As a couple of TVSpy commenters have pointed out, the hiring of Adam Shadoff at FOX owned station WOFL as weekend sports anchor is more than a station just hiring another sports guy.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, the station hasn’t had anyone in that position since 2009.
Buffalo’s WIVB ditched sports in March. KNTV in San Jose has handed sports over to the local/regional ComcastSportsNet. WOFL’s new hire shows a renewed interest in keeping viewers up to date with what’s happening in the local sporting world.
Standing on our TVSpy brand soap box, we guess that the often announced death of local sports reporting is similar to the polls and pundits forecasting the death of local TV. ESPN’s SportsCenter first broadcast in 1979. If it hasn’t happened yet, it’s not likely to on any large scale. Every market is different and any good local station tailors its content to the market it serves, or in NBC and Comcast’s case, to the shareholders.