Florida News Center

(from OrlandoSentinel.com) – Longing to be with his family in Seattle, WKMG-Channel 6 anchor Gaard Swanson (right #1) is departing the CBS affiliate after three years. Swanson said a short farewell on the 5 p.m. news Friday.

“I counted up my round trips. I think it was 73 from Orlando to Seattle,” Swanson, 52, told me Friday. “It was quite the trek, but worth it. I had a good run in Orlando. I’m in love with the city and the weather.”

Starting Monday, morning anchor Matt Austin (right #2) will replace Swanson at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.

Swanson said he talked to WKMG General Manager Skip Valet a long time about leaving. “He totally understood my situation,” Swanson said. “I asked for a Christmas present. I wanted to be home with my children.”

He has four children, ages 22, 16, 6 and 5….Cont….

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(from GossipExtra.com) - The sentencing of pedophile ex-WPTV-Channel 5 weatherman Rob Lopicola has been postponed!

It was originally scheduled for this morning, but prosecutors and Lopicola’s public defender requested more time to work on it.

“The reason for the postponement is to give both parties more time to prepare for the hearing,” said Mike Edmondson, spokesman for Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg.

Lopicola’s facing 20 years in prison after he was convicted by a jury of lewd and lascivious conduct and computer pornography and exploitation in October. He was cleared of the more serious charge of lewd and lascivious battery….Cont….

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The November 2013 ratings period have been announced for the West Palm Beach TV market…and they are quite telling. Historical market leader WPTV-TV continues to dominate this market, crushing its competition in virtually every news time slot. WPBF-TV take second place, in every slot except for noon, where WPEC-TV finally makes it on the radar (could CBS’s syndicated “The Price is Right” have helped WPEC at noon…hmmm?). H/T to our friends at FTVLive.com

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(from OrlandoSentinel.com) - In November ratings, WFTV-Channel 9′s Eyewitness News drew the most eyewitnesses in most time slots.

WESH-Channel 2 was the clear leader at 4 p.m., and WOFL-Channel 35 continued to dominate among 10 p.m. newscasts.

But WFTV was the victor in early morning, at 6 p.m. and at 11 p.m. with the 25-to-54 age group, which is most important to news advertisers.

WFTV reasserted its leadership at 5 p.m., where WOFL had won in September and October. (WOFL has a content-sharing agreement with the Orlando Sentinel.).

The November ratings period ended Wednesday, and the ratings were released Thursday. The numbers reported here are based on the 25-to-54 age group, unless otherwise noted….Cont….

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The November 2013 books for the Tampa/St. Petersburg market have been released. WFTS-TV narrowly beats WTVT-TV for first place in the 5:00, 5:30, and 6:00pm news slots. The numbers below demonstrate a virtual tie between WFLA-TV and WTSP-TV for the same time slots. In the late 11:00pm news half hour, WFTS also takes first place with a 2.3 rating, followed by WTSP (1.4), WFLA (1.1), WTVT (1.1), and Bay News 9 (0.6).

A press release from WFTS boasts that the November 2013 results “mark over 20 months in a row” that WFTS has “won the 24-54 demography in the evening and late newscast” time slots. WFTS started an upward trend in these ratings time slots during 2011.

Ratings for morning and noon results were not available at the time of this publication. However, if trends have stayed the same expect for WTVT, WFLA, and Bay News 9 to lead these time slots, followed by WFTS and WTSP. Stay tuned for more results.

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Our friends at FTVLive.com report the following November 2013 ratings results for the Miami/Fort Lauderdale media market. The following results, in the coveted age 25-54 demographics show that WSVN leads nearly every time slot, except the 11:00pm late news race, where WPLG barely squeezes into first place.

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(edited from TVSpy.com) – News director Mike McCormick is out at after five years at Jacksonville duopoly WTEV/WAWS.

“Mike McCormick has left our company,” general manager Jim Zerwekh told TVSpy. “Mike Dreaden, WSB-TV News Director will additionally be overseeing the news operation until which time I name a new ND.”….Cont….

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(from Jacksonville.com) - Six months after he last appeared on television, longtime sports anchor Dan Hicken will be back on the air Sunday for Action Sports 360.

Hicken worked at First Coast News for 27 years, most recently as the sports director.

On May 31, his contract expired, and he signed on at CBS47/FOX30’s Action Sports 360 program.

His six-month non-compete clause dies Sunday, and he will join the live broadcast at 10:30 p.m. on FOX30 and at 11:20 p.m. on CBS47.

“They definitely made me a better offer,” he said Friday about his new employer….Cont….

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WTVT-TV weekend anchor, Kristin Wright is leaving the Tampa station. She will begin as a general assignment reporter at WRC-TV, the NBC owned station in Washington, D.C. on December 16.

Wright started at WTVT 2008, but was then promoted to weekend anchor and week day reporter in 2011. Before WTVT she worked in Harrisburg (PA), Binghamton (NY), and Detroit (MI).

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(from OrlandoSentinel.com) – The folks at Growing Bolder have shared this revealing clip of Wendy Chioji talking about her latest battle against cancer.

If you never watched Chioji as an anchor on WESH-TV, this video gives a good sense of her indomitable character — and why so many people in Central Florida admire her. “I have the best life. I’m so blessed,” she says.

She went public with her breast cancer while at WESH in 2001. She left the NBC affiliate in 2008, departed the news business and moved to Park City, Utah.

In September she announced that she had thymic carcinoma, a cancer of the thymus gland. She is writing frankly about her life at wendychioji.com….Cont….

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