Kirtzman Discusses Giuliani on CNN

CBS 2 reporter Andrew Kirtzman was a guest on CNN's "Paula Zahn Now" a few minutes ago. He was invited, along with The Village Voice's Wayne Barrett, to talk about Rudy Giuliani, the current front-runner for the Republican nomination for president.

Kirtzman is the author of the 2001 book Rudy Giuliani: Emperor of the City and covered the former New York City mayor extensively while at NY1.

"Giuliani, during his mayoralty, was the most incredibly combative, attack-oriented politician I have ever covered," Kirtzman said. "To think that Giuliani is this kind of benevolent figure is not really an accurate picture of who this guy is and I think if America is going to elect him president, they should know who he really is before they pull that lever."

Wragge on "The Saturday Early Show"

Chris Wragge will anchor The Saturday Early Show tomorrow with Tracy Smith. He'll also be an anchor on The Early Show on Monday. He filled in as the news reader on The Early Show a few times earlier this month. The Saturday morning position has been vacant since Russ Mitchell moved to the weekday show in January.

CBS 2 News in HD Next Month

Better late than never: CBS 2 News will make the switch to high definition next month, according to this report from Broadcasting & Cable earlier in the week.

Maybe this is related to the fact that CBS 2 hasn't been using its evening set lately.

Cindy Hsu Wins Golden Apple Award

Brian sends in this from Broadcasting & Cable: Cindy Hsu has won a Golden Apple Award in the broadcast category from the NYC chapter of American Women in Radio and Television. The award will be presented May 17 at the Sheraton Hotel.

Godwin Moves To CBS Evening News

TVNewser reports that Kim Godwin, CBS 2's assistant news director, is becoming a senior producer for the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. Starting April 16th, she will be in charge of all domestic coverage. She's been with CBS 2 since 2005.

Hsu Stays, Lyon Leaves and Lamberty to FOX 5

Richard Huff in the Daily News breaks a lot of CBS 2 News today:

Cindy Hsu was given a new contract and will remain on CBS 2. She was originally told that her contract would not be renewed and this was to be her last month with the station.

Kerri Lyon, whose assignment was generally the education beat, is leaving CBS 2 News to "pursuing other opportunities." She joined CBS 2 on Halloween 2002 after being at NY1.

Reid Lamberty, who left CBS 2 last week, will join FOX 5 as a reporter and weekend anchor on Wednesday.

Berardelli: "The decision to leave was completely mine"

Jeff Berardelli told NewsByte2 today that it was his decision to leave WCBS for WFOR, despite rumors to the contrary:

The decision to leave was completely mine. I love NYC and this station. I am one of the lucky ones, to be able to live my dream! But now I am ready for the next challenge. I have a great opportunity to work at the best hurricane station in the nation, our sister CBS station WFOR. Lifestyle wise this will also be a great change. Fishing, boating, scuba, kayaking are all my passions and I will have the opportunity to live and work in paradise!

Berardelli appeared this morning but said yesterday on the air that this will be his last week.

What's Going On With The 6 & 11PM Set?

It looks like the set used for the 6:00 and 11:00 newscasts might be getting a facelift. Dana Tyler and Jim Rosenfield are anchoring from the set used for the morning, noon and 5:00 broadcasts. Brian says that Mary Calvi anchored from this set last night as well.


(Snapshots from wcbstv.com)

Anyone know what's up?

Lamberty's Bio Pulled

Brian points out that Reid Lamberty's bio has been pulled from wcbstv.com. It was reported back in January that he would be leaving this month.

Lamberty joined CBS 2 in August 2003 as a Long Island reporter. He began co-anchoring the weekend morning newscasts with Lisa Daniels in January 2004, a year after those broadcasts debuted. He was also a frequent fill-in on the weekday morning newscasts during the "2 Crew" era. He temporarily co-anchored the weekend evening newscasts for a period last year before being assigned solely to reporting.

Berardelli Leaves CBS 2 For Miami

Jeff Berardelli, CBS 2's weekend morning meteorologist since 2003, announced just moments ago that he is leaving the station. He said that this would be his last week at CBS 2 before he heads down to Miami to join WFOR-TV.

