(from WPTV.com) - For more than 55 years, WPTV has been the area’s news leader and most-watched station. WPTV is currently the highest rated television station in the state of Florida. WPTV began broadcasting on August 22, 1954 as the primary NBC affiliate for all of south Florida with the call letters WJNO-TV.
(edited from News-Press.com) - Good news for Katie LaGrone. The former WBBH NBC2 and WZVN ABC7 reporter recently moved to West Palm Beach after her husband, former NBC2 anchor Paul LaGrone, took a morning anchor job at WPBF.
Now comes word that Katie has landed a new TV job herself. She’s been hired as an investigative reporter at WPTV-TV, the local NBC station. The couple will find themselves competing against each other, but between his early a.m. hours and their toddler son, Jacob, this likely won’t be a problem.
(story/pic (right) from TCPalm.com) - You’ve heard of hitting the pavement for money, but no one hits the pavement quite like WPTV Chief Meteorologist Steve Weagle. Equipped with a bicycle and determination to prepare the community for hurricane season, Steve rode his bike for the 11th annual year from Sebastian to Boca Raton, hitting local hot spots along the way to raise money for three Red Cross chapters in the area. In total, he collected $52,110 from area businesses and donors, including a $10,000 donation from ride Grand Benefactor The Lee Pearlson Steinberg Foundation.
During the first two days of his ride, Steve visited destinations in Indian River and St. Lucie counties. On Memorial Day, Steve kicked off his 11th annual ride at Sebastian River Medical Center where he accepted $500 gifts from Florida Power & Light and SRMC. Traveling south, he stopped by Lobster Shanty in Vero Beach, collecting another $500 check. Steve concluded the first day of his annual ride at Dyer Chevrolet in Vero Beach where owners Will and Tatiana Dyer donated $3,000….Cont….
As Florida News Center reported last September, veteran WPTV anchor Chandra Bill announced that she was retiring from television to help her husband run a Chick-Fil-A restaurant. Bill signed off during last night’s 11pm newscast. Watch video below c/o WPTV.com.
(from PalmBeachPost.com) – A WPTV Channel 5 reporter’s advice to Republican congressional candidate Allen West on his TV appearances has been deemed “inconsistent” with station policy and drawn fire from the campaign of U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton.
Klein supporters were alarmed recently when they saw a YouTube video of an event in which West introduced WPTV reporter Angela Sachitano and said she “does our media relations.”
Sachitano has no formal role with the West campaign, but she and her husband are friends with the candidate, West campaign manager Josh Grodin said. West said in an e-mail that Sachitano “provides me insights into how to improve my media appearance/presence and conduct of interviews.”
Sachitano has covered a handful of stories involving Klein and West, including a recent report on the political ramifications of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
When West opened his campaign headquarters in Deerfield Beach last month, a video posted on YouTube showed him introducing a variety of campaign staffers and volunteers, including Sachitano….Cont….
Our friends at NewsBlues.com report that WPTV reporter Eric Glasser has been hired at Tampa’s WTSP. He follows his old boss at WPTV, Peter Roghaar who is now the News Director at WTSP.
Newsblues reminds us that WPTV has been loosing talent since the departure of Roghaar. Veteran anchor Chandra Bill, weekend anchor Paige Kornblue and reporters Tim Malloy and Nichelle King have left/are leaving the station.
(from PBPulse.com) - She won’t be manning the chicken fryer at her husband’s Chick-fil-A in the Mall at Wellington Green, in case you’re wondering. Or handing out the waffle fries.
When Chandra Bill trades Channel 5’s cameras for the kitchen late next month, after 24 years in local TV news, it will be for her own North Palm Beach kitchen.
“I’ve neglected my household and my kids, and I’d really like some time to spend with them. So for the first year I’d like to be at home catching up with those things,” said Bill, 52, while preparing dinner on a recent evening….Cont….
(from Cincinnati.com) - Jeff who? He’s the No. 2 person in the newsroom, assistant news director to News Director Bob Morford. Jeff Brogan has been a key behind-the-scenes figure at WCPO-TV (Ch 9) for 10 years, after coming over from WXIX-TV (Ch 19). He’s been named news director for WPTV-TV, the Scripps’ NBC sister station in West Palm Beach. He’s a Cincinnati native and University of Dayton graduate….Cont….
Here’s the memo from WPTV-TV GM Steve Wasserman:
I am pleased to tell you that after an exhaustive search both locally and across the country, I have recruited our next News Director. He is Jeff Brogan, a 10-year veteran of the Scripps organization.
Brogan replaces Peter Roghaar, who left WPTV in November for Tampa’s WTSP.
(from PalmBeachPost.com) - Bill Brooks may have left the priesthood. But he never lost sight of his calling. Such is the thread that runs throughout the life story of the salty-tongued man of the cloth who became the biggest of local broadcasting bigwigs. True, he didn’t always act so priestly in his role as general manager of WPTV-Channel 5, the station he led to the top of the ratings throughout the ’80s and ’90s. He’d make an off-color remark about an attractive woman. He’d cuss at an exec from a rival station. But all that was part of Brooks’ charm. It’s also what made the Boston-bred Irishman such a beloved leader among the people of Palm Beach County, his true “congregation.” Brooks died on Jan. 16 at the age of 76 following a two-year battle with lymphoma. As friends and family members prepare for his funeral Monday, they increasingly speak of him as that colorful figure with a higher purpose. “Truthfully, he was one of the last great characters in our business,” said WPTV Program Director Bernadette O’Grady, who worked with Brooks during his entire 23-year tenure at the station….Cont….
(from TCPalm.com) – WPTV NewsChannel 5 announced another first in local news coverage. Effective Monday, WPTV’s highly rated morning newscast, “Today on 5,” began at 4:30 a.m. weekdays , a full 30 minutes earlier than its competitors. “Today on 5-First at 4:30” will feature the same on-air team that handles the 5-7 a.m. newscasts. News co-anchors Roxanne Stein and John Favole, a team for more than a dozen years, will cover overnight breaking news; meteorologist Keenan Smith will offer viewers the very latest weather from the Storm Team 5 Weather Center featuring Live Vipir 5 HD; Lauren LaPonzina will keep an eye on road conditions with her state-of-the-art Traffic Tracker system.
//Note – TCPalm.com and WPTV are owned by the same company, the E.W.Scripps Company.
