Why are there so many ex Miami new casters in Orlando? (Jacksonville: transfer, contractors)

[dalmain]

I moved from Miami to Orlando nearly 2 years ago and whenever I watched the local news I notice so many familiar faces from the Miami news stations. Were these rejects that couldn't make it in a bigger market or they just wanted to go to Orlando? I've seen familar faces throughout the years on the cable networks that used to work in Miami as well.

[kyle19125]

The trajectory for better news talent is usually to a bigger city/market and not to a smaller one so I wouldn't think it's a voluntary move based on that, or the presumed salary reduction.

[tinytrump]

Miami is has WOW news- it is not the "afternoon- storm with showers and gusty wind" but the MEGA TERROR Storm with hail winds and tree breaking gusts coming. so maybe if you can't keep the pace up, the pretty face and the HYPE, they let you go- I do see the same Channel 7 news folks are there- although I miss Miami terribly- do not miss the news channels.

[Crane's Rooster]

Alot of young newscasters are not full time employees of their stations, many are independent contractors who shoot small stories here and there and submit them to the new-stations and see if they will air them. I guess once they have enough exposure they look for full time gigs and probably find them here in Orlando. Other than that, I've heard the news channels don't really have a huge pay disparity, maybe some find it better to live in Orlando with cheaper housing and COL.

[boy3365]

They could be sharing resources with a sister station. Fox does that a lot.

If they did move to Orlando, maybe it's not a much different environment than Miami and thus not a downgrade.

Here is a list of the top 100 media markets as of April 2016. I cross referenced this with another website just to be sure.

Top 100 Media Markets Across the Nation | News Generation: Radio and TV Media Relations

Here are the Florida rankings:

11. Tampa-St. Petersburg
16. Miami-Ft.Lauderdale
19. Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne
38. West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce
47. Jacksonville
58. Mobile (AL)-Pensacola
61. Ft. Myers-Naples

Houston is number 10, Detroit is 13, and Denver is 17 for context.


It is true that the Miami metro is about twice the size of the Orlando metro. But based on media market size alone, maybe transfering from Miami to Orlando is more a lateral move than a (downward) vertical move. Tampa would be an upgrade. If the SFL media market was WBP-FTL-MIA instead of being split, it may be a different story.

[jwolfer]

Is it a reporter from Miami becoming an anchor? That would be step up and good career move even if going to a smaller market.

TV news is a changing business to say the least, it not like the days of "Anchorman". People have many more options for their information both locally and nationally

I live in Jacksonville and I have been surprised how long some of the on-air talent has remained in Jacksonville. At one point in the 1990s channel 4 in Jacksonville had the longest serving local news team, which was surprising to me for the 47th largest media market.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by boy3365

Here are the Florida rankings:

11. Tampa-St. Petersburg
16. Miami-Ft.Lauderdale
19. Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne
38. West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce
47. Jacksonville
58. Mobile (AL)-Pensacola
61. Ft. Myers-Naples

Houston is number 10, Detroit is 13, and Denver is 17 for context.


It is true that the Miami metro is about twice the size of the Orlando metro. But based on media market size alone, maybe transfering from Miami to Orlando is more a lateral move than a (downward) vertical move. Tampa would be an upgrade. If the SFL media market was WBP-FTL-MIA instead of being split, it may be a different story.

It's bizarro they split WPB from MIA-FTL considering the cohesiveness, and would argue that it's probably considered a bigger gig than #16 with ORL sitting at #19.

[jwolfer]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

It's bizarro they split WPB from MIA-FTL considering the cohesiveness, and would argue that it's probably considered a bigger gig than #16 with ORL sitting at #19.

I think its mainly because of how long the S Florida media market area is... It stretches from Key West to Vero Beach. And in the past it was notsolid urban area. West Palm was far enough away from Miami and isolated enough to have their own stations

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by jwolfer

I think its mainly because of how long the S Florida media market area is... It stretches from Key West to Vero Beach. And in the past it was notsolid urban area. West Palm was far enough away from Miami and isolated enough to have their own stations

LOL, that was a long time ago. I remember growing up in that area back in the 60s-70s when that was the case but would have thought they would have consolidated a bit since then there's virtually zero separation and quite the overlap in the Ft Lauderdale area.

[d5conway96]

Martha Sugalski moved to Orlando for personal reasons, if I recall. She was an anchor in Miami on NBC6 with her husband, Craig Minervini who did sports. When they divorced, she moved up here. Craig now works Marlins broadcasts.