Raoul Martinez, who just departed WESH, has already landed a new gig. According to Orlando Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker, Martinez will help launch the Fox network on San Diego's KWSB. That's the Tribune Co.-owned station that's switching from the CW to Fox on Aug. 1.
"I will be anchoring the news on the new four-hour morning show, Monday through Friday, alongside Arthel Neville," Martinez says. Click here for the full story
Are you ready for your digital TV test? On Wednesday night, 11 O-Town TV stations will simulate the end of analog broadcasting and go dark to let viewers know if they're ready for the digital TV age to begin.
Here's how it will work: At 7:59 p.m., these local television stations -- WESH-NBC 2, WKMG-CBS 6, WFTV-ABC 9, WCEU-PBS 15, WKCF-CW 18, WMFE-PBS 24, WVEN-Univision 26, WRDQ-Independent 27, WOTF-Telefutura 43, WTGL-Independent 45 and WBCC-PBS 68 -- will first alert viewers and explain how the test will work. Each station will then simulate the termination of analog broadcasting by removing the video signal that feeds the analog transmitter for 10 seconds causing the screen to go dark.
On each participating station's digital broadcasts, and on cable and satellite systems that receive direct feeds from the station, the station will notify viewers that they have successfully passed the test. At the conclusion of each test, stations will notify viewers that if their screen went blank they need to take corrective action -- such as getting a digital TV converter box for their analog sets.
Also, during the test broadcasts, each station will provide a toll-free telephone number and Web site for additional DTV transition assistance.
This is the first of three tests the area stations are uniting to perform. Noticeably absent from the test are Orlando's two Fox-owned TV stations -- WOFL-Fox 35 and WRBW-MyNetworkTV 65.
The local stations will switch off their analog signals for good on Feb. 17, 2009.
Anchor/reporter Raoul Martinez, who has been at WESH for about six years, is leaving the station. His last day will be Sunday, according to Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker. Martinez performed a number of roles at WESH during his tenure, including being an early-evening anchor, morning anchor for WESH's news show on WKCF-CW18 and most recently weekend anchor. ...
Zach Klein signed off this week as sports director at WFTV-Channel 9. He had been with the station since 2003 and is jumping to Cox flagship WSB in Atlanta. His replacement is Phil Burton from Boston's CN8. ....
Speaking of WFTV, the station changed programming on its digital 9.2 subchannel. It used to be full-screen, live weather radar, which was very handy during our summer thunderstorms. Now, the station has shrunk the presentation from 16:9 to 4:3 and is adding weather forecasts and traffic reports to a rotation that also includes the live Doppler. If I wanted all that, I'd sit through WESH's boring WeatherPlus. I'd rather have just the Doppler, thank you. ...
Former WKMG reporter Trace Gallagher continues to move up at Fox News Channel. This week he became co-anchor of FNC's Live Desk. Of course, the most famous Channel 6 alum at Fox News Channel is still Shepard Smith. Click here for video.
KOAT in Albuquerque, N.M., has kicked off an interesting summer experiment. It's expanded its late newscast to an hour. That's not so unusual for a Fox affiliate or independent station, but it is unusual for an ABC affiliate. KOAT is delaying Nightline by a half hour to have an hourlong late show. OK, so what's the Orlando connection? Former Fox 35 anchor Shelly Ribando is one of the anchors on the hourlong experiment. If it works in New Mexico, I wonder how many other stations may jump at the chance to wring some more money out of news? Of course, KOAT's newscast runs from 10-11 p.m. -- which even with the time zone consideration is a lot different than having a local newscast from 11 p.m. to midnight. Click here to see a video with Ribando explaining the decision for the expanded show. (Final footnote: KOAT is owned by WESH parent Hearst-Argyle.)
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 business in Park City, Utah. She and two partners will launch a new Vision Quest cycling center in that city."
"It's a bittersweet time for me," said Chioji. "I have loved living in Central Florida for 20 years. I've also learned that life cycles have an ending, and it's time to end my life cycle at WESH. I am forever grateful to Hearst-Argyle and WESH for the amazing two decades-long run here. It has allowed me to work with the most talented people in the business and live in one of the greatest cities on earth. I am excited about my new adventure."
