June 29, 2005 -- Wow, has it really been 26 days since I last updated the site? Yeah, I suppose so. I guess I could tell you how I've been busy helping Tom Cruise pick out an engagement ring or how I was secretly helping CBS retool the Evening News, but it's not been anything really exciting. I went on a two-week vacation, spent part of it in Waynesville, N.C., then got back and had to help host a national sports editors convention here in Orlando. The upside to that was the convention was at the very toney Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes resort. If I ever win the lottery, I'm going to move in there ... or at least spring for another night. It was magnificent. Anyway, back to the news. Truth is, it's been dull, dull, dull around here. Even if I had the time to post something, there really hasn't been much to post. But, let's see what's been going on ...

||| The weather competition between the stations has gotten hotter than a Disney World parking lot in the middle of August. But give kudos to Central Florida News 13 ... for coming up with the longest, most convoluted branding for their weather. It's (take a deep breath) "Stormchaser 13 Digital Doppler X3." Whew! There hasn't been a weather tag that long since the old "Channel 9 Early Warning Doppler 9000 Radar Network." It's a good thing CFN13 has lots of those "Weather on the 1's" updates, since by the time their weather folks say "Stormchaser 13 Digital Doppler X3," it's time to go to a commercial.

||| Central Florida news video guru Ken Shuba has left WKMG for a job with the City of Orlando as its new Broadcast Operations Manager. Shuba has worked in Central Florida for 29 years, including six at WFTV (1976-82 ) before starting a 26-year stint at Channel 6. He was the news operations manager at Channel 6 from 1989-94.

||| From way earlier this month ... reports about the cursed Fox 35 sat truck being dead apparently were premature. Remember, this is the truck that earlier that was damaged by a big bird, then was driven off from a live shot with the mast still up, which caused a power outage in Brevard County. Well, the hole in the roof was repaired and techs dried out the equipment. The truck did a test satellite uplink earlier this month, and all is well. The microwave mast was not going to be repaired or replaced. The vehicle will be a satellite uplink-only truck until a new truck arrives in the fall. Good work, techies!

||| We have three Spanish-language TV stations in Central Florida, but until recently none has had a website. But no more. Azteca America's W21AU-Channel 21 has launched its website at AztecaAmericaOrlando.com. Check it out.

June 3, 2005 -- Even though I -- and many others -- have written a lot about how dominant WFTV's Eyewitness News has become in Central Florida, sometimes you see a statistic that makes you say, "wow!" According to WFTV, their 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts now rank No. 2 among all the stations in the nation's top 20 markets. ...

||| The talk coming from Bob Clinkingbeard's arrival as the new news director at WOFL is that Fox 35 will start an early evening newscast in early 2006. Fox 35 will definitely face an up-hill battle to gain viewers in the early evening, but the station is going to need to invest in more equipment and more people if it hopes to become competitive against 2, 6 and 9.

June 2, 2005 -- The hard-luck Fox 35 sat truck was involved in another incident -- and this one didn't just damage the truck. Florida Power and Light crews in Indialantic worked Tuesday night and Wednesday morning to restore electricity to 1,400 customers after a WOFL worker forgot to lower the microwave mast and drove off, snapping power lines and three power poles, officials told Florida Today. "The driver drove the truck and had the mast up for the live antenna," FOX 35 General Manager Stan Knott said. "I doubt he intentionally did it and I'm sure he feels bad about it. We're certainly sorry to see anybody's power knocked out." This is the same sat truck that was temporarily knocked out of commission in early April when a big bird flew into the vehicle's windshield while it was traveling on the Beeline Expressway. Some former employees have said they think WOFL is cursed -- maybe it's just the satellite truck?

UPDATE: From NewsBlues.com -- According to staffers, the $650,000 truck is now back in the WOFL parking lot and undergoing evaluation. Crews were able to return it to Orlando after the broken and charred 42-foot microwave mast was removed. The mast fell on the roof of the truck, ripping a huge hole that allowed rainwater to flood the interior, drenching most of the electronics. Insiders tell us, "If the interior equipment isn't severely damaged, the truck might be able to do satellite uplinks, but it won't be doing microwave any time soon. WOFL's replacement DSNG truck will not be ready until October.

Weather plus, maybe, some news

June 2, 2005 -- WESH turned its noon newscast into, basically, a huge infomercial for its new Weather Plus storm center. Saw the same thing during a glance at its early evening newscasts, too. Fortunately, by 11 p.m., it was back to the news. Yes, the WESH weather center is very impressive, and it's obvious Channel 2 is taking a page from WFTV and hoping that improved weather coverage will lead to improved viewership. But will that get Central Floridians to change their channels from Eyewitness News when the first hurricane pops up?

New WESH 2 Weather Plus Storm Center

June 1, 2005 -- Today is the start of hurricane season, and the start of big changes on the local weather scene.

First, WESH unveils its mammoth new Weather Plus weather center today -- a huge complex that's really three smaller sets tied together under the Weather Plus banner. WESH, whose weather partnership with the Orlando Sentinel ended Tuesday, is redoing its website and will offer live streaming video from its Weather Plus digital channel as well as streaming live Super Doppler 2 images. And new morning meteorologist Tony Mainolfi has joined the Channel 2 forecasting team, replacing Mike O'Lennick.

Meanwhile, stepping into the weather partnership with the Orlando Sentinel is WFTV and chief meteorologist Tom Terry. This morning Terry took over the space on the Sentinel weather page previously occupied by WESH's Dave Marsh. And Channel 9 and the Sentinel will present their hurricane guide in Sunday's Sentinel.

Finally, one other note. While WKMG has been using the Vipir label for its radar/storm tracking software since the last hurricane season, WESH is now using the Vipir name as well, calling its weather software "Vipir Plus." WFTV also has Vipir (and has had it for a while), but calls it Tornado Tracker.

Se habbla Espanol?

June 1, 2005 -- Another sign of the growing importance of Central Florida's Hispanic population: the Orlando Sentinel reports that Bright House Networks announced plans to launch a 24-hour Spanish language local news channel by the end of 2006.

Bright House already operates Central Florida News 13, the 24-hour local cable channel. It also operates Bay News 9 in the Tampa area, and in 2002 started Tampa Bay 9 Noticias en Espanol.

The new here channel would join Spanish language newscasts on WVEN-Univision 26, WTMO-Telemundo 40 and W21AU-Azteca 21