WSFL Scraps Morning Program

Tribune’s WSFL Miami has pulled the plug on a morning show it launched in the spring of 2009, reports the Miami Herald. The show launched amidst considerable Tribune fanfare with the unique title South Florida.com/Live, and was called, simply, The Morning Show when it aired for the last time yesterday.

WSFL and the Sun Sentinel operate out of a joint newsroom.

The program, which was on from 5  to 9 a.m., was conceived as a hybrid of new media and traditional TV. Here’s what I wrote in the spring of 2009:

As the name indicates, the program will offer multiple interactive elements; viewers can interact with its hosts via text messaging, Twitter, Facebook, the phone or a real-time chat window on SouthFlorida.com. “We’re going to be where our viewers are,” says WSFL Miami Director of Local Programming Jose Suarez. “There are a lot of ways to engage our talent.”  

If you look at the comments to the story, readers didn’t seem to like the hosts very much.

The Herald says the show’s abrupt cancellation took staffers by surprise.

WSFL will continue to have a local news presence, the paper reports.

[Spokesperson Kery] Knutson said the station plans to air five local news breaks each weeknight, starting in mid-August. And by September, WSFL plans to relaunch its locally produced weekly program, “South Florida Voices,” which addresses community issues. Knutson said the show’s relaunched name, look and host are still being worked out.

Tribune remains bullish on finding a new way to present local news, at least with  KIAH Houston trying out an offbeat news approach it calls “NewsFix.”