Florida News Center

WEAR-TV/WFGX-TV anchor Mollye Barrows announced that she is leaving the Pensacola station. Barrows started at WEAR/WFGX as an intern in 1996 and worked her way up the the anchor desk, staying with the station for nearly 15 years.

Mollye says on Facebook: I’ve got a big announcement that I realize will come as a surprise to many…I am leaving WEAR. This is not good-bye for good, though! You will see me pop up again…this time taking advantage of an opportunity to have the best of both worlds: a better schedule for my family and a chance to pursue advocacy journalism aimed at making our area a better place to live.

Watch WEAR say good-bye in the video here…

//hattip Examiner.com

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(from TVNewsCheck.com) – WSCV-TV, Telemundo 51, has announced that it is building a new studio for its South Florida news viewers.

Construction of the station’s news studio will begin immediately and will be unveiled to South Florida viewers in a few weeks, the station said. The new studio has been designed by the Jack Morton PDG firm.

Telemundo said it is celebrating the results of the just completed February sweeps rating period, which makes it the highest rated newscast in the market regardless of language….Cont….

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(from TVNewsCheck.com) – LIN-owned Fox affiliate WALA Mobile, Ala. (DMA 59), on Monday announced the hiring of Scott Flannigan as news director, effective March 10. He is replacing Bob Cashen who left WALA in October.

Flannigan comes to WALA from WCBD Charleston, S.C., where he was director of digital journalism….Cont….

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Sources tell Florida News Center that changes are afoot at Sarasota’s SNN. The 24hour cable-news channel is debuting a new logo (example left), new set, and some new/old talent.

As Florida News Center reported earlier last month, former SNN chief meteorologist Justin Mosely (right) is returning to the station, after just a year at WPBF in West Palm Beach. Mosley’s return is expected to usher in the new changes.

The changes and Mosley debut tonight (Monday) on the 5pm news cast. Stay tuned to Florida News Center for any updates.

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(from OrlandoSentinel.com) - The Winter Olympics were very, very good to NBC affiliate WESH-Channel 2.

WESH dominated prime time, easily won late news and tied WFTV-Channel 9 at 6 p.m. in the February ratings period, which ended Wednesday.

This February was atypical because of the Super Bowl, which aired on Fox, and the Sochi Games. In prime time, WESH averaged 210,500 total viewers to Fox-owned WOFL-Channel 35′s 162,000. Both stations were well ahead of CBS affiliate WKMG-Channel 6 with 98,000 and ABC affiliate WFTV-Channel 9 with 75,600.

Prime time proved a major boost to the WESH late news, which often started at 11:30. These news ratings, unless otherwise noted, are based on the 25-to-54 age group, which is most important to news advertisers.

In late news for the age group, WESH averaged 47,300 viewers to WFTV’s 30,000 and WKMG’s 22,400. WOFL drew 19,500 in the time slot Monday-Friday….Cont….

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(from OrlandoSentinel.com) – Via her poignant blog, News 13 reporter Amanda Evans gives an update about her husband, Joe Clark, and it is unfortunately sad news.

His cancer is back after major surgery in October, she says on Cocktails and Chemo. He owns three Jimmy John’s franchises in Central Florida.

“The scan shows lymph nodes up and down Joe’s aorta,” she writes. “His cancer marker was a zero after the big surgery in October and now it’s 25. That’s a big jump.”

He had been diagnosed with colon cancer, which spread to his peritoneum, the membrane that lines the abdominal cavity….Cont….

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Check out the video below, as WPBF-TV morning anchor Felicia Rodriguez let an S-bomb fly during the 5:30am newscast. The newscast continues on with the story, as though nothing happened. Is this news? NO…but the FCC tells us that it’s a no-no, so here be the video…

hattip//Gossip Extra

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After just one year in Tampa, WFTS-TV reporter Rob Munoz is leaving Florida for the West coast. Munoz is headed to KIRO-TV in Seattle.

He writes this morning on his Twitter page: My last morning at WFTS with these folks, been fun!! (referring to the morning crew of Dan Shaffer, Deiah Riley, Meredyth Censullo, Wayne Shattuck, and Laura Harris).

Munoz joined WFTS in Janurary of 2013 from KSNV-TV in Las Vegas.

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(from OrlandoSentinel.com) - Working for competing TV stations has not damped the ardor of reporters Anthony DiLorenzo of WFTV-Channel 9 and Kala Rama of WKMG-Channel 6.

They will wed April 26 in Newport, R.I., and honeymoon in Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

“My parents are from Sri Lanka, and I’m excited to show Anthony where they came from, and then it’s off to paradise in the Maldives,” Rama said Wednesday.

“We’re both from Connecticut, and Newport is a city on the ocean we have been visiting our whole lives,” DiLorenzo said. “We are fortunate enough to be getting married on the historic Cliff Walk at the Rosecliff.”

He started at WFTV in January 2013 to be near Rama, who is also a weekend anchor. Things have gone swimmingly….Cont….

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(edited from OrlandoSentinel.com) - Reporter Mark Joyella has announced his resignation from WFTV-Channel 9. His final day will be March 23.

Via his blog, Joyella revealed his personal reasons for wanting to return to New York.

“Leaving New York, where our entire extended family lives, was far harder than expected,” he writes. “The old cliche is that living in Florida means you’ll see a lot of your relatives. Turns out, we didn’t. It’s a short flight, but it’s still a flight — and when somebody back home falls ill, or has a birthday party, we can’t be there the way we’d like.

“The homesickness — and for me, with my Mom now living alone in Maine and recovering from cancer — the guilt, became overwhelming.”….Cont….

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