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ALTHOUGH IT TOOK A WALLOP FOLLOWING THE 9/11 TERRORIST ATTACKS, THE TOURISM-based economy of Orlando, FIa., is enjoying a steady recovery. The market, which includes Daytona Beach and Melbourne, FIa., also boasts one of the nation's fastest-growing TV markets. Local media in the Orlando DMA-ranked No. 20 in the nation, with 1.26 million TV homes-are already filling their coffers with unexpectedly robust political-ad spending in first quarter, as the Bush and Kerry presidential campaigns square off in what is expected to be a long, nasty race with plenty of TV dollars in play.
"This is just a red-hot market," says Bill Bauman, president and general manager of WESII, Hearst-Argyle TV's NBC affiliate. WESH finished die late-news race in a virtual tie in households with WKMG-TV, Washington Post Co.'s CBS affiliate, in Nielsen Media Research's February sweeps. WESH hopes to bolster its evening news from 5-6:30-which finished second, behind Cox Broadcasting's ABC affiliate WfTV-with the launch of The Ellen DeGenercs Show (currently airing on Emmis Communications' WB affiliate WKCF at noon) and The Jane Peauley Show this fall. Ellen will replace the canceled Wayne Brady Show at 3 p.m., while Pauley's new show will replace judge judy at 5 p.m. "We've been very successful in every daypart, except between 3 and 5," says Bauman.
This year should prove a monumental year for Bauman's station in terms of revenue thanks to both political spending and the Olympics on NBC. Bauman says his station is already nearly 50 percent sold-out for the summer games.
The Orlando and Tampa markets are also being inundated with political dollars, as a blizzard of ads from the Republican and Democratic camps try to sway voters early. "We are just getting huge orders from the Bush campaign," says Bauman, who says the president's people are responding to a flurry of anti-Bush ads from political action committees such as Moveon.org and The Media Trust.
WKMG expanded its news presence with weekend morning news last year. The news runs 7-8 a.m. on Saturdays and 8-9 on Sundays. Henry Maldonado, WKMG vp/gm, says he's also encouraged by the growth his station has seen at 11 p.m. WKMG's late news had been in second place but grew from an 8.3 rating/15 share in February 2003 to a...