After a nice summer break away from TV news, it’s time to catch up. And, wow, there has been a lot going on …. WFTV-Channel 9: Some of the most newsworthy changes have come from an unexpected place: the usually rock-steady Eyewitness News juggernaut. The big shocker: longtime anchor Barbara…
Tag: WKMG-6
Recent RogerSimmons.com Orlando TV News reports involving WKMG-Channel 6, the CBS affiliate for Central Florida. The station calls its newscasts Local 6 News. Channel 6 was the first TV station in Orlando and has previously used the call letters WDBO-TV (Way Down By Orlando) and WCPX
More house cleaning at Local 6: Eric Wilson out?
It’s been a wild summer at WKMG-Local 6. And apparently it’s not over. The big shocker: longtime anchor Jacqueline London was let go, as was longtime reporter Donald Forbes. Now comes word that a relative newcomer is gone too. FTVLive.com is reporting that Local 6 morning meteorologist Eric Wilson “was…
Big East denies WKMG report about UCF
With college football in the midst of an expansion craze, WKMG Sports Director David “Ping” Pingalore had a big scoop Wednesday: “multiple college football sources have said that the University of Central Florida and Memphis could be invited to join the Big East conference as soon as next week.” So…
May sweeps: WFTV, CBS big winners in Orlando
Just as predictable as afternoon thunderstorms in the summer: WFTV and CBS were the big winners in Orlando in the just-completed May sweeps. The juggernaut that is Channel 9’s Eyewitness News showed no signs of weakness. WFTV’s newscasts won in all time periods — morning, noon, evening and night. According…
5 years later: Mark McEwen reflects on stroke
It’s been nearly five years since former Local 6 anchor Mark McEwen’s life took an unexpected turn. Flying back to Orlando from an out-of-town trip, and after being diagnosed with what a doctor thought was stomach flu, McEwen stuffered a debilitating stroke. “What I’ve been through, I wouldn’t wish on…
Walter Cronkite, the FBI and Orlando’s Channel 6
Could Orlando’s Channel 6 have been the site of one of the most unthinkable breaches of journalism ethics by the profession’s most trusted anchorman, Walter Cronkite? That’s what a FBI informant claimed in documents obtained by a Yahoo! News blogger in a Freedom of Information Act request. According to John Cook, senior…
Switching channels: New faces on TV
Some new and familiar faces in new places on TV … Nancy Alvarez, former member of the Problem Solvers investigations unit at WKMG-Local 6, is returning to Central Florida. She’s the new weekend anchor at WFTV, according to Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker. She left Local 6 in 2007 to…
WKMG’s summit and other news to note
Here’s the latest Orlando TV News … WKMG’s much-discussed mandatory “newsroom summit” is now history … but what happened? According to some folks who were there, it wasn’t nearly as draconian as anticipated. “It was a lot of uproar over nothing,” a Local 6 staffer told the Orlando Sentinel. “It was…
WKMG’s Steve Hyvonen makes MSNBC’s worst list
If you watch MSNBC, no doubt you’re familiar with Keith Obermann’s “Countdown” show. And one of its big features is the “Worst Person in the World” segment. Olbermann put WKMG-Channel 6 news director Steve Hyvonen on his list of “Worst Person in the World” for Local 6’s upcoming newsroom summit. Ouch….
Not a fan of WFTV’s new weather channel
Some quick thoughts on recent Orlando TV News: Put me down as not a fan of WFTV’s revamped weather channel, 9.2. Sure, Severe Weather Center 9 has forecasts, temperatures and a radar — but just give me the radar. The former 9.2 had the live WFTV radar almost 24-7 —…