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| United We Stand! |
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Last
Update: 05/09/08 @ 10:00 am/est. |
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| 05/09/08 - Well folks
it's that time again for yours truly to get away from Florida and enjoy some relaxation,
boozing and cruising. I'll be gone for nine days, flying to fabulous Puerto Rico to embark
on the Carnival Destiny for a seven day southern Caribbean cruise. During that time
FLNewsCenter.com will not be updated and there will be no new members added to FNC Forum.
However, during that time if you have any story ideas please continue to send them to flnewscenter@flnewscenter.com and I'll
update the site as soon as I return. Thanks and see you in nine days!
-Chris |
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| Orlando
market stations to pull analog plug early...just testing... |
 05/09/08 - (from
TVNewsDay.com) - Eleven TV stations in central Florida have banded together to
run a test designed to flush out viewers who are not technologically prepared for the
congressionally mandated nationwide switch to digital television on Feb. 17. The
unprecedented three-stage test, announced Thursday in Orlando, will consist of brief
blackouts of the stations’ over-the-air analog signals. Cable and satellite customers
in the market will see no disruption, because they already are receiving the stations’
digital signal from their providers. Broadcast-only viewers, however, will see a blackout
of several seconds and then a graphic telling them where to find information about what
corrective measures they need to take in order to be able to see TV programming
uninterrupted when the analog signal goes away for real and for good in February.
Unlike in Wilmington, N.C., where the local stations’ analog signals will end
for good on Sept. 8 in an FCC-approved test of what other markets might face in February,
the Orlando stations will resume analog broadcasting at the end of each test. The Orlando
tests, which will be heavily promoted and explained on-air by all of the stations, will
last one minute only. The first will take place at 7:59 p.m. June 25. “One of the
biggest questions viewers have is, ‘Will this affect me?’ This test will answer
that,” Richard Monn, WESH-TV/WKCF-TV chief engineer and spokesman for the consortium
of stations running the test, said in the announcement. “To the best of our
knowledge, the marketwide test we’re proposing has not been utilized or attempted by
any other alliance of broadcasters in the country.” The central Florida stations
participating in the dry run are Hearst-Argyle-owned WESH-TV and WKCF-TV,
Post-Newsweek-owned WKMG-TV, Cox-owned WFTV-TV and WRDQ-TV, Daytona Beach Community
College’s WCEU-TV, Univision-owned WOTF-TV, Good Life Broadcasting’s WTGL-TV and
Brevard County Community College’s WBCC-TV. Fox-owned WOFL-TV and WRBW-TV are not
participating in the Orlando test. A representative for WOFL said the station “is
following all FCC guidelines and is doing what is required of the station to educate
consumers who get their signals solely from an analog source as to what will happen on
Feb. 17, 2009.”
Click
here for the story... |
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| Quirantes
rips into FL FCAT... |
  05/08/08 - (from
PalmBeachPost.com) - It was a strange venue for a
WPEC-Channel 12 star anchorwoman to get political. Comely night-shift newswoman Liz
Quirantes had been tapped to emcee the prestigious William T. Dwyer Awards honoring
local educators at the Kravis recently when her speech before hundreds of school employees
turned into a rant against the FCAT, the state-mandated high-pressure exam. Raising
eyebrows at times, Quirantes took apart the concept, injecting her own children and news
events into the debate and even opening up on an assistant principal. Hey, aren't TV
anchors supposed to be neutral? Neither Quirantes nor WPEC bigs returned calls to explain
whether her opinions about a test that is supposed to improve student achievement are the
station's, but a colleague of Quirantes who asked to remain anonymous said it's not like
the lady risks not being invited back. "The station produces and sponsors the
ceremony," said the colleague. "Channel 12 picks whoever the speaker is. It used
to be Chandra Bill (before she jumped ship to WPTV-Channel 5). Liz is just more
outspoken." Quirantes blasted teachers' nothing-but-FCAT focus and pressure on the
pre-teens and teens as unhealthy. She took the example of her own son, second-grader
Casey, who came home with an FCAT preparation book a year ahead of the exam. And then
there was Quirantes' "horror" at Lake Worth High Assistant Principal Craig
Kirkwood's attitude when he told The Palm Beach Post in March that he looked
forward to the return to school of unlucky bystander Vanessa Soto after she was injured in
the West Palm Wendy's shooting: "We can get her back on track for FCAT."
Kirkwood didn't return calls for comment on Quirantes' verbal shots. Said schools
spokesman Nat Harrington: "Liz is always entertaining and she talked about well-known
FCAT issues."
Click
here for the story... |
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| New GM at
WPTV... |
  05/02/08
- (from TCPalm.com) - Steve Wasserman, the
senior executive of three major-market television stations over the past 19 years, has
been appointed vice president and general manager of WPTV, the West Palm Beach NBC
affiliate that is owned and operated by The E. W. Scripps Company, which is also the
parent company of Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers. Wasserman, 55, will begin his new
duties on May 19. He'll assume leadership of a station that has been ranked number one in
that fast-growing market every year for more than five decades. He succeeds Brian Lawlor,
who last November was named vice president of sales for the Scripps Television Station
Group. "Steve is highly regarded throughout our industry because he has consistently
proven to be a formidable competitor in very high-profile markets," said Bill
Peterson, senior vice president of the Scripps TV Station Group. "His breadth of
experience and his knowledge of south Florida will help WPTV continue its leadership in
West Palm Beach." He most recently was at WDIV, the NBC affiliate in Detroit, where
he was the vice president and general manager for more than two years. Before taking the
reins at WDIV, Wasserman was the vice president and general manager of KPRC, the NBC
affiliate in Houston, for 11 years. While there, the station won a Peabody Award for
outstanding journalism. He was the vice president and general manager at WJXT, the CBS
affiliate in Jacksonville, Fla., from 1988 to 1994. For two years prior to that, he was
the vice president, station manager and news director of WPLG, Miami's ABC affiliate. .In
the mid-1980s he was the news director at WCBS in New York, a title he also held at WPLG
from 1982 to 1985 and WJXT from 1981 to 1982. He previously had been executive news
producer at WDIV and WPLG. Wasserman has been secretary of the NBC Affiliates Board, and
has served on the boards of the Michigan Association of Broadcasters and the Texas
Association of Broadcasters.
