| Owner:
Post-Newsweek Slogan: "Your Breaking News
Station"'
News: Local 6 News
Previous
News:
News Review, Channel 6 Newsroom, Channel
6 Reports, Newsbeat, Newswatch 6, Channel 6 News,
WCPX News, 6 News, Newscenter 6, WKMG News.
Etc: Started
market's second 4 p.m. newscast in 2005. (The
first on WESH lasted only about a season in early
1990s)... Only station in market with regular
editorials, by General Manager Henry Maldonado
... During a low point in ratings in 1980s,
almost hired Col. Oliver North's secretary, Fawn
Hall, as an anchor to try to grab viewers. ...
Fox News' Shepard Smith was a reporter here, and
Trace Gallagher was weekend anchor. ... WESH news
director Ed Trauschke was a longtime reporter at
Channel 6. ... Station celebrated its 50th
anniversary in July 2004 ... Was the first
station in the market to replace its original
studios, building new one in 1982 on John Young
Parkway. .. Made Annetta Wilson the first
African-American anchor in the market in the
early 1980s. ... Produced a 10 p.m. newscast for
cable, then moved it to WKCF and produced it for
that station for a number of years before WESH
took over the production of the newscast.
Station
History: Orlando's first station (then known
as WDBO - "Way Down By Orlando'') went on
the air in July 1, 1954. It would become the
longtime dominant station in the market with lots
of local shows such as Central Florida Showcase
(a news discussion show), Uncle Walt's
Adventures, Hunting and Fishing and, of course,
Romper Room.
When Columbia
Pictures was considering buying the station from
Outlet Co. in the early 1980s, the call letters
were prematurely changed in 1982 from WDBO to to
WCPX, for Columbia Pictures. The deal didn't go
through, but the call letters remained. First
Media ended up purchasing the station and,
basically, ran in into the ground. Still, when
the station was put up for sale in the mid 1990s,
there were lots of suitors. Meredith Corp.
purchased the station in 1997, but it already
owned Fox affilate WOFL-Channel 35 -- and at the
time such a duopoly wasn't allowed. Meredith
decided to keep WOFL and trade WKMG to
Post-Newsweek (which had also bid on the station)
for a P-N station in Hartford, Conn.
Post-Newsweek
changed Channel 6's call letters a third time,
making it WKMG in honor of Post-Newsweek's
Katharine M. Graham. This also gave Post-Newsweek
some Sunshine State symmetry, since its Miami
station, WPLG, has its call letters from Phillip
M. Graham.
Digital
subchannel programming: LATV - youth-oriented
Hispanic programming appears on digital
subchannel 6.2. Previously the station offered an
Internet-style page offering weather data and
doppler images, traffic camera views and
headlines.
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