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Your Local Forcast
United We Stand!
Last
Update: 1/5/09 @ 21:00 pm/est.
Maciborski
to leave WFTS...
1/05/08
- (from SPTimes.com) - A familiar face to WFTS-Ch. 28 viewers is leaving
the station. ABC Action News announced today that Walt
Maciborski will be leaving the station in early January. Maciborski has served as
co-anchor of WFTS’ 5 and 5:30 p.m. evening newscasts and nighttime reporter for the
past three years. “We will miss Walt very much,” Rich Pegram, station vice
president and general manager, said in a news release. “Walt is a talented journalist
who is ready for bigger opportunities, and I know he will do well.” According to the
release, the anchor responsibilities for the 5–6:30 p.m. newscasts will be shared by
current anchors Brendan McLaughlin, Wendy Ryan and Linda Hurtado. The station also
announced that it's expanding its news programming by five hours with the addition of
Saturday and Sunday news programs in February. The newscasts will feature local news,
sports, weather and community events.
Click here for the
story...
WFTS crew
finds evidence...notifies police...
12/31/08 - (from
WFTV.com) - An Eyewitness News crew found a knife used in an attack lying
around for anyone to take in a parking lot, a key piece of evidence Orlando police didn't
find at a crime scene. The knife was likely used during a break-in at a restaurant. The
crime happened near Semoran Boulevard and Curry Ford Road on Woolco Way. Alex Arboleda
owns Taqueria Los Deleitesı on Woolco Way in Orlando. He said a group of armed men tried
to break into his closed restaurant overnight. When the men kicked the door, Arboleda and
a security guard opened the door and that's when things turned violent. "One guy take
a knife. He tried to throw the knife like this," Arboleda described. Arboleda then
took his bottle of mace out of his pocket and sprayed it at the group of men. Miguel Ramos
was sprayed in the eyes and fell to the ground. The other suspects drove off. The other
two later found and arrested were Jose Enamorado and Robert Turcio-Gomez. While Eyewitness
News reporter Mark Boyle was collecting information on the story at the scene, he looked
down and realized the knife that could have been used was sitting there. Boyle called
Orlando police and officers showed up minutes later and took the knife into evidence.
Police said they may have not seen the key piece of evidence because the knife could have
been tossed underneath a parked car. Arboleda said he plans on trading in his can of mace
for a gun soon to fight off would-be burglars. "If that's what I need to use to save
my life from, that's what I need to use," Arboleda said. The men are facing several
charges, including armed burglary and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Click here for the
story...
New Bay
News 9 Wx toy...
1/05/08
- (from Multichannel.com) - Baron Services has reached an agreement with
Bay News 9, Bright House Network’s 24-hours news channel serving Tampa, to use its
new Klyde radar technology. Branded by Bay News 9 as Klystron 9, the C-band klystron
dual-polarization radar, part of Baron’s KHDD series, packs more than 1 million watts
of power and houses a calibration technique that vastly improves the radar’s accuracy
and performance. Until now, dual-polarization weather radars could only be calibrated when
precipitation was present, but with Baron’s patent-pending calibration technique, the
system can be quickly calibrated at any time under any weather conditions. The additional
power means Bay News 9 meteorologists can see storms farther away, providing viewers with
earlier warning of significant weather threats. “With Klyde, we have jumped the
curve,” said Bob Baron, Baron Services president and CEO, in a statement. “It
has more power, more precision and more capability than any other commercial Doppler
weather radar in the world.” Added Terry Dolan, vice president and general manager of
Bay News 9: “We always have and will continue to be 100% committed to providing our
viewers with the very best weather forecasting technology — that’s why today we
are proud to introduce Klystron 9 to our viewers.”
Click here for the story...
12/31/08
- (from MiamiHerald.com) - When Tony Segreto, a nervous college kid barely
one step removed from fetching coffee for the grown-ups, first went on the air in 1971, it
seemed more likely his career would end not 37 years later but 37 minutes. 'I
can't remember now if it was my first sportscast or my second, but I had to say the names
`Mike Schmidt' and 'Arthur Ashe,' and neither one got out of my mouth correctly,'' a
laughing Segreto recalls. ``I'll leave it to your imagination what they sounded like.''