Click
here for the story... |
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| WPBF GM
abruptly resigns... |
 04/29/08 - (from
TCPalm.com) - Victoria Regan resigned abruptly Monday as vice president and
general manager of WPBF-TV 25 after meeting with staff of the ABC affiliate, according to
news director Joseph Coscia. An interim general manager has not been named to replace
Regan, who couldn’t be reached for comment. After leading the Hearst-Argyle station
for nearly 11 years, Regan told the news staff that her resignation was effective
immediately. No reason for her departure was given. Coscia described Regan’s parting
from the northern Palm Beach County newsroom as a tearful farewell. “We’ll miss
her,” he said. “She’s been a great leader and a great friend not only to us
but to the entire community.” Before departing, Coscia said Regan didn’t reveal
her next professional move, or whether she plans to remain in TV news. More details are
expected in the next couple of days, he said. “Under her leadership we’ve grown;
our ratings are good,” Coscia said. “I think our station’s growth will
continue . . . and we wish her well.”
Click
here for the story... |
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| Leaving
Fort Myers... |
 04/29/08
- (from News-Press.com) - Krista Fogelsong, the former main anchorwoman at
Fox4, has taken a new job. She's now the main anchor at KNBN-TV, the NBC affiliate in
Rapid City, S.D. Regular readers may remember that Fogelsong left WFTX late last year
after failing to reach a new contract agreement with station managers. At the time,
Fogelsong said she hoped to find work in television markets closer to her family - places
like Denver or Minneapolis-St. Paul. Turns out, Fogelsong got even closer. Rapid City is
just three hours from her hometown of tiny Baker, Mont. Fogelsong graduated from high
school in the town of Spearfish, S.D., which is just up the road - 40 miles or so
-from where she works now.  There's an update to a recent item in this
column about the departure of WZVN weekend anchor Bay Scroggins from the
station. Last week, I reported that Scroggins was leaving because his contract was not
renewed, according to station managers. Scroggins contacted me this week and said he and
his wife, WBBH reporter Maggie
Newland, were both planning on leaving their respective posts and had been quietly in
talks with a Minneapolis station for some time. He says he resigned his position nearly a  month before his contract was up - with no
mention of it not being renewed. "My wife and I both want to advance our careers and
while we have grown tremendously in Southwest Florida, the growth in television (for us)
is not here," Scroggins wrote to me. Kudos to both of them because they will soon be
reporting for KSTP-TV, the ABC station in the Twin Cities. Newland will be on staff, while
Scroggins will be freelancing.
Click
here for the story...
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| C&D in
Fort Myers... |
  04/29/08 - (from
News-Press.com) - Earlier this month, there was a tiny legal row between WFTX
and WINK. It seems the WINK newsroom began using the term "troubleshooter" to
describe its consumer reporter who helps Southwest Florida residents solve problems. The
only problem - Fox4 has called its consumer reporter the "Troubleshooter" for
more than a decade now. WFTX lawyers quickly sent off a "cease & desist"
letter to WINK, asking them to stop using the term. WINK apparently complied. "We
were concerned about viewer confusion," said Judy Kenney, WFTX's general manager.
"With all the options out there for viewers, we didn't want there to be any confusion
over which station had the 'Troubleshooter.'"
Click
here for the story... |
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| New
morning news show on WSFL... |
 04/29/08 - (from
WTSP.com) - The South Florida Sun-Sentinel and WSFL-Ch. 39 are
planning to introduce a morning news and information TV program early in 2009, it was
announced Wednesday.The newspaper and TV station are owned by Chicago-based Tribune
Co., one of the nation's biggest media companies. The working model calls for the
program to air from 5 to 9 a.m. weekdays, said Sun-Sentinel Publisher Howard
Greenberg, who also is general manager of the TV station. The goal is for the new show to
be a fast-paced, personality-driven, nontraditional news and information format. The
emphasis will be on local content, much of it supplied by the Sun-Sentinel editorial
staff. A substantial Internet component is planned. It will be broadcast from the Sun-Sentinel
newsroom in downtown Fort Lauderdale. There is a possibility Sun-Sentinel reporters
and columnists will appear on the show, although the conceptualization of the program is
in the preliminary stages, Greenberg said. "We have a wealth of talent, both print
and online in our newsroom," he said. "We want to take advantage of that."
The program's anchor team has not been chosen, Greenberg said. "We want to have hosts
who reflect the tone of the show," which will have a discernible attitude to
distinguish it from other morning information programs, he said. WSFL has only one daily
news program now, a 10 p.m. newscast produced by WTVJ-Ch. 6. The NBC station has been put
up for sale by parent company GE. It was announced last month that WSFL would be moving
into the Sun-Sentinel headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, so the jointly owned
operations could share resources. Greenberg said the new morning program is an example of
how this will play out.
Click
here for the story... |
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