August 20, 2004 – Winter Garden, Fla. Chance? Fate? Destiny? Sometimes you’ll meet someone on one story who has a bizarre connection with a greater totally unrelated story. Such is the case today. I’ve been working with all different reporters this week, Giovanna Drpic, Chris Trenkmann and Mike Deforest, among others. Two days ago, Mike …
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The Marla Chronicles
June 27, 2008 And just like that, she was gone. In the waning years of his relevance, Orlando Sentinel television TV columnist Hal Boedeker has just reported in the paper’s dead-trees (print) edition that Marla Weech’s position as news anchor at WKMG has been eliminated. Yes, this how we, her coworkers, find out. Frustrating but …
A Tragic Turn of Events
In the days since a shooting spree in Pine Hills left three people dead, including a 29-year-old woman, a 9-year-old girl and a local television news reporter, and two others injured, I’ve paused to reflect on the event and the after-effects of the gunman’s actions. In fact, all of the Orlando news community has in one way or another. …
Christmas Caribbean Cruise
In order to truly appreciate our next adventure, we need to go back a few decades. In the mid-1970’s, my father made a sizable investment in he and mom’s future retirement activity: a 32-foot O’Day sailboat that started life in charter service in the British Virgin Islands. Kind of an VRBO for the sailing set. …
When Not To Respond
November 11, 2014 “Someone has come here to share his views; We owe him the courtesy of being civil.” Such was the view of Orlando newsman Ben Aycrigg in the early 1960’s. The occasion was reportedly a public forum in which Ben was participating for Florida governor Farris Bryant. According to Bryant’s then-administrative assistant John …
To Live And Drive In Berlin
June 22nd, 2013 – Berlin I was barely awake when my plane touched down at Charles DeGaulle Airport in Paris. I was still feeling the Ambien I popped when the lights went down shortly after takeoff in Charlotte. Now I have to make a connection to Berlin and I don’t even know what gate I …
A Day At The Races
February 1, 2004 – Daytona International Speedway They were 18 minutes away from winning one of the most prestigious 24-hour races in the world. And I was about to make a new friend. As I mentioned before, I enjoy going out to the Rolex-24 at the Daytona International Speedway. It really is a fascinating race and you …
When Rocket Science Isn’t!!!
December 6, 2007 – Orlando There’s nothing like covering a shuttle launch. Especially for me. I’ve been enthralled with everything having to do with America’s space program since I was a kid watching Apollo missions and man eventually walking on the moon. Moving to Orlando to attend UCF was a calculated decision to be near …
Life in the Past Lane
July 1, 2000 – Daytona International Speedway From a distance, I could hear the rumble. The black #3 was motoring in with all the authority that any car driven by the intimidator would. Up it came right to me. Driving up next to him was a brash second-year cup driver. Next to me was an …
Changing Times At Nine
As the anchors and staff of WFTV Channel 9 in Orlando say good-bye this week to longtime Channel 9 anchor Vanessa Echols, it’s another reminder of the effects that the station’s sale to venture-capital fund Apollo Global Management has had. Vanessa came aboard Channel 9 in 1993 and anchored the morning news there for 17 …
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