Dave Cocchiarella
(Courtesy: News13)
Meteorologist Dave Cocchiarella, a familiar face in many Orlando households for more than a decade, left Central Florida News 13 last week, according to Florida News Center.
The cable-only station, owned by Bright House Networks, released this short statement:
“Dave Cocchiarella chose to no longer be with News 13. We wish him the best in his future endeavors.”
Speculation about why he left continues, though.
Cale Ramaker (Courtesy: Orlando Sentinel)
By the end of July, Sin City will have a new morning anchor team featuring former Orlando anchorman Cale Ramaker.
Ramaker, who worked at FOX affiliate WOFL for the last seven years, will anchor the morning show from 4 to 7 a.m. at KLAS, the CBS affiliate in Las Vegas.
For more than two weeks, Orlando CBS affiliate WKMG has been broadcasting newscasts in full high definition.
A reader wrote into Hal Boedeker’s Orlando Sentinel blog to mention the upgrade.
WKMG General Manager Skip Valet confirmed the change. It debuted Saturday, June 2.
Amy Wegmann (Courtesy: Twitter)
WFTX anchor Amy Wegmann may have taken a temporary break from the news business due to her husband running for political office, but she’s still showing up occasionally on television sets across the nation.
And no, we’re not talking about campaign ads.
WPTV Set Construction (Courtesy: Facebook)
WPTV in West Palm Beach, Fla., and WTVJ in Miami are both undergoing studio set renovations right now.
For WPTV, the change couldn’t come soon enough; SFLTV.com reports the old set had been there since the turn of the millenium.
Eleven markets (four in South TV News’ coverage area) with FOX owned-and-operated affiliates will soon have another tool in their arsenal in terms of weather coverage: AccuWeather.
Paul Gessler (Courtesy: WBBH-TV)
Reporter Paul Gessler has left the Sunshine State, where he spent more than two years at WZVN-WBBH in Ft. Myers.
A tweet from Gessler’s Twitter account states his new employer is WBFF, the FOX station in Baltimore, Md. The new job puts Gessler a few places shy of a top 25 market and closer to home.
WJXT
WJXT-TV in Jacksonville, Fla., has again won the ratings war, claiming first in every weekday timeslot for news in the May period.
The independent station led by 7/10 of a ratings point at 5 a.m.; that lead more than doubled to 1.7 points over WTLV at 6 a.m.
Cale Ramaker (Courtesy: Orlando Sentinel)
Cale Ramaker, who spent the last seven years at FOX affiliate WOFL as an anchor, is no longer employed by the station.
The decision comes at the end of the May ratings period, where the FOX affiliate came in fourth.
LuAnne Sorrell (Courtesy: WSVN)
LuAnne Sorrell, former WSVN reporter and weekend morning anchor, has accepted a job at WOFL, the FOX affiliate in Orlando.
Sorrell had spent the last seven years at the Miami FOX affiliate as a reporter on “Today in Florida.”
South TV News 