It became apparent not too long ago that WESH was turning away from its iconic anchor when the station brought in Martha Sugalski to anchor the 11 p.m. news with Jim Payne. Despite WESH's improved numbers at 11 p.m., Chioji remains popular.
How popular? News of Chioji's departure was among the top stories on the OrlandoSentinel.com Web site, and a photo gallery of her career at WESH had more than 65,000 page views on the Sentinel Web site on Thursday. That's really not surprising for someone who has been in viewers' homes for 20 years, sharing personal information such as her battle with breast cancer.
"Wendy is a class act," said WESH 2 News Director Barbara Maushard. "She will be greatly missed in the WESH 2 newsroom and in homes all around Central Florida."
No decisions have been made regarding Chioji's replacement or other anchor assignment changes at the station.
Looking back, I wonder if it was a clue? When the stations issued their news releases from the Novemeber sweeps, Bill Bauman's comments were not in WESH's release. Instead, it was VP and station manager Bob Fein who was quoted as saying, "in May we saw significant growth for WESH 2 News over the previous year. It's now very gratifying to see that viewers are continuing that vote of confidence and helping us build on that momentum." But it's what he didn't say -- about year-over-year ratings -- that also stood out.
In the end, that's what most people will remember. Bauman unexpectedly leaving WESH by announcing his immediate retirement at the company Christmas party. But there is more to remember about Bauman.
In my limited dealings with him over the years, I found Bauman to be very professional and passionate about his station and anchors. One time he tracked me down at work with a phone call to personally let me know about a message on the TV Talk Forum that he thought crossed the line about one of his anchors. And, he was right. It was a pretty vicious personal attack, and I removed it.
One time after WESH debuted a new set, he asked for my thoughts on it. I gave it a thumbs up but mentioned one part of it that I thought was a bit distracting. A week later, that part of the set was tweaked. Now, I don't think it had anything to do with my comment, but rather it was something that was pretty apparent to viewers. And for the most part, I think that's what Bauman knew best: what Orlando viewers wanted.
Let's not forget that despite WESH's current ratings woes, Bauman had his station poised to overtake WFTV-Channel 9 not that long ago. Solid, serious reporting gave WESH a sterling reputation that began to resonate with local viewers sick of endless crime coverage on WKMG and WFTV. But a combination of legendary news director Bob Jordan returning to Channel 9 to resurrect Eyewitness News and the decline of NBC's prime-time ratings never allowed WESH to get over the hump. Then began the changing of the guard among its reporters and news directors.
Bauman is a local guy -- a graduate of Winter Park High School. How many folks get to travel around and come back to their hometown to run a TV station? It must be pretty rare, and that could be the reason local TV news is so criticized by many today. So many of those responsible for local news have no local connections. We actually need more Bill Baumans in TV news -- that was have one less today is actually bad news for all of us.
BREAKING NEWS ... Hal Boedeker of the Orlando Sentinel has news that longtime WESH/WKCF GM Bill Bauman is retiring immediately. He has been part of the O-Town TV scene since the 1970s. Click for details from the Sentinel on Bauman's departure.
Want more morning news? This week WESH began a six-week experiment simulcasting the 6-7 a.m. hour of its Sunrise newscast on CW18 -- leading into the two-hour block of local news it airs on WKCF.
According to a WESH news release, "The goal of the simulcast is to expand the reach of WESH-TV's morning news while strengthening the lead-in to WKCF-TV's morning news block." Said WESH/WKCF GM Bill Bauman: "This is a great opportunity to use the power of both stations to build our morning news audience. If the simulcast experiment is successful, we'll consider expanding it or making a permanent programming change."
In the Novemeber sweeps, the WFTV-produced Eyewitness News This Morning on WRDQ-Channel 27 jumped past WESH 2 News on CW18. One reason could be that WRDQ started airing The Daily Buzz from 6-7 a.m. as a lead-in to its news.
The irony is that WESH booted The Daily Buzz from its 6-9 a.m. slot on WKCF to make way for its local news show.
WESH-2 is one of a handful of TV stations and newspapers (including, ahem, the Orlando Sentinel) that have a partnership deal with YouTube to post video to the popular site.
But it's the video viewers are posting from WESH that seem to be getting most of the traffic on YouTube. The "Blondes Make Men Dumb" video had more than 11,000 views as of this morning.
