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Construction equipment is part of the scenery around Orlando, Fla., as building crews keep pace with a longtime boom in commercial and residential development that shows no signs of slowing down. Orlando has battled back-and-forth with Las Vegas for the title of fastest-growing market in the country; the central Florida city currently holds that distinction and expects to retain it until at least 2004. In September, Orlando's rank as a media market moved up from No. 22 to No. 21, and some local media players expect the area to break into the top 20 by the end of 2001.
All through the post-presidential election brouhaha in Florida, Orlando media outlets competed against each other and against national players to stay on top of the story. Hearst-Argyle Broadcasting's NBC affiliate, WESH-TV, kept a half-- dozen crews on the road throughout November in state capital Tallahassee and in key counties with ballot disputes, including two counties in the Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne DMA-Volusia and Seminole. Local news radio stations broke into their regularly scheduled programming several times a day during November and December with breaking news reports on the recounts, lawsuits and voting irregularities. In addition to its extensive daily coverage of the post-election debacle, the Orlando Sentinel produced a special eight-- page, all-editorial report on Nov. 21.
Unlike many areas in Florida, Orlando is not a market for retirees; the mean age is 34. While attractions including Disney World, Epcot Center, Sea World and Universal Studios continue to attract millions of visitors per year, tourism is but one element of Orlando's diverse economy. By some estimates, Orlando welcomes 5,000 new residents per month. But the steady expansion of the market has stretched its infrastructure to the limit and has pushed such issues as school classroom size and traffic congestion to the forefront of residents' list of concerns.
"It's booming-you've got expansion in almost every quadrant of the market," says Jeff Sales, general manager of Post-Newsweek Stations' CBS affiliate, WKMG-TV.
Local broadcasting in the Orlando market is dominated by Cox Communications. The company's Cox Enterprises owns the market-leading television station, ABC affiliate WFTV Cox recently added independent WRDQ-TV, which the group had operated under a local marketing agreement. The deal, finalized in the first quarter of 2000, created the...