunited with former Channel 2 colleagues Marc Middleton and Bill Shafer on their Growing Bolder television venture. She’s joining the show for its second season on public television. She was at the show’s Maitland headquarters recently to…
Wendy Chioji
Ex-WESH anchor Chioji: ‘Life’s never been so good’
As part of its continuing coverage for Breast Cancer Awareness month, the Orlando Sentinel decided to check up on former WESH 2 News anchor — and breast cancer survivor — Wendy Chioji. It’s a story with a happy ending. After Chioji announced her breast cancer diagnosis on air 10 years ago and successfully staged a…
Chijoi leaving WESH 2 News after 20 years
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…
Weech out as anchor at WKMG
Longtime O-Town anchor Marla Weech is being laid off from WKMG as the slowing economy starts to takes its toll at Local 6. “I’m being laid off,” she told Orlando Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker on Friday. “It’s tough economic times. My position is being eliminated. My heart goes out to anyone who’s losing a…
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…
O-Town anchor gets digital for Web site
Some quick hits to start the week … As WESH prepares to go HD, one of its anchors has already been digitized. Wendy Chioji is the surprise tour guide for the Florida High Tech Corridor Web site. As you poke around the site, you can always call Wendy back to help you when you have…
WESH extends Wendy Chioji’s contract
WESH has extended the contract of longtime anchor Wendy Chioji, according to NewsBlues.com . No word on contract details. Her solo-anchored WESH 2 News at 6 p.m. newscast was up 10 percent from a year ago in the February sweeps. Chioji has been with the station since 1988, as a reporter, weekend anchor and then…
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…
Assessing WESH’s changes
This week began with the anchors and weather personnel at WESH taking on their new news assignments. So far: Wendy Chioji is walking a lot, Tony Mainolfi isn’t sleeping a lot but the ratings look good. The re-named, solo-anchored "WESH 2 News at 6 with Wendy Chioji" is definitely different from the other early-evening newscasts…
Going solo with Chioji — Will it work?
Is Wendy Chioji becoming the Katie Couric of Orlando? She will be the first woman to solo anchor a 6 p.m. newscast in Orlando when WESH’s anchor reassignments take effect Jan. 29. Channel 2 hopes to make "WESH 2 News at 6 with Wendy Chioji" a showcase for one of the area’s veteran anchors. "She…