And now, another clip has appeared on YouTube of an interview with a robbery victim who drops the M-F bomb live on WESH's morning news on CW18. Yikes! See below.
The UCF Knights have to thank WESH for part of their Conference USA Championship. Heavy rains late last week make the field at Bright House Networks Stadium soggy, so the school asked WESH to bring over its chopper to help dry the field. While school officials have been concerned about how fans jump up and down and shake the stadium, from the video, flying a chopper inside the bowl looks far more dangerous. Watch the video. (It's the second one under the video player.) ...
Former WKMG reporter Candice Coleman, now working for the Disney News Bureau, did a story about the pardoned Thanksgiving turkey arriving at Disney World for Good Morning America's Web cast. Here's a link. (Also, I know it's Disney Co.-synergy, but do you think ABC News has ever run a PR release video from any other company?) ...
News WESH anchor Aixa Diaz made a trip to "back home" to Puerto Rico for the station -- documenting the trip, of course. With the area's Puerto Rican population surging, advertising an anchor's ties to the island seems to be a smart idea.
Some good news to report. Former Fox 35 anchor Shelly Ribando has landed a new gig. She'll become the main anchor at KOAT-ABC 7 in Albuquerque, N.M. According to Eckhert Talent Management, she'll co-anchor the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts at the Hearst-Argyle station. Ribando anchored her final newscast at Fox 35 in September 2006. ...
WKMG-Local 6 morning weather guy Larry Mowryis heading to Big D. He's become the 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. meteorologist at CBS O&O in Dallas, KTVT-11. He'll find another alum of the Channel 6 weather staff when he arrives. Longtime O-Town weather man Mike Burger is still at KTVT. ...
Not sure if it's just to help fill-in or if she's Mowry's replacement, but former Miami meteorologist Elizabeth Hart has been forecasting the weather on WKMG this week. She left CBS O&O WFOR-4 in September 2006 and has filled in for Mitch English on the Orlando-based Daily Buzz since then. ...
Former Central Florida News 13 reporter Don Guevara has jumped to WSVN-Fox 7 in Miami. ...
And Syan Rhodes from WMC-NBC 5 in Memphis will join newcomer Scott Walker as co-anchor of WESH 2 News at Sunrise starting Monday, Dec. 10. Found an interesting post about Rhodes on a Memphis TV site while seeking additional information for this item.
This holiday season marks the 22nd year of WESH 2's "Share Your Christmas" community food drive. The drive began last month and will end on Dec. 14. "Demand for food assistance is at all-time high in Central Florida, and we're facing a huge shortage between now and the end of the year," said Dave Krepcho, Executive Director of Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, in a WESH press release.
Last year, the WESH program helped account for more than 300,000 pounds of food in seven Central Florida counties. WESH encourages individuals, businesses, schools, and organizations to donate non-perishable food items and personal products for the needy in Central Florida.
The food collected remains in the county of collection and is distributed by Second Harvest Food Bank in Orlando, Daytona Beach, and Cocoa, and the Salvation Army units in Orlando, Daytona Beach, DeLand, Sanford, Ocala, Kissimmee, Cocoa, Leesburg, Titusville, and Melbourne.
To highlight "Share Your Christmas," WESH 2 will broadcast live from Universal Orlando on Dec. 7 as its kicks off the Macy’s Holiday Parade at Universal and Universal employees unite for the food drive. Monday, Dec 10th, WESH kick off a week of live broadcasts from across the area for the program. The live shots begin in Daytona Beach that day as residents drop off their donations. Tuesday, Dec. 11th the broadcast will be in Brevard and Lake Counties. Wednesday, Dec. 12th the broadcast will be in Marion County followed by the Thursday broadcast in Osceola and Seminole counties.
The conclusion of the broadcast will be at WESH 2/CW 18 studios in Orange County on Friday, Dec. 14th. The totals of the food donated will be revealed throughout the day, culminating with the grand total announced on WESH 2 News at 6pm on Dec. 14th.
For additional information or details regarding specific food drop off locations or participation you can go here on WESH's Web site or call the Second Harvest Food Bank at 407-295-1066.
And if you're in a very generous mood, you can also check out the Orlando Sentinel's Family Fund holiday drive, which helps needy families across Central Florida. For more information on that drive, click here for the Sentinel's Web site.