Despite such a scatological start, Segreto not only survived but also thrived, growing
into South Florida's most respected sportscaster and later its top-rated news anchor. But
now his 40 years at WTVJ-NBC 6 really are coming to an end over two words: ''I'm
retiring.'' His Jan. 9 newscast will be his last. Segreto, 58, is leaving in the middle of
hard times at WTVJ, where ratings (including his) have been in steep decline the past four
years, part of an overall collapse of corporate parent NBC that has caused the network to
put the station up for sale. But Segreto says he was already talking to WTVJ about
retirement long before the station's sale was announced. ''It's just time,'' he says. ``I
always compared in my mind the job we did to that of an athlete. We have a life
expectancy, as do they; we have a skill set, as do they. I always said that when the day
came, I wanted to go out like a great athlete -- like Joe DiMaggio, who retired in 1951 at
the top of his game. The Yankees offered him the richest contract in baseball, and he just
walked away, because he knew it was time.'' Rival news departments continued to hold
Segreto in high regard even as ratings declined. ''We've always respected Tony as a
competitor, and he represents the gold standard of Miami television,'' says WPLG-ABC 10's
general manager Dave Boylan. ``I think the market will miss him.'' Segreto's departure,
just six months after his longtime WPLG competitor Dwight Lauderdale ended a 35-year run
in South Florida, marks the end of an era. He's the last survivor of the generation of
anchors and reporters who went on the Miami airwaves in the late 1960s and early 1970s,
just as local TV news was evolving from an amateur-hour production of talking snapshots
into an ambitious and technologically sophisticated journalistic package.
Click here
for the story...
Cabrera
gone from WESH...
12/31/08
- (from OrlandoSentinel.com) - Where's meteorologist Ivan Cabrera? He left
WESH-Channel 2 several weeks ago. "He signed a confidentiality agreement and is not
commenting," Cabrera's agent, Rob Jordan, said Monday. "It was all very
amicable." WESH General Manager Jim Carter simply said that Cabrera was no longer
with the station. The WESH Web site described Cabrera as "the first bilingual
meteorologist on non-Hispanic television in the Orlando market to deliver weather
information fluently in English and Spanish." He had joined the station in May 2006.
The scuttlebutt in the industry? There are lot of cutbacks these days, and WESH owner
Hearst-Argyle Television is no different. Carter said the station has four meteorologists
and is shifting them around. The station also has used space reporter Dan Billow, who has
a meteorological degree. WESH will continue to use Billow on the weather when needed,
Carter said. Click
here for the story...
No raises
for WFLA/TBO/Trib folks in 2009...
12/31/08 - In a
letter to Tampa area Media General employees (WFLA-TV, TBO.com, Tampa Tribune)....
From: Schueler, John R.
Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Subject: Standard Annual Merit Increases
Dear Colleagues;
As you know, our national and state
economies are still deeply troubled and that dramatically impacts many of our key advertisers
including automotive, real estate and employment services. Although we continue to serve
more readers, viewers and users than any media company in Tampa Bay, we have to continue
our actions to manage through this economic downturn.
Therefore, as of January 1, 2009,
employees of The Tampa Tribune, WFLA-TV, TBO.com, Centro and Associate Publications who normally
qualify for the merit cycles for January 2009 and July 2009 will not receive a merit increase.
We all know that these are very difficult
times. Thank you for your hard work, dedication and understanding.
WTSP
reaches beyond the TV...
12/29/08 - (from SPTimes.com) - The first time he heard
the idea, Reginald Roundtree was convinced that he was never, ever going to go for it.
After nearly 20 years at CBS affiliate WTSP-Ch. 10 and more than a decade as the St.
Petersburg station's main anchor, there was no way he was going to spend time talking to
people online. Then he met viewers like JustinSRQ34238. A 14-year-old fan from Kentucky
who summers in Sarasota, Justin Lauffer sent Roundtree vote totals from CNN while the
anchor was covering the presidential election at the Push Lounge nightclub, and he
regularly watches the station's continuous online feed. "This kid's a loyal viewer
— he's here every night," said Roundtree, scrolling down a list of 150 or so
screen names who regularly message during newscasts. But are those 150 names worth it? The
coming year looks like a long, tough road for all TV stations, facing a year without much
political advertising, no Summer Olympics, a transition to digital TV (which could knock
out some viewers) and continuing problems for big advertisers such as car dealers and
retail stores. Roundtree's relationship with the young Web fan is just one sign of what
local TV stations are doing to compete for viewers. Under pressure to boost ratings, WTSP
this year developed its 10 Connects identity, a catch-all slogan for the myriad ways
reporters, producers and anchors are now trying to connect with viewers outside
traditional one-way newscasts, from trading instant messages during shows to using footage
shot by amateur "citizen journalists" in stories. Some experts wonder whether
the effort expended on these projects winds up recruiting too many fans like Lauffer
— who lives hundreds of miles away most of the year, won't often patronize many local
advertisers and doesn't often help WTSP's local ratings....Cont.....
