Florida News Center

(from Examiner.com) – On Monday, January 14th, the 60th anniversary of WALA-TV’s first day of broadcasting programming on a regular basis was celebrated during “Studio 10″, a local entertainment and lifestyle program produced for WALA-TV and WFNA-TV. The celebration included a montage of photographs of WALA-TV’s history, appearances by Bob Grip, a news presenter for WALA-TV since 1984, John Edd Thompson, a weather reporter for WALA-TV from 1978 to 2009, and Judi Freeman, a baker from Mobile and a regular contributor to cooking segments at WALA-TV….Cont….

Check out some pictures of WALA-TV through the years (CLICK HERE)

(from TVNewsCheck.com) – LIN TV Corp. (owners of Mobile/Pensacola’s WALA-TV/WFNA-TV) today reported its second quarter 2011 results that included an increase in net revenues of 5% to $104.1 million, compared to $99.5 million for the second quarter of 2010.

Core local and national advertising sales combined, which excludes political advertising sales, was flat at $89.1 million, compared to $89.3 million for the second quarter of 2010.

Sales in the automotive category, which represented 22% of local and national advertising sales for the quarter, decreased by 8% to $19.1 million, compared to $20.8 million for the second quarter of 2010. The decline in the automotive category was offset in part by recovery in other categories, including restaurants, which increased 11%….Cont….

(from NWFDailyNews.com) – Still have an antenna lying around? Cox Communications customers may need one Thursday if a new contract is not negotiated between the cable company and owners of WALA-TV before the current one expires.

Sheila Nichols, a vice president of public affairs for Cox in Fort Walton Beach, said the company is working with Lin Media, owner of the Mobile, Ala., Fox station and WFNA-TV (the local CW station), to reach an agreement before the contract expires.

“We are committed to keeping WALA and WFNA on our channel lineup and we’re actively working towards reaching an agreement,” Nichols said. “But we don’t believe … our customers should be burdened with excessive cost for a station’s programming that’s available free over the air.”….Cont….