Orlando’s WFTV has found a replacement for Oprah: Casey Anthony.
In the wake of Oprah’s departure, WFTV has decided to run coverage of the Casey Anthony trial in the TV icon’s longtime time slot instead of repeats of her final season.
“We’re here to serve an audience. The market has more interest in Casey on trial than in repeats of a show that has been canceled,” WFTV news director Bob Jordan told the Orlando Sentinel recently, referring to “Oprah.”
WFTV’s competitors have been drawing significant audiences with daytime coverage of the Anthony trial so the station decided to put its hat in the ring. WFTV’s sister station WRDQ is now airing live coverage of the trial from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays with WFTV taking over at 4.
“We have to be in the game,” Jordan said. “We’re not going to sit here and let them take this.”