Click
here for the REST of the story...
Flashy new
threads for Bay News 9 crews...
12/29/08 - Bay News 9 has
vowed to make it's staff safe while doing road side reports. See the YouTube video below.
Enjoy.
WINK-TV
headquarters gets a facelift...
12/29/08 - (from News-Press.com) - Regular travelers
along Palm Beach Boulevard in Fort Myers are in for a surprise as soon as Fort Myers
Broadcasting wraps up a cosmetic makeover on its warehouse-like building. Home to WINK-TV,
a variety of radio stations as well as CW6, the new light-colored, modern style building
still retains the same basic shape of its former incarnation, but has a much sleeker and
more contemporary look to it. The walls will be white with metallic accents. A tinted
glass entrance and tinted windows will line the front of the building. The move comes as
that whole stretch of Palm Beach Boulevard
goes more upscale. “They redid the road in front of us and with the new condo
buildings in the area, we thought it might be nice to freshen up our look,” said
Wayne Simons, the general manager of Fort Myers Broadcasting.
Click
here for the story...
Changes in
Fort Myers...
12/29/08 - (from
News-Press.com) - Sister stations NBC2 and ABC7 are making some changes in the
sports department. On NBC2, longtime sports anchor Chris Long is moving from weekdays to
weekends. ABC7 sports anchor Brian Colleran is switching stations and will anchor sports
on NBC2 Monday through Friday. He will get the title of sports director. Meanwhile, ABC7
is forgoing a weekday sports anchor as the station redefines itself. ABC7 recently went to
a streamlined newscast with far more stories than before, but fewer live reports and other
features that can slow down a show’s pace. Any important sports stories will be
included just like any other news. Evan Fitzgerald will continue to anchor weekend sports
on ABC7 because there’s usually a lot more sports news on Saturday and Sunday.
Fox4
has hired a new meteorologist to help flesh out its weather team. Aaron Alvarez is the
station’s new weekend meteorologist. He’s coming from KSWT-TV, the CBS station
in Yuma, Ariz. Click
here for the story...
Hori has
twins...
12/29/08
- (from MiamiHerald.com) - WFOR-CBS4 anchor Shannon Hori gave birth
Monday to fraternal twin boys. Colt arrived at 8:42 a.m. (6 pounds, 4 ounces), and Cade
followed at 8:46 a.m. (8 pounds, 6 ounces). Dr. Victor Gonzalez-Quintero delivered by
C-section at Jackson Memorial Hospital. ''The best Christmas present ever,'' Hori says.
They're the first children for Hori, 36, and husband Kendall Cogan, 42. He owns seven
Firehouse Subs franchises on Florida's Gulf Coast. Hori says she's feeling fine, thanks.
She plans to be back on the air in early March.
Click here for
the story...
WTVJ sale
canned...bad economy to blame...
12/25/08 - (from MiamiHerald.com) - Bad economic times
and a delay in receiving needed approval have ''terminated'' plans for the sale of South
Florida's NBC affiliate to the owners of the competing WPLG-ABC 10. Plans by The
Washington Post Co. to purchased WTVJ-NBC were abruptly called off Tuesday, according to a
joint statement. Both companies said that ``the intended sale...would not move forward.''
