Original series (2002–2015) The Daily Buzz was conceived out of a desire by station owner
ACME Communications to increase original content to its stations' schedules, most of which aired
infomercials and reruns in its morning drive hours, and to bolster local ad revenue for those stations.
The Daily Buzz formally launched on the morning of September 16, 2002, airing on 10 ACME-owned stations, all of which were affiliates of
The WB Television Network, including the station from which it originated during its first two years on-air,
WBDT in
Dayton, Ohio. The original on-air talent included anchors
Ron Corning and Andrea Jackson, newsreader Peggy Bunker, and weather and features presenter
Mitch English. From its launch,
The Daily Buzz employed a personality-driven on-air approach, one that was looser, faster in pace, and sometimes edgy in comparison to tradition-bound network morning television shows broadcast by
ABC (
Good Morning America),
CBS (
The Early Show), and
NBC (
Today): Slang terms, pop music, and host commentaries would be interjected in the news summaries. Pop culture segments were liberally employed (see below). The hosts' employed not-as-formal forms of dress and demeanor (dancing in the lead-outs to commercial breaks were not uncommon). And above all, the liveliness trumped the serious. The lively tone was intentional, as it was meant to attract an audience that was younger in age and were more likely to get their news from sources other than traditional local and network TV newscasts. As Andrea Jackson described it to the
Orlando Sentinel in 2005, "We always talk about [
The Daily Buzz] as morning radio on television or late-night television in the morning. It's infotainment." In early 2007, WKCF moved to
WESH's studios in
Winter Park after WESH owners
Hearst-Argyle Television acquired WKCF to create a
duopoly in the Orlando market; soon afterward, Emmis sold its stake in
The Daily Buzz back to ACME. In mid-April 2007,
The Daily Buzzs previous studios were acquired by faith-based
Trinity Broadcasting Network and Good Life Broadcasting for new studios for their respective stations, WTGL-TV (now
WHLV-TV) and WLCB-TV (the present-day
WTGL). At this time, the show also changed Orlando affiliates, from WKCF to
WRDQ, and relocated for six weeks to a temporary home inside the
Disney-MGM Studios. The show's time at Disney was an interim period until new, permanent studios were completed on the campus of
Full Sail University in
Winter Park in June 2007. ''The Daily Buzz's'' first show at Full Sail aired on June 19, 2007, and they continued to broadcast there until the show's 2015 cancellation. By the end of the 2000s decade,
The Daily Buzz would mature somewhat in tone: Many of the show's looser recurring segments, including some of those mentioned above, were phased out, and
The Daily Buzz began to utilize a tone that was tighter and more organized yet still utilizing some of the humor and irreverence it had used since its debut. The likely genesis for this move was the success of ACME-owned
Buzz affiliate
WBUW-
Madison, Wisconsin, who began adding their own segments (
Buzzed Into Madison) in early 2007. In 2010,
Fisher Communications joined ACME Communications on a licensing and consulting agreement for
The Daily Buzz. The agreement allowed Fisher to take over production of the show on ACME's behalf (they would move production to
HD in 2010), and gave Fisher the option of purchasing the show from ACME. The agreement also allowed Fisher to create Buzz Brands, a service that offered multimedia content, both local in nature and from
The Daily Buzz, to local affiliates for multiple media platforms (including TV, online, and even radio). The first Buzz Brand platform to launch was "GalTime," a female-oriented platform that began with an October 2010 soft launch before expanding nationwide in early 2011; "HeadDrama," which is geared toward advice on mental health concerns, became the second Buzz Brand platform in May 2011. All of the "Buzz Brand" platforms would eventually be phased out, though content from
Emotional Mojo, a Mojo Brands-produced program featuring advice on personal development, would be featured on
Buzz segments until the shows' 2015 cancellation. On August 6, 2012,
The Daily Buzz unveiled what may have been its most noteworthy transition, introducing a new anchor team that featured actor Charles Divins, veteran TV anchor Lisa Spooner,
CMT’s Top 20 Countdown host Lance Smith, and radio personality Jessica Reyes. Original co-host Andrea Jackson remained with the program to host recurring interview segments until October 2013; fellow
Buzz veterans Andy Campbell,
Mitch English and Kia Malone left the series outright. By the first quarter of 2013,
Daily Buzz owner ACME Communications and operator Fisher Communications had been in the process of a gradual exit from the television business (ACME sold its last remaining TV stations in 2012 and would dissolve as a corporation in 2016; Fisher was in the process of being merged into
Sinclair Broadcast Group). On April 1, 2013, ACME sold
The Daily Buzz, its last remaining TV property, to Mojo Brands Media. As part of the transaction, Sinclair began to broadcast
Buzz on some of its stations beginning in the 2013-14 season; the group had previously not carried the show, with many of its
The CW Television Network,
MyNetworkTV, and independent stations preferring to carry
E/I or
paid programming in their morning time slots instead.
Cancellation (2015) The Daily Buzz unexpectedly ceased production after its April 17, 2015 episode. In an interview that day with the
Orlando Sentinel, Mojo Brands Media COO Troy McGuire noted the cancellation was due to a disagreement with an investor in Mojo, who as a result withdrew their financial support in the company. McGuire did not elaborate further in the interview, citing legal reasons. The cancellations of both
The Daily Buzz and
Emotional Mojo resulted in the loss of 37 positions involved in the production of both shows, many of whom, it was revealed in Mojo Brands' bankruptcy filing, were still owed money for wages and other expenses.
Buzz, as a daily show, would leave behind a legacy of being, as termed by reviving company KEF Media, "the gold standard of combining news, hot topics, and [product] integration in a fun, seamless format." Contradicting its title somewhat, the show would be offered initially to broadcasters as a one-hour, once-per-week series (also available as a half-hour weekly series, as it airs on Youtoo), in addition having daily updates on digital platforms. Additional broadcast and digital airings would eventually be added as the show grows. As with the original version of the show,
The Daily Buzz includes various features on news, pop culture, gossip, entertainment, and other subjects. The show also offers "vertical" segments on consumer affairs, fashion, finance, healthy, hospitality, sports, and travel, utilizing integration of content from the show's sponsors. The revived
Daily Buzz originates from the same studios as the daily version prior to its 2015 cancellation (
Full Sail University in
Orlando), and is overseen by many of the creative and production personnel from the first incarnation. Two former
Buzz hosts have also returned to host the revival, Lance Smith and Kia Malone. Scott Carty (based in
Los Angeles) and Josh McBride (based in
New York City), joined at the restart as entertainment correspondents, with Howard Henley and Summer Jackson joining later as West Coast and East Coast correspondents respectively. ==On-air personalities==