WFTV

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For the defunct television station in Duluth, Minnesota, see WFTV (Duluth).

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WFTV channel 9 is a television station based in Orlando, Florida, affiliated with the ABC network. It transmits its analog signal on VHF channel 9 from a transmitter located in Bithlo, Florida, and its digital signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter located in Christmas, Florida. It is owned by Cox Enterprises along with independent station WRDQ TV 27.

The primary news anchors at WFTV are Bob Opsahl and Martie Salt. They anchored the main afternoon newscasts from 1984 through 1994, when Ms. Salt transferred to WFTS, a TV station in Tampa (where she was known as "Martie Tucker"). She returned to anchor WFTV's news again with Opsahl in 2003. Opsahl is one of the longest-serving (at one station) local news anchors in Florida. Barbara West, a 20 year veteran at WFTV and the station's medical reporter is paired with Opsahl at 5:30.

Marla Weech, a former anchor for WFTV, was paired up with Bob Opsahl during most of Salt's absence. Weech was recently laid off by WKMG.

Tom Terry is the "Chief Meteorologist".

WFTV's Severe Weather Center 9 includes WFTV's own doppler weather radar station located at Joint Venture TV Tower Bithlo. Its radar has features that are unique to its market, including a radar mode capable of taking advantage of WFTV's 720p newscast (see HDTV section) to transmit greater radar detail to its viewers. Channel 9's Severe Weather Team also includes Brian Shields, Ben Smith and Matt Makens.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, "Channel 9 Eyewitness News" made the claim of being "Central Florida's News Leader" as its slogan, but dropped the claim in the 2000s after transitioning to "Coverage You Can Count On". Its main 5pm newscast was termed "Live at Five" until the early 2000s.

WFTV was also the original station for former CNN anchor and current NBC News correspondent Natalie Allen. Deborah Roberts of ABC News (and wife of TV personality Al Roker), Rob Stafford of NBC News and John Tesh also used their time at WFTV to gain experience that thrust them onto the national scene.

WFTV carries a high-profile programming lineup with shows such as Oprah Winfrey, Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.

WFTV can also be found on Bright House channel 20 in Polk and Citrus counties; and on Comcast channel 9 in Polk, Hardee and Highlands counties, although these counties are part of the Tampa Bay market; on these systems, WFTV is seen alongside WFTS (except on Comcast in Hardee County, where it is seen alongside Sarasota's WWSB).

WFTV and WRDQ are two of three commercial television stations with studios located inside the Orlando city limits; WKMG is the other. In the case of WFTV and WRDQ, they share studios on South Street in downtown Orlando. All other area stations are based in Winter Park (WESH/WKCF) and Lake Mary (WOFL/WRBW).

History

The station signed on the air on February 1, 1958 as WLOF-TV (for "We Love Orlando, Florida"). It had been an ABC affiliate since its launch. For years, the station was owned by a consortium of local investors. It changed its call letters to WFTV in 1963. The SFN Companies purchased the station in 1984. SFN, in turn, sold the station to Cox Communications in 1985.

Alongside its own "Eyewitness News" broadcasts, WFTV also produces a nightly 10pm newscast ("Eyewitness News at 10", formerly known as "Action News at 10") for sister station WRDQ since 2000, and a weekday morning newscast ("Eyewitness News This Morning") for said station since 2007.

For most of the time since the 1980s, WFTV has been the dominant TV news station in the Central Florida market. Although NBC affiliate WESH made some temporary advances in the 1990s, WFTV often enjoys ratings higher than the combined rating of the other network affiliates in the Central Florida market. In some newscasts it has been the highest rated ABC television station in the Southeast US.

Ocala

As of July 2006, WFTV and WFTV-DT is now seen on the co-owned Cox Cable system in Ocala (WFTV on cable channel 9 and WFTV-DT on channel 729) in addition to Gainesville's WCJB-TV. Ocala and Marion County are both part of the Orlando market. Prior to July 2006, Cox in Ocala only offered WCJB, due to contractual obligations, even though Ocala is not in the same television market as Gainesville.

