WSFL, Newspaper to Launch Joint Program

Tribune’s WSFL Miami and its daily paper South Florida Sun-Sentinel will launch a morning program early in 2009, according to the Sun-Sentinel. The station recently moved into the newspaper’s headquarters, and is managed by Sun-Sentinel publisher Howard Greenberg. It stands to reason that Tribune will study the partnership with an eye on trying it in other markets where it owns a station and a newspaper, such as Los Angeles. 

Writes Tom Jicha:
The goal is for the new show to be a fast-paced, personality-driven, nontraditional news and information format. The emphasis will be on local content, much of it supplied by the Sun-Sentinel editorial staff. A substantial Internet component is planned. It will be broadcast from the Sun-Sentinel newsroom in downtownFort Lauderdale.

The show looks to air from 5 to 9 a.m. weekdays. WSFL airs just one daily newscast, a 10 p show produced by WTVJ. The CW outlet’s Website features news from the paper.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.