Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Channel 52 owner buys WKCF home
The folks at WOFL-Channel 35 are getting some new neighbors next door to their Lake Mary studios. And they better hold down the noise.
A tipster says the former WKCF-CW 18 studios are being purchased by religious station WTGL-Channel 52 for it and its sibling, WLCB-Channel 45. WTGL recently became an owned-and-operated station for the Trinity Broadcasting Network.
The WKCF staff vacated their former home when Hearst-Argyle bought the station earlier this year and moved operations to H-A's WESH 2 in Winter Park.
The only folks who have been using the former WKCF building have been the staff of the nationally syndicated morning show, The Daily Buzz. We're not sure what the sale will mean to the Buzz staff, but ... having TBN and the wild Buzz share a facility sure seems like an oil and water mix to me.
Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Comcast customers might lose WFTV
WFTV meteorologist Tom Terry has spotted a problem not even his Early Warning Doppler 9 HD can detect, and he's letting people know about it.
During WFTV newscasts, the popular Terry appears in a spot that warns Comcast Cable customers in Polk and Highlands counties that they may lose Channel 9 on their cable systems at the end of the month.
The spot includes Comcast President Rod Dagenais' name and phone number (941-371-4444, by the way) and Terry encourages viewers to call Dagenais and tell him they want to keep Channel 9.
Frankly, I'm surprised that WFTV is on cable systems in those counties in the first place. Polk, I sort of understand. But Highlands?
Schulze gets a "Pumpkin" on Halloween
WESH 2 anchor Sally Schulze had quite the trick-or-treat experience on Halloween. She and husband Matt became the proud parents of a baby girl she gave birth to at 2:25 a.m. on Halloween morning.
Until they could settle on a name, Sally and Matt decided to call their daughter Pumpkin (because of her birthday) until they made the big decision. Finally, fearing the Pumpkin moniker might actually stick, they named her Sadie for her great-grandmother.
Sadie weighed in at 8 pounds 6 ounces and was 20-1/2 inches long. Sally said everyone thought she was going to have a boy. "When a little girl came out, it was quite a surprise," she said.
Congrats!
Setting the record straight on "ass"
A clarification to our post about Gov. Jeb Bush calling WKMG-Local 6 reporter Steven Cooper "a horse's ass" last week: Cooper said Bush didn't call him an "ass" in response to questions about candidate Charlie Crist's sexuality, despite what the Florida Times-Union reported.
Those questions came from other reporters in the governor's chaotic press conference, he said. But when the governor characterized the gay accusations as desperate attempts from the Democrats, Cooper said he reminded the governor that his party frequently plays the "gay card" when trying to discredit opponents. So, therefore, Cooper said a question to Crist about his campaign material which directly accuses Davis of "opposing traditional families" because he supports gay adoption would be a legitimate one to pose.
Later, when Cooper asked the governor about security issues, Bush made the horse's ass comment "because he believed I had been rude to a Spanish-speaking reporter," Cooper said.
Cooper asked for an apology from the governor, and he received one.
Sunday, November 5, 2006
Quick notes to start off the week
Troy McGuire, who arrived three years ago from the Pacific Northwest to lead the Orlando-based Daily Buzz morning show, has taken a job in Seattle as Vice President of News and Programming for Seattle-based Fisher Communications. He'll start in January. ...
With WOFL still without a replacement for Shelly Ribando, weekend anchor Laverne McGee has been doing extra duty anchoring the weeknight 10 p.m. show with Cale Ramaker during sweeps. ...
Some new branding for the local stations. WKMG, which used to be "Your Problem Solvers Station," now calls itself "Your Breaking News Station." WOFL is now "The Most Powerful Name in Local News."
Bush calls reporter "ass," then ...
It's interesting how some stories make it onto the air and into print.
There are lots of stories the media know -- or think they know -- that aren't necessarily reported for various, responsible reasons. One of those stories recently involved rumors about whether gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist is gay. For the record, Crist has said he is not.
On Friday, WKMG-Local 6 reporter Steven Cooper asked Gov. Jeb Bush -- who was campaigning with Crist -- about the candidate's sexuality. Bush responded by saying, "Put a smile on your face and don't be such a horse's ass," according to the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville.
Now, just because the question was asked didn't necessarily mean the media would report the answer, thus creating a story. The only area media outlet that had previous reported about the issue was The Daily Buzz, the Orlando-based syndicated morning show. But Gov. Bush's answer made news -- calling a reporter "a horse's ass" will do that -- which led some media to report the Crist rumors during the reporting of the governor's comment.
Confused? Colleague Scott Maxwell has a thorough, insightful explanation on his Taking Names blog on why most media haven't covered this part of the campaign story and whether it should even be covered. It's definitely worth a read.
<$BlogPageTitle$> Orlando TV News Archives
October 2005
<$BlogPageTitle$> Orlando TV News Archives
November 2005
<$BlogPageTitle$> Orlando TV News Archives
December 2005
<$BlogPageTitle$> Orlando TV News Archives
January 2006
<$BlogPageTitle$> Orlando TV News Archives
February 2006
<$BlogPageTitle$> Orlando TV News Archives
March 2006
<$BlogPageTitle$> Orlando TV News Archives
April 2006
<$BlogPageTitle$> Orlando TV News Archives
May 2006
<$BlogPageTitle$> Orlando TV News Archives
June 2006
<$BlogPageTitle$> Orlando TV News Archives
July 2006
<$BlogPageTitle$> Orlando TV News Archives
August 2006
<$BlogPageTitle$> Orlando TV News Archives
September 2006
<$BlogPageTitle$> Orlando TV News Archives
October 2006
<$BlogPageTitle$> Orlando TV News Archives
November 2006
<$BlogPageTitle$> Orlando TV News Archives
December 2006
<$BlogPageTitle$> Orlando TV News Archives
January 2007
<$BlogPageTitle$> Orlando TV News Archives
February 2007
<$BlogPageTitle$> Orlando TV News Archives
March 2007
<$BlogPageTitle$> Orlando TV News Archives
April 2007
<$BlogPageTitle$> Orlando TV News Archives
May 2007
<$BlogPageTitle$> Orlando TV News Archives
July 2007
<$BlogPageTitle$> Orlando TV News Archives
August 2007
|
COMMENTS 
