Home Miami TV Breaking: WSFL Pulls Plug on Morning Show [Updated]

Breaking: WSFL Pulls Plug on Morning Show [Updated]

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WSFL has pulled the plug on ‘The morning show’. Today was the last episode according to both @EugeneRazmirez and @KristinAndreson who just tweeted the show is done with. I know I’m in the minority but it actually wasn’t a bad show when management left it alone and didn’t fuck with it so much

Do not know what’s to follow but Tribune is launching a newscast on their Houston station that will have no anchors, just “great pictures and great writing” according to the same guy who preached the awesomeness of what was initially known as SouthFlorida.com/Live. He told the WSJ “Now is it going to work? We’re going to find out.”

His idea isn’t anything revolutionary actually, Euronews the most popular news channel in Europe has been anchorless since its start in 1993. All it airs is video narrated by a voice behind the scenes, and often airs video without any commentary.

Updated: Memo from Howard Greenberg, Sun Sentinel publisher, also posted on BrowardBeat /hat tip to the tispters for the link drop/

From: SS Administration
Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2010 10:01 AM
To: zzSSC.1Exchange.Users; zzWSFL.Group
Subject: The Morning Show

Earlier this morning, WSFL-TV announced the cancellation of The Morning Show, with today being the last broadcast. Launched on April 13, 2009, the program was designed to provide the competitive South Florida market with a fresh take on morning news. We had high hopes for the program, and significant effort from throughout the company went into developing the show. While we’re proud of what we accomplished in a short period of time, the audience didn’t build the way we had anticipated, and we had to make the difficult decision to end production. Every effort is being made to help affected employees with this transition, including assisting them in exploring placement within our organization and at other Tribune properties. We’re also helping facilitate the production of resume tapes and other material for departing staff members.

We are committed to serving the local community. Starting mid-August, we plan to air five local news breaks each weeknight, and in early September, WSFL-TV plans to re-launch its locally-produced weekly program addressing community issues.

To those of you who rallied around the show and helped support it, thank you. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Howard

24 COMMENTS

  1. Here is what the wanna be diva on a show no one ever watched tweeted before she found out she was fired.

    HostessKristin makes a triumphant return to the studio on The Morning Show. Nice to have you in the bldg again!

    Oh well. Time to hit moneter.com

  2. Can’t say I’m surprised, anyway, the show was dead to me after they kicked Kristin out of the studio. Well, guess nothing is stopping her now from reuniting w/ her man in LA. Best of luck to her

  3. Who will produce the weeknight newscast? WSFL, WTVJ or WPLG. The Morning Show was boring! Rather watch GMA or Today Show. It would be nice to see the Daily Buzz air in the South Florida Market with newsbreaks in between shows like the other three local stations.

    • I’m thinking it wont be WTVJ, as they can’t even manage to produce a weekend morning newscast. Maybe SFL will do it themselves, like the old WB39 used to before they hooked up w/ TVJ.

  4. I actually enjoyed The Morning Show & am sad to see it go. I watched it from day 1 & liked the original 3 in Dave, Jeff & Kristin. I started to lose interest when changes were being made (i.e, Kristin doing live feeds). Also, it was quite difficult to watch Eugene Ramirez live. Best of luck to all!

  5. ?Here’s Tribune Chief Innovation Officer Lee Abrams’ full take on the show when it launched from…
    http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2010/08/wsfl_morning_show_cancelled.php

    Very blown away by the morning show! Not only the show, but the spirit and attitude of EVERYONE involved. If we can get 10 percent of this level of afdi, energy and willingness to reinvent at our other stations, we’ll truly revolutionize TV.

    There were quite a few nitpiks that I’ll review today with the group, but overall, they are soooo local and soooo refreshingly and NOTICEABLY different from EVERYone else.

    The other stations look disconnected, TOO professional and slick and “nationalized” in comparison, and I think this show is on track to hit its psychographic head on. Watched the competition and it was hilariously dated–Stiff, evil looking Ivory Tower news people wearing 1987 Reagan era suits, taking “news speak” with blue and silver everywhere. As organic and real as a chunk of linoleum. The CONTENT was generally fine, but undermined by a dated-playbook presentation. They know their place on the intellectual/culture scale—and nail it well.

    One BIG challenge is going to be to get the other 20 hours of sfl to match the magic of the morning show. 24/7/365

    There’s of course a lot for them to do but I can tell we have the makings of a winner that can be influential at our other stations. This show is SO south Florida, you can’t simply recreate it, but it CAN serve as a model of breaking away, blowing up the playbook, creating a wonderful internal vibe (more like a killer radio station in 1975 than a TV station), and afdi.

