New Orleans Traffic Reporter Comes Back Home To Florida

Christina Leavenworth (Courtesy: WEAR-TV)

Florida native Christina Leavenworth has landed back in her home state after a stint at WWL-TV in New Orleans. Leavenworth was the morning traffic reporter there.

WEAR-TV–the ABC affiliate for the Mobile, Ala.,-Pensacola, Fla., market–has given her a weekend anchor and reporter position, hiring the Niceville native last week.

Former Pensacola Morning Anchor Gets Big Market Jump

Bree Sison (Courtesy: Facebook)

Bree Sison, former morning anchor and producer for WEAR-TV in the Mobile, Ala.-Pensacola, Fla. market, has now begun working at WBZ, the CBS affiliate in Boston. She started last month.

According to the resume on her website, Sison had spent three years at WEAR-TV and another three at WMBB-TV in Panama City, Fla., working her way up from reporter to morning anchor.

Two Mobile-Pensacola Stations Take HD Plunge

New WPMI-TV Set (Courtesy: Facebook)

Although Mobile-Pensacola FOX affiliate WALA-TV has been enjoying its new HD transition and set design since April 21, competitor WPMI has become the last station in this market to make the switch as well, debuting its high-definition newscasts and sparkling set over the weekend.

Both WALA and NBC affiliate WPMI got complete set makeovers as well, with new graphics packages and control rooms to boot.

Cable Company Says FOX Forced Them to Drop Affiliate From South Mississippi Lineup

After Tuesday, April 3, Cable One subscribers in Mobile, Ala., will no longer receive WALA-TV on their lineup, but it’s not the cable company’s fault.

That’s what a representative said in a release sent to the Sun Herald newspaper Friday.

Mobile Station Upgrading Studio for HD Plunge

New Set for WALA-TV in Mobile-Pensacola (Courtesy: NewscastStudio)

Mobile-Pensacola FOX affiliate, WALA will soon celebrate two new changes to its newscast operations: a new studio and local newscasts in high definition.

Though initially mentioned on the station’s Facebook page earlier this month, NewscastStudio had a posted photo of what viewers can expect.

LIN TV, Cable Provider Cox Reach Retrans Agreement at 11th Hour

Mere hours before stations in five states, including Alabama, were slated to disappear from cable provider Cox Communications, a deal was reached to continue programming under a new retransmission agreement.

As we reported last month, the removal of those stations threatened two stations within the South TV News area, Mobile, Ala.-Pensacola, Fla., FOX affiliate WALA-TV and CW affiliate WFNA-TV.

LIN TV Will Pull Florida, Rhode Island Stations From Cox Lineup Unless It Gets More Money

LIN Television Corporation will pull four stations from cable provider Cox Communications unless the two can negotiate a new retransmission agreement by March 1.

FierceCable reports the cable company will lose Mobile, Ala.-Pensacola, Fla., FOX affiliate WALA-TV and CW affiliate WFNA-TV, according to statements already posted to the stations’ websites.

South Alabama Station’s General Manager Dies Unexpectedly

Bob Dunn (Courtesy: WPMI)

Vice president and general manager Bob Dunn, who began working for the Mobile, Ala., NBC affiliate WPMI-TV less than a year ago, died suddenly Tuesday afternoon.

TVNewser reports the cause of death has not yet been released.

Alabama FOX Station Could Go Black Unless Agreement Is Reached

WALA

LIN Media

LIN Media, with stations in six states across the eastern U.S., has announced to viewers of its stations that a potential blackout could come this week unless their parent company reaches a new retransmission agreement with COX Communications.

TVSpy reports this week that nine stations are at risk, including two in the southeast: FOX affiliate WALA and CW affiliate WFNA. These two stations are in the Mobile, Ala.-Pensacola, Fla., market.

Everything You Wanted To Know About Florida’s Broadcast Television Markets

The Sunshine State certainly has its share of TV stations/personnel. Along with California and Texas, it has more media markets than any other state in the U.S.: ten in all.