The spin: WESH-TV today announced continued growth and momentum in key time periods from May '07. In early morning, WESH 2 News Sunrise (6 - 7 a.m.) maintains its strong No. 2 position and Today (7 – 9 a.m.) continues to grow in popularity with Central Florida viewers, increasing its audience by 11,000 households. In addition to mornings, the growth continues in early evening news, where WESH 2 News at 5 and WESH 2 News at 6 with Wendy Chioji both saw greater ratings increases from May than any other early evening newscasts in Central Florida.
The quote: "In May we saw significant growth for WESH 2 News over the previous year. It's now very gratifying to see that viewers are continuing that vote of confidence and helping us build on that momentum." -- VP and Station Manager Bob Fein.
From WFTV-Channel 9 press release ... The spin: Eyewitness News continued to dominate the ratings for local news viewing in most news time periods. From Eyewitness News Daybreak at 5AM all the way through to the late news at 11PM, Channel 9 Eyewitness News reaches more local news viewers than any other station, in some cases, more viewers than our competition combined.
The quote: "Every day in every newscast our team covers local news like no one else can. From our experienced reporters to our talented photographers and editors, we know how to deliver a newscast that Central Florida viewers have told us they want." -- News Director Bob Jordan
From WRDQ-Channel 27 press release ... The spin: This November, Central Florida's TV27 delivered its best rating period ever. Among the station's biggest successes in November are Eyewitness News This Morning, According to Jim, Oprah and Eyewitness News at Ten, which, for the first time, is in a virtual tie for first place with WOFL. Eyewitness News This Morning is the only local 7AM newscast to grow audience share book to book. Less than a year after its launch, Eyewitness News This Morning has grown from 1,345 households to an astonishing 12,562 households, making it Central Florida’s No. 2 local morning newscast in its time period.
"The enormous growth Eyewitness News has shown this November is a testament to TV27's dedication to provide viewers with quality local newscasts. I am very proud of our Eyewitness News team and this extraordinary rating period motivates us to continue the trend." -- VP and GM Shawn Bartelt
The November ratings for Orlando showed another dominating performance by WFTV's Eyewitness News. By my count, WFTV has now been the No. 1 newscast at 6 p.m. for 29 years. And the Channel 9 juggernaut seems to be getting even stronger.
According to WFTV, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., more than 50 percent of the homes watching news in Central Florida are turned to Channel 9. Its lead over No. 2 Local 6 is more than 78,000 households at 5 p.m. -- and the lead grows to 94,914 more households at 6 p.m.
Channel 9 is nearly as dominant in the morning. Its two-hour Daybreak has 49 percent of the news-watching audience -- nearly 37,000 more homes than No. 2 WKMG, nearly 40,000 homes more than No. 3 WESH and nearly 58,000 homes more than No. 4 Fox. 35.
WOFL was down across the board, but the shocker the WFTV-produced news on WRDQ-Channel 27 nearly tying Fox 35 at 10 p.m. WOFL was down 23 percent from Nov. 2006. The good news for Fox 35 is that its numbers are sure to jump shortly with the return of American Idol.
In the morning, the WFTV-produced news on WRDQ moved into No. 2 behind Fox 35 in November ahead of WESH's news on WKCF-CW 18.
The November sweeps brought us original episodes of our favorite shows, but the ratings results for the O-Town news looked more like another rerun.
Based on information provided in news releases by WFTV and WESH, Channel 9 once again dominated the local news scene in a ratings period that saw most everyone dropping a bit from a year ago. Here's how the stations rank in the news time periods:
5 a.m. -- WFTV-Ch. 9, WKMG-Ch. 6, WESH-Ch. 2 and WOFL-Ch. 35. Local 6 displaces WESH 2 News at No. 2, but everyone was down in share
6 a.m. -- WFTV-Ch. 9, WESH-Ch. 2, WKMG-Ch. 6 and WOFL-Ch. 35. WESH barely hangs on to the No. 2 spot, dropping a full rating point and 3 share points from 2006. WKMG was up in rating and share.
7 a.m. local news -- WOFL-Ch. 35, WRDQ-Ch. 27, WKCF-Ch. 18. The shocker is that the WFTV-produced morning news on WRDQ jumped to No. 2 ahead of the WESH-produced show on WKCF. Overall WRDQ's ratings in the time period are up 800 percent from a year ago.