    I’m impressed and excited about where this can go. In a year…look out!

    There are so many things they’re doing right–the breezy way they refer to YouTube and facebook (vs “tech minute”) to the set (love the retro photos and the painting of the city instead of a fake backdrop). A work in progress of course, and not perfect, but they got the mojo going. Now, just gotta make sure this sprit happens 24/7….and the whole station sings with new image innovation!
    ZERO TV baggage…and it shows. Traditionalists will laugh…kinda like the old farts at BMG laughed at the audacity of “digital music”.

  6. Danny, They had just bought in a new audio guy who i think still works for the Miami Heat.. And I agree, the music lately was hot..many times I would hear songs long before the played on local radio.

  7. The show never found it’s niche. I hate to hear people getting laid off. That’s no joke but it needed to go. First, they hired all the WTVJ rejects. On and off camera. Seriously, there’s a reason they got laid off. Then they brought in Kristin with her California style hosting and paird her with the laid off slime time live guy from nickelodeon to complete the beauty and the geek look. Not to mention they only had 2 live trucks to fill a 4-hour show. the show ideas were all over the place. They should have named it “The Morning Food & Pet Show” What a waist, what a shame.

  8. Although it’s sad to see TMS leave the airwaves, it never stood a chance against the other shows in the market. As for the Houston Experiment, it’s gonna go one of two ways:
    1. It’s going to revolutionize the way we watch television news forever
    2. It’s going to crash and burn and the “Chief Imagineer” will be the “Chief Frycook” at BK after the 1st month.

    Why start this new format in a Top 10 market? Since you’re dumping TMS why not let Miami be the guinea pig? Have any other stations in the country tried something like this, and how has it fared?

    That’s my $.02.

    • Tribune management never takes the blame for anything, so if it doesn’t work, just toss out the hard working employees like old furniture (management mind set).

  9. Some, have hit it on the head here.

    This was a poorly produced show that never knew what it wanted to be. The hosts were inexperienced and constantly fought for camera time openly on the air. It changed constantly and it was never a player in the morning news game. Not the Lee Abrams vision that was promised.

    True, it became a haven for WTVJ failures and rejects, but their rejects were better then what WSFL had in the stable. When you are starving, road kill looks good.

    Everyone at the Sentinel knew this was a disaster when it was in practice rehearsals, but they were afraid to speak up because this was supposed to save the Sentinel from financial ruin. The whole company was continually ginned up by management to get behind this show. Now what? Community affairs programming? On the Maury Povich station?

    The Sentinel was quietly, yet profoundly embarrassed by the show and rightfully so. The show was so bad no one at the Sentinel or WSFL would watch it, but for some reason they expected the public to watch it.

    After time the Sentinel went into a growing panic because the show had no audience. The lack of viewers couldn’t be explained away. In the end, no one was proud of this show except the hosts, who just seemed to be happy to be on TV and were unaware the show was collapsing.

    The root problem is Tribune executives who are on a “dare to be different” campaign. Tribune employees routinely get emails from top executives ridiculing local news and competitors as dull, old and tired etc. These execs are disconnected from what viewers want.

    The proof? The Morning Show ratings.

    • All of you are right,

      I tried to watch the Morning Show during then it was South Florida.com/Live, and I have to say I was annoyed at the way the station tried to promote the show with the hosts doing a custom made promo for SFL, made me bail out faster when it comes to watching Simpsons reruns.

  10. I will miss the show. I had a choice in the morning Fox, ABC, CBS, Etc…. I watched SFL getting ready for work. It was light news and a lot of BS but it was local and i like that. I could leave it on with the kids around because it was not intense news. I will miss Daves sense of humor and the doctors reports and most of all I could watch Kristen and her beautiful smile 24 hours a day. So long Guys.

  11. Not at all surprised… we really are saturated with morning TV. I am quite troubled that they were told right at the end of a show with no good-bye. Journalism used to be about relationships and newsrooms used to be supportive environments. Now it’s corporate, cut-throat BS.

    • newsrooms used to be supportive environments? whaaaat?

      relationships?

      when you tell people the show is ending ahead of time to say good bye stuff starts to disappear.

  12. Eventually all local station news departments with the exception of WSVN will fall to this fate. Local News is out dated, it is boring and no one watches it. To think that South Florida Live was any different to other station’s futures is a joke. The cost to run local news station is insane!

    The only way local T.V will make it is Video Jockey style like E’s Talk Soup with a one time 30 minute show. Because what takes TV all day to get on the 5-6 o’clock news takes a matter of minutes to post online. We are the good enough generation I don’t need the details just let me know what happen in a txt msg.

    The internet may not kill Film and Cable TV, but Local….R.I.P….

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