• At the top of the list, Tampa-St. Petersburg (Sarasota), ranked #13 from this year’s Nielsen compilation. Stations include:  WFLA (NBC), WTSP (CBS), WTVT (FOX), WFTS (ABC) and Bay News 9 (IND). Both WTVT and WFLA compete heavily for the number one newscast in the Tampa market. All major affiliates have high-definition newscasts.
• Second in line: Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, at 16th. Stations include: WFOR (CBS), WTVJ (NBC), WSVN (FOX), WPLG (ABC) and WSFL (CW). All major affiliates’ newscasts are broadcast in high definition.
• The state’s third Top 25-rated market is Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, at #18. Stations in this market include: WESH (NBC), WKMG (CBS), WFTV (ABC), WRDQ (IND), WOFL (FOX) and Central Florida News 13 (IND). Though heated, WFTV typically wins the ratings war in central Florida. Only WKMG’s newscasts are not in high definition, instead broadcasting in 16:9 standard definition.
• West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce is #38 on the list, according to Nielsen. Stations in this market include: WPTV (NBC), WPEC (CBS), WPBF (ABC), WFLX (FOX), WTVX (CW) and WTCN (MyTV). WPTV regularly wins the ratings war as the highest-rated station in the market.  All stations air newscasts in high definition.
• Jacksonville follows the list at #48, the fifth Top 50 market in the state of Florida. Stations here include: WJXT (independent), WTLV (NBC), WCWJ (CW), WJXX (ABC), WAWS (FOX) and WTEV (CBS).  WJXT has consistently been first in the ratings war since 2008. All stations have newscasts in high definition.
• Next on the list is a market that is shared with south Alabama: Mobile-Pensacola (Ft. Walton Beach). The hyphenated market ranks 59th among Nielsen markets nationwide. Stations include: WEAR (ABC), WKRG (CBS), WALA (FOX), WPMI (NBC) WFGX (MyTV) and WFNA (CW). All stations air newscasts in high definition.
• Slide down three spots, and you come to Ft. Myers-Naples, #62. Stations in this market include: WINK (CBS), WBBH (NBC), WZVN (ABC), WFTX (FOX) and WXCW (CW). WINK has been the dominant ratings leader in the area for decades. Only WFTX does not air newscasts in high definition.
• Tallahassee-Thomasville shares its market with southeastern Georgia. It’s market No. 106, according to Nielsen statistics. Stations in this market include: WCTV (CBS), WSWG (MyTV), WTLF (CW), WTXL (ABC), WTWC (NBC) and WTLH (FOX). WCTV, WSWG and WTXL broadcast newscasts in high definition.
• Panama City comes in at No. 154 in the Nielsen rankings. Stations here include: WTVY (CBS), WJHG (NBC), WMBB (ABC) and WPGX (FOX). WTVY leads the ratings war because of a larger coverage area. None of the stations in this market airs high-definition newscasts; WJHG airs newscasts in 16:9 enhanced standard definition.
• Gainesville is the last market in Florida, at #162. Stations include: WNBW (NBC), WCJB (ABC), WMYG (MyTV), WOGX (FOX) and WGFL (CBS). WCJB leads the market in ratings. WCJB, WNBW, WGFL and WMYG have newscasts airing in high-definition; all of the newscasts are produced by the Independent News Network based in Davenport, Iowa.

(Above updated February 1, 2015)

That covers another one of several states we’ll be covering. If you work for one of these affiliates and have news about new hires, on-air graphic updates, HD overhauls, or anything that would be of interest to this local news blog, please let us know.. I’m not necessarily talking about station gossip, but that works, too. If someone uttered a profane word on-air, for example, that’d be something. Station sales, downsizing, things like that are also newsworthy. You can do so anonymously, of course, but have to prove you work for the station in question for credibility purposes by sending us an email to southtvnewser@gmail.com.