Personalities

News Anchors

  • Bob Opsahl, weekday evening anchor
  • Martie Salt, weekday evening anchor
  • Darrell Greene, weekday evening anchor
  • Barbara West, weekday Noon and evening anchor
  • Greg Warmoth, weekday morning anchor
  • Vanessa Echols, weekday morning and Noon anchor
  • Elizabeth Artz, weekend morning and Noon anchor
  • Robert Maxwell, weekend evening anchor

Severe Weather Center 9 Meteorologists

  • Tom Terry, weekday evening chief meteorologist (AMS-CBM)
  • Brian Shields, weekday morning meteorologist (AMS/NWA)
  • Ben Smith, weekend morning meteorologist (AMS-CBM/NWA)
  • Matt Makens weekend evening meteorologist (AMS-CBM/NWA)

News Reporters

  • Jason Allen, Volusia County reporter
  • Gustavo Almodóvar, general assignment reporter
  • Steve Barrett, general assignment reporter
  • Gregg Beck, Skywitness 9 Pilot
  • Kathi Belich,, general assignment reporter
  • Andrea Conklin, general assignment reporter
  • Jeff Deal, general assignment reporter
  • David Dean, traffic reporter
  • Melonie Holt, general assignment reporter
  • Daralene Jones, general assignment reporter
  • Sean Lavin, general assignment reporter
  • Kenneth Moton, general assignment reporter
  • Derrol Nail, general assignment reporter
  • Mary Nguyen, general assignment reporter
  • Kevin Oliver, Brevard County reporter
  • Berndt Petersen, general assignment reporter
  • Eric Rasmussen, general assignment reporter
  • George Spencer, general assignment reporter
  • Todd Ulrich, Action 9 investigator
  • Vanessa Welch, general assignment reporter
  • Tim Wetzel, general assignment reporter

Sports Anchors

  • Phil Burton, weekday sports anchor
  • Jenny Dunn, weekend sports anchor/reporter

Digital television and HDTV

On June 29, 2006, WFTV became the first Florida television station to offer newscasts in 720p HD (High Definition). It is the first Cox owned and operated station and the 10th U.S. station to offer it. With the switch to HD came a new HD set from FX Group and HD graphics from Giant Octopus. This switch had also later changed the stations news music package to Eyewitness News, which WFTV had previously used from 1995-1997.

After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009 [1], WFTV-DT will remain on channel 39. [2]

Preemptions

WFTV was one of the few ABC affiliates that pre-empted Jimmy Kimmel Live. WFTV's sister stations in Atlanta (WSB-TV) and Charlotte (WSOC-TV), as well as Sinclair Broadcast Group affiliate WEAR-TV in Pensacola, also did not air the program. On November 21, 2005, however, the station did start airing the late night talk show, and now airs almost the entire ABC schedule with little preemption.

These preemptions are currently limited to some of ABC's weekend morning programming. Three out of four hours of the ABC Kids lineup are shown. The station began carrying the weekend edition of Good Morning America in the beginning of July 2007, along with its sister stations in Atlanta (WSB-TV) and Charlotte (WSOC-TV).

In the early 1980s, WFTV preempted the soap opera The Edge of Night, which was preempted by many other ABC affiliates as well.

From 1994 thru 1996, WFTV did not air ABC's 11:00 AM program while it was The Home Show and Mike and Maty. The station began to carry such programming overnights starting in 1996, not starting to air it in its proper timeslot until The View debuted in 1997.

In 1992, WFTV dropped two of the five hours of ABC's Saturday morning cartoons in order to add a two hour newscast. The next year, when the newscast expanded to three hours, the station ceased airing the block completely.

In 1996 an hour of ABC cartoons was restored on Sunday mornings. A year later, WFTV began to carry two hours of the lineup that were under the One Saturday Morning banner. In 1999, WFTV began its current practice to run three hours of the lineup, likely as a way to comply with federal E/I regulations.

In 2004, all Cox-owned ABC affiliates preempted the movie Saving Private Ryan, due to the graphic violence and profanity in the film, after the FCC stepped up its vigilance following the Janet Jackson / Justin Timberlake Super Bowl incident that year. The FCC declared the film as not indecent, after the fact.

News/Station Presentation

Newscast Titles

  • Eyewitness News (1976-1997)
  • Channel 9 Eyewitness News (1997-Present)

References

  1. ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
  2. ^ http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101231092&formid=387&fac_num=72076

External links

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