Florida News Center

UPDATE: 04/08/14 @ 15:03 – We are sad to report that WBBH’s Jim Reif died at 10:38pm last night. The meteorologist died of brain injuries suffered in a bicycle accident this past Sunday. Read the story below the video.

04/07/14 (edited from NBC-2.com) – WBBH NBC2 Director of Meteorology Jim Reif was involved in a tragic bicycle accident Sunday afternoon and is currently in grave condition.

While riding his bike on Ben Hill Griffin Parkway, his bicycle hit a sign, throwing him to the ground. Jim hit his head on the curb and suffered traumatic injuries to the head.

First responders were able to get to the scene in a matter of minutes because the accident happened less than a mile away from the fire station. It’s unclear what caused the accident.

Jim Reif is a household name in Southwest Florida. In 1979, Jim began his television career in Fort Myers and he quickly earned his reputation as a hurricane specialist. He joined Waterman Broadcasting in 1999 as the Chief Meteorologist for ABC7, and more recently he moved to NBC2 and became the Director of Meteorology for the company’s television stations….Cont….

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Our friends at Examiner.com report that WKRG veteran sports director Randy Patrick is back at the Mobile/Pensacola station. He was back as of the Apri 7th evening newscasts.

Patrick has been off the air since January, recovering from an undisclosed illness, which required surgery.

He appeared on the air at WKRG, via video chat in early March to explain his abscence from the station. At that time, Patrick appeared to have lost quite a bit of weight, but appeared to be in good spirits. Patrick stated that his surgery “was successful” but that he still required “several weeks of mending.”

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Tis the season for a new set! Tallahassee’s WTXL is the latest on the list of Florida stations that are in the process of adding a new set. The station has started running promos (like the one below, featuring morning anchor Greg Angel), teasing the new set construction. The new set is expected to debut April 28th, just in time for the start of the most-important May ratings period. Stay tuned to Florida News Center.

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Viewers of WFLA-TV may have noticed a slight change on the set at the Tampa station. News casts are currently being brought to you from a temporary studio, as a new set is constructed through out the month of April.

WFLA’s previous set was introduced in 2000, from Orlando area based set design company Fx Design Group.

The new set is expected to debut just in time for the start of the May ratings period.

As Florida News Center reported last week, WFLA sister station WKRG also announced that it is also getting a new set, to debut in the next few weeks. Both stations are owned by Media General and share the same corporate look. Stay tuned to the new set at WKRG, for a previous of what the new digs will look like at WFLA.

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(from TVSpy.com) – Michelle Imperato is joining WESH, the NBC affiliate in Orlando. She begins in her role as the station’s morning anchor on June 2.

Imperato comes from KSBW in Montery, Calif., where she was the morning anchor and reporter. She previously worked as an anchor and reporter for WLNY in Long Island, N.Y….Cont….

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Watch the video below as WTLV/WJXX reporter David Williams is harassed by a unicorn during a live shot. Magical….

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(edited from TVSpy.com) – Gainesville’s WCJB-TV wanted to show its viewers highlights from the March Madness game between Florida and Dayton.

Since they were unable to show the video, due to broadcast rights restrictions, the station “acted” out what happened.

Check out the video below.

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(from TheHill.com) – The Federal Communications Commission voted Monday to crack down on cooperation between broadcasters.

In a contentious vote that attracted scrutiny from Republicans in the agency and on Capitol Hill, the FCC approved an order that will keep broadcast companies from sharing resources on advertising sales.

Under current FCC rules, a single broadcast company cannot own more than one of the top four broadcast stations in a media market.

But prior to the agency’s actions on Monday, a broadcast company could use a Joint Service Agreement (JSA) to control advertising sales across multiple broadcast stations. Critics of this practice said it allowed broadcasters to control multiple stations in practice without technically violating the agency’s ownership rules….Cont….

How could this impact Florida? There are seven markets in Florida where a company owns, manages or has influence on more than one TV station in a market: West Palm Beach (WPTV & WFLX), Jacksonville (WAWS & WTEV, WTLV & WJXX), Pensacola/Mobile (WEAR & WFGX, WPMI & WJTC…soon to be WKRG/WALA/WFNA), Fort Myers (WBBH & WZVN), Tallahassee (WTWC, WTLH, WTLF), and Gainesville/Ocala (WGFL, WMYW, WNBW), Orlando (WOFL & WRBW), Miami (WTVJ & WSCV).

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WKRG announced on it’s Facebook page last week, that the Mobile/Pensacola station will be getting a new set. The new set will debut in the next “2 to 3 weeks.”

The current station set is being dismantled and will be donated to local schools.

Last week, Florida News Center told you that a merger deal had been made between Media General (the owners of WKRG) and LIN TV (the owners of WALA and WFNA). WKRG, WALA, and WFNA are all three in the Mobile/Pensacola market. There was been much speculation which of the three stations with be kept by the new “merged” company, to be known as Media General. The fact that WKRG is getting a new set, might be a clue to which station”s” the new company plans to keep. The investment into these new updates at WKRG, might be worth holding onto by the soon-to-be larger Media General.

Stay tuned to Florida News Center for pictures and multimedia of the new changes at WKRG and the future status’ of WKRG, WALA, and WFNA.

//hattip to Examiner

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(from OrlandoSentinel.com) – Sunday was reporter-anchor Mark Joyella’s final day at WFTV-Channel 9.

He is now opening up about his life, writing: “I’ve kept it to myself for years, but now I believe the only way to fight the stigma of mental illness is to talk about my own.”

Writing in “Journalism, Deliberated,” Joyella offers specifics: “Officially, my diagnosis is obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD. It’s a hell of an illness that, for me, has nothing to do with compulsively washing my hands, avoiding cracks on the sidewalk or reciting numbers. Nope, all I’ve got is a brain that offers up thoughts that are annoying, disgusting, or frightening.”

Via his blog, Joyella last month cited personal reasons for quitting his WFTV job and wanting to return to New York. He had worked as a weekend morning anchor, and he was a great general assignment reporter.

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