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WTSP news team in flux© St. Petersburg Times, published March 21, 2001 WTSP-Ch. 10 has named Scranton, Pa.-based sportscaster John Nugent as the station's new sports director, capping weeks of speculation over who would replace 12-year veteran Al Keck. But the April 4 debut of Nugent, who worked with WTSP news director Jim Church at stations in Gainesville and Scranton, doesn't answer a central question: What is WTSP planning for its sports department? Already, Keck has left the station, following a decision by WTSP officials not to renew his contract. Fellow sportscaster Jerry Johnson leaves March 29 after 18 years at WTSP, while the station's third sports reporter, Dave Wirth, has a contract that ends July 2 with no indication that he'll be kept on. Nugent "understands that local sports is often the playground of the newscast," Church said. "He's the kind of guy you'll see in skates at a hockey game. He comes from the standpoint of the fans." But the news director wouldn't offer any specifics about how sports will change at WTSP, saying Nugent needs time to get acclimated at the station. And his arrival is only the latest chapter in a long list of changes at the station. Staffers were told Monday that longtime meteorologist Linda Gialanella would leave WTSP Friday when her contract ends, after nine years at WTSP. Church wouldn't comment on why he didn't renew her contract, and Gialanella, who is on vacation, couldn't be reached for comment. Mary Beth Byrd also returned from maternity leave in February to find that she would no longer specialize in health reporting for the station, which had featured her in its Healthcast reports. Byrd declined to comment on the change. With Keck, Johnson, Gialanella and possibly Wirth leaving WTSP -- together they have 56 years of tenure at WTSP -- rumors continue that management is reducing personnel costs by targeting longtime on air employees. Church denied cost savings inspired the moves, waving aside recent criticism for running promotional ads touting how many new reporters WTSP has hired while longtime employees are shown the door. He also denied the station was reducing its commitment to sports or local medical coverage in a market teeming with senior citizens and featuring several professional sports teams. "I'm not going to deny we're making changes," Church said. "We plan on intensifying our focus on sports and having a clear direction. Everything we do is based on our plans for the future." It was supposed to be a routine story about bicycle safety, spiced by footage of WFLA-Ch. 8 reporter Mark Douglas riding his own bicycle through a lane reserved for such traffic in Clearwater. But Douglas became the story Monday, after a driver collided with the reporter as he attempted to pass in front of a car waiting to enter Sunset Point Road from a McDonald's restaurant parking lot at Hercules Avenue. WFLA aired footage of the incident Monday and Tuesday, showing the impact throwing Douglas up onto the car's hood. By Tuesday evening, WFLA and Clearwater police had tracked down the driver, Billy G. Whitaker, 28, and Douglas had interviewed him. "The thing that surprised me most, was that he never even slowed down," said Douglas, who suffered no serious injuries. "He says he didn't stop because I looked violent to him . . . pounding on the hood of his car with my fist. I pointed out to him that it was my body bouncing off his hood." Clearwater police spokesman Wayne Shelor criticized Douglas for several mistakes -- including riding in a driving rainstorm, approaching the car from the sidewalk and approaching from a side of the vehicle where the driver normally would not look for oncoming traffic. Douglas said Whitaker has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident, failure to yield the right of way and driving with a suspended license. The reporter also admitted he made mistakes during the incident, saying, "This shows, if you're driving a car you should look for bicyclists and if you're on a bike, you should never assume a car will stop for you."
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