He first appeared on the weekend morning newscasts in May of 2003, filling in for Janine D'Adamo, working alongside Lisa Daniels and Mario Bosquez. He replaced D'Adamo when she left in July of that year but wasn't announced as a permament member of the CBS 2 Weather Team until August when David Rogers was fired. He had previously worked at WTSP in Tampa.

"It has been such an honor being here in New York City, in my hometown, born and raised in New York," Berardelli told viewers at the end of this morning's broadcast. "I've been here for four years at WCBS, a fantastic station with fantastic people. Some of the most talented people in the business, honestly, work here."

He also called WFOR a "fantastic station" and said, "They have the best hurricane coverage in the United States." But he's not just trading in snow storms for hurricanes: "I just want to get in touch with the outdoors again." He said that he loves fishing, boating, scuba diving and kayaking.

"I'm really excited about the opportunity but I will really miss being here with you," he said to anchors Cindy Hsu and Kirstin Cole. "You guys are the best." Hsu and Cole made him a cake that said "Good bye and Good luck Jeff!"

He mentioned that he'll be back to help broadcast the "Tunnel to Towers" run because that cause is very important to him. The event is held every September. Berardelli's bio says that he "is active in the Tunnel To Towers Organization, designed to remember the victims of 9-11." He ran in it last year.

Berardelli is the third meteorologist to leave the station in recent months under the changes being instituted by News Director David Friend. Craig Allen and Audrey Puente are the others. A replacement has yet to be named publicly, though it's been rumored for months that Lonnie Quinn would be joining CBS 2.

Hennessey Begins Reporting Monday

We've known about this for a month but CBS 2 announced within the hour that Sean Hennessey is joining the station as a general assignment reporter. He starts Monday.

President and GM Peter Dunn had this to say: "Sean has incredible experience reporting on both a local and national scale. In addition to being a top-notch professional, he truly enjoys reporting the news that we deem valuable to our viewers."

Hennessey comes from WHDH in Boston, where he's been a general assignment reporter since 1996.

Elizabeth Hur Joins CBS 2 News

Elizabeth Hur reported for CBS 2 News at 6:00 today, though it appears not to be her first time. A quick search on wcbstv.com shows that she had packages last Wednesday and Friday.

It looks like she was last at KTVX, the ABC affiliate in Salt Lake City.

Rosenfield Reports Live From The Bronx

Jim Rosenfield co-anchored CBS 2 News at 6:00 from The Bronx tonight while Dana Tyler handled the other stories from the studio. Rosenfield was in the Highbridge section, where most of the reporters were stationed.

On a related note, Chris Wragge had a package air in the first block of the 5:00 news. He interviewed residents of Highbridge to get a sense of the community there.

Interestingly, "Tragedy In The Bronx," the title of the station's coverage, was also used on NBC 4 and FOX 5, while ABC 7 opted to be original with "Bronx Fire Tragedy."

"Tragedy in the Bronx" Special Report

CBS 2 News is broadcasting a special report right now on this morning's top story: A fire in the Bronx that killed eight children, one adult and injured at least ten. "Tragedy in the Bronx" is being anchored by Maurice DuBois and Kate Sullivan.

Magee Hickey reported live from the scene in Highbridge, Jay Dow from Lincoln Hospital in Melrose and Pablo Guzman is at Jacobi Medical Center in Pelham.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is holding a press conference that is being carried live on channels 2, 4, 5, 7 and 11.

Like most of its broadcasts, CBS 2 is streaming this one live on wcbstv.com.

Kristine Johnson Gives Birth

Kristine Johnson gave birth to Burke at around 10:00 this morning. The news was announced just minutes ago on CBS 2 News. The baby boy weighed in at 8 pounds, 14 ounces. Chris Wragge reported that they are both doing "very well." Wragge, Deborah Garcia and John Bolaris all sent their congratulations over the air to her.

Wragge to Fill In on "The Early Show"

Chris Wragge will fill on on CBS's "The Early Show" today, tomorrow and Friday, according to today's Post. He will be sitting in for Russ Mitchell, the broadcast's news reader.

