Ira Joe Fisher Hospitalized

Today near the beginning of "New York Live!", Dana Tyler and Todd McDermott said that Ira Joe Fisher, weatherman for the noon and 4:00 newscasts, is in the hospital. Last night, while walking his dog Theodore, he slipped on the ice and hurt his leg. He had surgery on his knee cap in the 4:00 hour, and word is that he's doing fine. It looks like he will not be on CBS 2 for a while, but the "CBS 2 New York" fansite wishes him a speedy recovery!

Giant January on CBS 2

Sports anchors Brett Haber and Gary Apple, along with Amy Stone, have been in Tampa all week long covering the Pre-Super Bowl events. Todd McDermott was live in Tampa yesterday afternoon and evening, anchoring "New York Live!" and "The News at 5:00" as a split-screen edition. Tiki Barber has been providing "Tiki's Journal" since late last week, home video of the Giants and the Super Bowl (Tiki's coming back to "CBS 2 This Morning" in March). Now that we are only 2 days away from the big game, CBS 2 will have special shows. Tonight and Saturday night, CBS 2 will have a special 7pm broadcast. Sunday morning at 11am, CBS 2 will have a special "Super Bowl Warm-Up" show. CBS 2 is also running a lot of "Giant January" promos advertising their coverage (including "Tiki's Journal") and primetime shows (including "Survivor II").

Newest CBS New York Columnist: Angela Rae

Yesterday at CBS 2's website, cbsnewyork.com, anchor Angela Rae because their newest columnist. Her columns are called "Angela's Take On It", and in her first one, she talks about what it's like to be in New York City after living in Texas and Florida for much of her life. CBS 2's first online columnist was Stephen Clark and "Technology Bytes", then Cindy Hsu's "Cindy In The City", and Dana Tyler's Behind The Scenes.

CBS 2 Storm Watch

Last night on CBS 2's special 7:30pm newscast, the two top stories were the Presidential Inauguration and the Winter Storm Warning. Vince DeMentri and Amanda Grove said that there would be a special CBS 2 Storm Watch report at 7:00 on Sunday morning. This morning, the two-hour special Storm Watch report began at 7:00, and the anchors were Michael Pomeranz and Cindy Hsu. David Rogers was on the roof of the Broadcast Center, and Ira Joe Fisher was live inside the studio with the forecast. Carrie Lee was live at the Metro Traffic Center, and the reporters were Jennifer McLogan (in Garden City), Aimee Nuzzo (in Paramus), and Sukanya Krishnan (at LaGuardia Airport). Another special report at 11:00am on CBS 2.

Ernie Anastos Chats with CBS 2 Viewers

Last night, from 7:00-8:00, Ernie Anastos talked to CBS 2 viewers at an online chat on cbsnewyork.com. He answered many questions on returning to CBS 2, his life and career, news of the future, and more. To see the transcript from cbsnewyork.com, click here.

More Information On Ernie's Online Chat

CBSNEWYORK.COM has more information on Ernie Anastos's online chat tomorrow night here:

On the heels of Ernie’s recent daily appearances around the city to greet and meet New Yorkers, viewers will now have a chance to speak with him right from their own homes. CBS 2’s veteran anchor will be holding a live online chat on Thursday, January 11th, between 7PM and 8PM. Ernie welcomes all questions and is eager to find out what viewers think, what is important to them and what they like to see covered on the local news. To “chat” with Ernie on Thursday night, please log on to www.CBSNewYork.com. The door opens at 6:45PM and the chat starts promptly at 7PM. We'll be chatting with you then!

NY Post: "Clark leaves mark on Ch. 2 viewers"

"The Starr Report" today in the New York Post reports the following:

Stephen Clark left behind many fans when he departed Ch. 2 late last month after three years. Many of those fans have been calling and e-mailing, asking where Clark is headed next. There's no word on that yet, but Clark has been anchoring segments for CBS Newspath, which feeds newscasts to CBS affiliates nationwide. Stay tuned.

(Thanks to Brian for sending me this article!)

Chat Online With Ernie Anastos!

He's been in Times Square, Penn Station and the World Trade Center. Now he's ready to chat online at cbsnewyork.com. 5-second promos began airing today saying the online chat will be this Thursday night at 7:00.

CBS 2 to Co-Sponsor Mayoral Debate

From the CBS 2 Press Releases page:

The four leading Democratic contenders for Mayor will face off in a televised Daily News/WCBS-TV sponsored debate in the spring. Controller Alan Hevesi, Public Advocate Mark Green, City Council Speaker Peter Vallone, and Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer will meet at the WCBS Studios in midtown Manhattan before a panel of Daily News and WCBS-TV reporters. The format is being developed and the time and date will be determined shortly.

(Thanks to Kevin for letting me know about this press release!)

"Nightcast" At 11:00

Last night, "The News at 11:00" was renamed to "Nightcast". There are many changes to newscast, besides Angela Rae and Ernie Anastos. The opening begins with the CBS 2 Information Network animation (with the sources fly by), and the announcer saying "You're watching the CBS 2 Information Network", but it wasn't the usual bright background. Instead, there were nighttime views of the city. The opening went like, "Live from Fifth Avenue, this is Nightcast." No anchors in the opening though. Here's the "Nightcast" opening. (thanks to Delaware Valley Media Watch for the online video). The graphics also changed to look darker, but still look similar to the regular graphics (just the "colors" part was changed). They also had an opening for sports and weather, which went like, "Now, Nightcast Weather with David Rogers." There was a new theme and a new "Coming Up" screen. Snapshots of the new newscast is coming soon in the near future.

