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News: Fox 35 News
Previous
News: News Capsule, Good Day Orlando
Etc:
Has been a Fox
affilliate since network started but wasn't owned
by Fox until summer 2002. ... Began news
operation in 1998 with a 30-minute show at 10
p.m. ... Noted for initially providing
"hip'' white Ford Mustangs for its news
crews. ... Expanded to a one-hour newscast in
fall 1999. .. Added a two-hour morning newscast,
"Good Day Orlando," in September 2000.
In Sept. 2002, Fox 35 added a 6 a.m. newscast,
dumped the "Good Day Orlando" label for
the existing 7-9 a.m. show and started calling
all its newscasts "Fox 35 News." ...
Before it lauched its morning newscasts, WOFL
experimented with a program called Newsic --
which involved airing music videos on part of the
screen with news and other information along the
side of the picture. ... Launched an hour of news
at 5 p.m. called Fox at 5 in March 2006. In the
fall of 2006, it expanded Fox 5 to the weekends
-- Central Florida's first early-evening hourlong
newscast on the weekends. ... Part of a Fox-owned
triopoly in Central Florida with WRBW-Channel 65
(My Network TV) in Orlando and WOGX-Channel 51
(Fox) in Ocala. All three stations are run out of
Fox 35's Lake Mary studios. ... WOFL was the
first to start digital broadcasting in the market
in February 2000 on WOFL-DT Channel 22.
Station
History: This is the second go-round for
Channel 35 in Orlando. On March 31, 1974, Channel
35 signed on and became the market's first
independent station. Known as WSWB, the station
was based in east Orlando building that now
houses PBS station WMFE. WSWB produced children's
programing ("Uncle Hubie's Penthouse
Barnyard''), aired re-runs of shows such as
Batman and Lost In Space and produced local news
shows. The 1970s recession hit WSWB hard. Station
owner Sun World Broadcasting ran into money
troubles and was forced to file for bankruptcy in
January 1976 -- which eventually forced Channel
35 off the air. Among those who tried to buy the
station were Ted Turner and Christian broadcast
Pat Robertson. After a great deal of legal
squabbling over WSWB's assets, the Omega Group
ended up with ownership. It changed the call
letters to WOFL (for Orlando, FL) and returned
Channel 35 to the air in 1979. Meredith Corp.
then purchased WOFL in 1982 and owned it until
2002, when it swapped stations with Fox
Broadcasting -- gaining the Fox-owned station in
Portland, Ore, in exchange for Channel 35. Fox
already owned then-UPN affiliated WRBW-Channel 65
in Orlando.
Digital
subchannel programming: None.
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