Sullivan, Others to Fill in For Johnson

Another piece of news from Richard Huff in this morning's Daily News: Chris Wragge will anchor CBS 2 News at Noon solo. At 5:00, he will be joined by Kate Sullivan Mondays through Thursdays. Other anchors will sit in the chair on Fridays.

Deborah Garcia was there yesterday and today.

Kristine Johnson's Maternity Leave: Two Months

Brian sends in this article from the current issue of Stork Magazine. Its cover story is of Kristine Johnson and was mentioned at the end of yesterday's 5 p.m. newscast.

The biggest piece of news from this article is that Johnson's maternity leave will be two months. As Brian points out, that'll have her back just in time for the start of the May sweeps period.

Her baby boy is due Monday. She already has a 4-year-old girl.

The rest of the article is interesting and talks about her childhood, her early career, her cooking and what it's like to be pregnant on TV.

Kristine Johnson On Maternity Leave

Kristine Johnson said goodbye to viewers yesterday at the end of CBS 2 News at 5:00 as she went on maternity leave. It was the last day of sweeps. She said that she is due to give birth Monday.

Johnson co-anchors the noon and 5 p.m. newscasts, but Chris Wragge did the noon newscasts solo since Wednesday, February 21st, saying that Johnson was being allowed to rest.

Wragge continued to anchor the noon broadcast solo, while Deborah Garcia is sitting next to him at 5:00. Garcia mentioned that she was "in for Kristine Johnson."

February Ratings Are In: WCBS-TV is NY's #2 Station

CBS 2 is now the number two station in New York, taking that title away from NBC 4. The station's press release attributes the rise to "the most-watched primetime line-up in the market and the double-digit increases delivered by many of its local newscasts and syndicated series."

According to ABC 7's press release, CBS 2 had a sign-on to sign-off rating/share of 3.5/8, up from 3.1/7 from a year ago. ABC 7 had a 4.9/12 while NBC 4 earned a 3.0/7. CBS 2 and FOX 5 were the only stations (of the top six) to show growth year-to-year.

In the 25-54 demographic, CBS 2's overall rating was a 1.6, which the station says is the highest for a February sweeps since 1999.

The station is also touting its increase in web viewership, 7.52 million page views last month, way up from February 2006's 1.80 million.

Unfortunately, the ratings increases weren't uniform for CBS 2 News.

CBS 2 News This Morning very narrowly beat out FOX 5 and CW 11 for the #3 spot from 5-7 a.m., though it actually finished fourth in both the 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. hours individually. (CW 11 and FOX 5 each claimed the #3 spot for an hour, respectively.) The newscast overall remained relatively flat, going from 1.0 last year to a 0.9 this year in the 5 a.m. hour and stayed at 1.5 at 6 a.m., though the other stations showed more of a loss.

ABC 7 Eyewitness News widened the gap at noon, going from a 4.7 to a 5.4, much higher than CBS 2's 3.3 (up from a 3.2).

"Judge Judy" helped the station at 4:00 and 4:30, with a 3.8 and 4.0, respectively, up from a 3.4 from last year's "The People's Court" being in that spot. (Judy earned a 4.4 while on NBC 4 last February.)

22.5% of Judy's lead-in was lost for CBS 2 News at 5:00, remaining #3, while ABC 7 improved nearly 3% after "Oprah" and NBC 4 improved about 117% after "Ellen." CBS 2 News did improve from a 2.9 to a 3.1.

CBS 2 News at 6:00 remained flat with a 3.2. ABC 7 improved to a 7.6, NBC 4 fell to a 4.2 and FOX 5 increased to a 1.7.

CBS Primetime on CBS 2 from 8-11 p.m. was #1, with an 8.0, over NBC 4's 5.1 and ABC 7's 7.2. This boost from the network did not carry over to CBS 2 News at 11:00 (Monday-Sunday), however, with that newscast losing nearly 34% of primetime viewers. By contrast, ABC 7 lost 10% of the lead-in while NBC 4 actually added on 12%, making those newscasts #1 and #2, respectively.

CBS 2's press release highlights gains in the 25-54 demographic at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.