The reason: ''Given the current economic environment, and the delay in receiving the
necessary regulatory approval, the deal has been terminated,'' NBC6's announced in the middle of its afternoon
newscast. ''This is not a postponement. The transaction has been terminated,'' said Rima
Calderon, spokeswoman for The Washignton Post Co. ''The station remains an NBC
owned-and-operated television station,'' said Liz Fischer, an NBC Local Media spokeswoman
said. The purchase of NBC6 was scheduled to be completed by the end of 2008. It would have
made the Washignton Post Co. owners of two affiliates. The sale, announced in July, had
been opposed by employees who feared layoffs due to consolidation. Score of people had
filed their objection to the sale with the FCC. From the start, the planned sale had
raised eyebrows. FCC rules traditionally prohibit a single company from owning more than
one of a metropolitan market's top four TV stations. That means the stations affiliated
with the top four English-language networks -- ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox -- must have
different owners. But in the tight Miami-Fort Lauderdale market, NBC6 had fallen to
sixth-place, largely due to low primetime ratings and stiff competition from
Spanish-language networks like Univision and Telemundo. Once out of the top four, it was
eligible to be purchased by WPLG-ABC 10's owners.
Click here for the
story...
New
Gainesville NBC affiliate logo unveiled...
12/25/08 - New NBC affiliate, WNBW, unveiled their logo this past week
via the multi-channel website mygainesville.tv.
The new channel for the Gainesville/Ocala/Lake City market goes on the air in mid-January
replacing Orlando's WESH and Jacksonville's WTLV extended market
NBC coverage. The station is also rumored to start producing local newscasts, sharing
resources and air time with sister Gainesville CBS statopm WGFL.
Kamal
released from prison...
12/15/08 - (from Sun-Sentinel.com) - Former WSVN TV
weatherman arrested four years ago in an Internet sex sting has been released from prison.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons recently moved Bill Kamal, 51, out of a Massachusetts prison
to a community supervision program in Philadelphia records show. WPLG reports that Kamal
was placed in a halfway house program last week, but it's unclear whether that's where
he'll be ordered to remain through the end of his sentence in March. Kamal, who was chief
meteorologist at WSVN-Channel 7 for a decade, had pleaded guilty to charges he used the
Internet to arrange a sexual encounter with someone he thought was a 14-year-old boy. That
person turned out to be an undercover detective with the St. Lucie County Sheriff's
Office. Deputies arrested Kamal when he pulled into a convenience store parking lot near
Fort Pierce, where they say Kamal planned to pick up the boy. Inside
Kamal's car, deputies said they found toys and condoms. WSVN fired Kamal immediately after
his arrest. At the time, he was living near downtown Fort Lauderdale. A federal judge in
February 2005 gave Kamal the minimum prison sentence for the crime -- five years -- and
ordered him to pay a $20,000 fine and be put on probation the rest of his life.
Additionally, most states would classify Kamal as a sex offender and require him to
register as such when he takes up residence. Click
here for the story...
Fox4
has hired a new meteorologist to help flesh out its weather team. Aaron Alvarez is the
station’s new weekend meteorologist. He’s coming from KSWT-TV, the CBS station
in Yuma, Ariz. 
the middle of its afternoon
newscast. ''This is not a postponement. The transaction has been terminated,'' said Rima
Calderon, spokeswoman for The Washignton Post Co. ''The station remains an NBC
owned-and-operated television station,'' said Liz Fischer, an NBC Local Media spokeswoman
said. The purchase of NBC6 was scheduled to be completed by the end of 2008. It would have
made the Washignton Post Co. owners of two affiliates. The sale, announced in July, had
been opposed by employees who feared layoffs due to consolidation. Score of people had
filed their objection to the sale with the FCC. From the start, the planned sale had
raised eyebrows. FCC rules traditionally prohibit a single company from owning more than
one of a metropolitan market's top four TV stations. That means the stations affiliated
with the top four English-language networks -- ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox -- must have
different owners. But in the tight Miami-Fort Lauderdale market, NBC6 had fallen to
sixth-place, largely due to low primetime ratings and stiff competition from
Spanish-language networks like Univision and Telemundo. Once out of the top four, it was
eligible to be purchased by WPLG-ABC 10's owners.
pick up the boy. Inside
Kamal's car, deputies said they found toys and condoms. WSVN fired Kamal immediately after
his arrest. At the time, he was living near downtown Fort Lauderdale. A federal judge in
February 2005 gave Kamal the minimum prison sentence for the crime -- five years -- and
ordered him to pay a $20,000 fine and be put on probation the rest of his life.
Additionally, most states would classify Kamal as a sex offender and require him to
register as such when he takes up residence.