Noon -- WKMG-Ch. 6, WFTV-Ch. 9, WESH-Ch. 2. Even without Bob Barker, WKMG edges WFTV for the top spot at noon. WESH drops year over year.
5 p.m., 5:30 and 6 p.m. -- WFTV-Ch. 9, WKMG-Ch. 6, WESH-Ch. 2, WOFL-Ch. 35. WFTV, as usual, dominates the early evening and tops the combined audience of its three competitors. Everyone is down in the time periods from a year ago except WFTV at 6, which increased slightly.
10 p.m. -- WOFL-Ch. 35 and WRDQ-Ch. 27. Another shocker -- Fox 35, which used to have a huge lead at 10, holds on to No. 1 by the skin of its teeth. The WFTV-produced news on WRDQ was up 23 percent year over year, while Fox 35 was down 23 percent.
11 p.m. -- WFTV-Ch. 9, WKMG-Ch. 6 and WESH-Ch. 2. Channel 9 and Local 6 both saw growth at 11 o'clock while WESH lost some audience.
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 a question. Maybe they should do the news that way? ...
From an O-Town tipster -- but not yet confirmed: Former WESH morning anchor Tom Schaadhas landed a main anchor gig at WAVY-NBC 10 in Norfolk, Va. ...
From another O-Town tipster -- but also not yet confirmed: Central Florida News 13 has hired a new meteorologist who is scheduled to start work today. A number of internal candidates have been wondering about the position, according to the tipster. ...
Finally, if you've been waiting patiently for your account to be activated on the Orlando TV News Talk forum, you should be now ready to go. Just log in. Also, as always, feel free to leave comments on the posts here on the Orlando TV News page. I've opened up the approval process, so your comments will now appear immediately after you post them.
Here's WESH's press release about launching its news in HD on Nov. 1.
On November 1, WESH 2 News will begin broadcasting all newscasts in high definition. In addition to high definition studio cameras and a state-of-the art graphics package, the WESH 2 Weather Plus team will begin utilizing HD radar images and weather graphics.
"The pictures are just stunning," said WESH 2/CW18 General Manager Bill Bauman. "Our goal is to provide Central Florida viewers with big coverage of the big stories. Now, that commitment gets even bigger with the addition of HD. Viewers will see local news in the Orlando area like they have never seen it before."
WESH 2 will broadcast forty-three and a half hours of local news per week in high definition, including WESH 2 News Sunrise, WESH 2 News at Noon, WESH 2 News at 4, WESH 2 News at 5, WESH 2 News at 6 with Wendy Chioji, WESH 2 News at 6 weekend edition and WESH 2 News at 11. In addition, WESH 2 News on CW18 will be broadcast in HD weekday mornings from 7 to 9 a.m.
WESH 2 Weather Plus Chief Meteorologist Tony Mainolfi says, "High definition gives us the ability to give our viewers a clearer, sharper look at the weather that affects Central Florida. We’re excited to take our weather forecasting to a whole new level."
WESH 2 will offer more high definition programming than any other station in the Orlando market. In addition to WESH 2 newscasts, the station also broadcasts NBC programming in high definition, including: The Today Show, Heroes, Sunday Night Football, ER, Bionic Woman, Friday Night Lights, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
For more information on high definition, viewers can visit the WESH 2 HD page on www.wesh.com. They will find definitions to HD related terms, answers to HD frequently asked questions, a WESH 2 HD programming guide, and information on choosing a high definition television set.High definition programming
Can becoming the second station in Orlando to go to high definition for news boost WESH's ratings? The station thinks so. "To me, it's a substantial competitive advantage over those who are not HD," WESH General Manager Bill Bauman told the Orlando Sentinel.
Market-leader WFTV switched to HD for Eyewitness News in June 2006 -- becoming the first station in Florida to do so. Since then, a handful of stations across the state joined the HD bandwagon. WESH plans to add new graphics and intros to showcase its new high definition look when it launches on Nov. 1.
As for Bauman's comment, it seems to be a shot across the bow of No. 2-ranked WKMG Local 6 News. The station told the Sentinel it has not plans currently to switch to HD. WOFL Fox 35 said it will be switching to HD soon.
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