CBS 2 Welcomes Back Ernie Anastos, and more

Today at 4:00 on CBS 2's "New York Live!", Dana Tyler welcomed Todd McDermott as her new co-anchor, and Cindy Hsu with the news headlines. The 5:00pm news is the only newscast that kept the same anchors, Todd McDermott and Angela Rae. At 5:20, they went to Ernie Anastos, and he talked for about a minute about coming back to WCBS. Then at 5:44, Ernie previewed The News at 6:00. Then the 6:00 newscast began, with Dana Tyler on the left and Ernie Anastos on the right. At 6:17, Dana and David Rogers welcomed Ernie back, just before weather. And right before sports, at 6:24, Warner Wolf welcomes Ernie Anastos back too.









There are also some more promos I saw this afternoon and evening. There's a new 30-second "Nightcast" promo, advertising the new 11:00pm newscast with different music (thanks to Delaware Valley Media Watch for the online video). There's also a new 5 second morning promo with Michael and Lisa, Noon promo with Michael and Cindy, and 5:00 promo with Todd and Angela.

CBS 2's Big Day!

This morning at 5:00am was Lisa Hill's first "official" newscast. The original plan was for her to start doing the mornings today, but because of the huge snow storm over the weekend, she co-anchored many special Storm Watch reports.




Cindy Hsu is now the noon anchor once again with Michael Pomeranz.

Also today, CBS 2 began airing new promos with Ernie Anastos. Three 30-second promos where he talks about his memories at CBS 2, another where he explains the CBS 2 Information Network, and one about being an anchor back at CBS 2. There's also two 5-second promos, one about The News at 6:00 with Dana Tyler and Ernie Anastos, and other about "Nightcast" at 11:00 with Angela Rae and Ernie Anastos. And earlier today, CBS 2 had this press release about Ernie Anastos's career, and a quote from one of his new commercials.

CBS 2 Update - Storm Watch, Lisa Hill, and more!

While I was on a vacation for about a week, and while this website was down for over a week, a lot happened regarding CBS 2! I would like to thank David, Teddy, Michael, Brian, and Kevin for keeping me updated while I was away!

CBS 2 Storm Watch Coverage
The biggest storm since the Blizzard of '96 hit the tri-state area all day Saturday. And CBS 2 had expanded team coverage to keep viewers informed. Here's what happened:
Friday, 7:00-8:00pm: Todd McDermott and Angela Rae anchored a one-hour special edition of CBS 2 from Studio 59A. David Rogers had weather. Mostly coverage of the snow storm that was headed directly towards New York City, but also some news, not related to weather, was included.
Saturday, 8:00-9:00am: Michael Pomeranz and Lisa Hill (she went on maternity leave in August 2000 - this was the first time she was back on WCBS since she left). David Rogers also had weather on the rooftop of the CBS Broadcast Center (not the Fifth Avenue studio). Tony Pann was in the studio (59B) with more weather. The first hour of The Saturday Early Show continued at its normal WCBS time, 9:00am, but the second hour did not air.
Saturday, 10:00am-12:??pm: Michael and Lisa had more coverage, which lasted over two hours.
Saturday, 1:00pm: Michael and Lisa had a few more minutes with Storm Watch updates.
Saturday, 2:00-4:30pm: another over-2 hour Storm Watch report with Michael Pomeranz and Lisa Hill, and Metro Traffic reports from Debbie DuHaime (traffic updates from Debbie were all day long).
Saturday, 6:00-6:30pm: Todd McDermott, Angela Rae, and meteorologist Craig Allen had more Storm Watch coverage.
Saturday, 7:00-8:00pm: Todd McDermott, Angela Rae, and meteorologist Craig Allen with another CBS 2 Storm Watch report.
Saturday, 11:00-11:35pm The News at 11:00 with Todd McDermott, Angela Rae, and meteorologist Craig Allen.
Sunday, 8:00-9:00am: Michael Pomeranz and Lisa Hill back with another special weekend morning newscast. Tony Pann with weather, and Carrie Lee with traffic.
Sunday, 6:30-7:00pm: Todd McDermott and Angela Rae with The Weekend News at 6:30.

CBS 2's New Year's Eve Coverage (12/31/00)
Todd McDermott and Angela Rae anchored The News at 11:00 for just over an hour (coverage ended at 12:05am). Tony Pann had weather, and Gary Apple had sports. Live coverage of the famous ball dropping at midnight!

Stephen Clark, CBS News reporter?
David tells me that Stephen Clark, who left CBS 2 on December 22nd, will become a freelance reporter for CBS Newspath for a while, starting tomorrow (Tuesday, January 2nd). He may cover the Presidential Inauguration on January 20th. Will we see Stephen on CBS 2 doing national reports for all CBS affiliates? We will find out soon!

Anchor Changes, Begins Tuesday, January 2nd!
Beginning tomorrow, most CBS 2 newscasts will have anchor changes. Here's a look at what will probably happen:
5:00-7:00am, Michael Pomeranz and Lisa Hill
12:00-12:30pm, Michael Pomeranz and Cindy Hsu
4:00-5:00pm, Cindy Hsu/Todd McDermott and Dana Tyler
5:00-6:00pm, Todd McDermott and Angela Rae
6:00-6:30pm, Ernie Anastos and Dana Tyler
11:00-11:35pm, Ernie Anastos and Angela Rae