Monday, April 30, 2007

Finch Takes Over For Carothers

Elise Finch, who first appeared on CBS 2 News' weekend morning newscasts just over a week ago, now looks to be the sole weekend meteorologist.

Liz Carothers, who had been doing the weekend evening newscasts for the past few months, seems to have left CBS 2. This poster on TVNewsTalk.net spotted her on My9 News on Friday night, using the first name Ibby once again (she used this name when she was at NBC 4 prior to CBS 2). She was believed to have freelanced while at CBS 2.

Another Photo Shoot

CBS 2 began airing a new promo over the weekend to remind viewers that its newscasts are now in high definition. It looks similar to the old promos for CBS 2 News This Morning in that the talent are seen in front of what looks to be a set for a photo shoot, with a bright white backdrop and an umbrella. Seen in this promo: Kate Sullivan and Maurice DuBois, John Elliott, Ducis Rodgers, Dr. Holly Phillips, Chris Wragge, John Bolaris, Kirstin Cole, and Jim Rosenfield and Dana Tyler. Interestingly, Kristine Johnson and Lonnie Quinn do not appear in this one, perhaps because it was shot a few weeks ago. The words "HD" or "high definition" are said a total of eight times.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

"At The Met with Dana Tyler" Tomorrow Morning

Dana Tyler will host a half-hour special tomorrow morning at 11:00. "At The Met" will take viewers inside the new Greek and Roman Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For more informaiton, check out this press release.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Daily NewsBytes

Richard Huff's Tube Talk in today's Daily News has a lot of information about CBS 2:

> Kristine Johnson will "eventually" return to anchoring CBS 2 News at Noon with Chris Wragge, the station says.

> Katie McGee is the traffic and entertainment reporter for CBS 2 News This Morning.

> Emad Asghar, who was named executive producer of CBS 2 News at 11:00 back in January, now has that title over at the "CW 11 Morning News."

> And, says Huff, "There is a real downside to good weather - it frees John Elliott to terrorize people on the streets." Elliott reported outdoors a few times earlier this week at noon where he "has been turned into a roaming goofball for the station's noon news."

Happy May Sweeps! (It began yesterday.)

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

When Studio 46 Goes Dark

...Well, not entirely dark, but it looks like a light on the set went out a few minutes ago during CBS 2 News at 5:00.

Compare these before-and-after shots:

Before


After:


The problem seems to have been fixed after only a few minutes.

Anchor NewsBytes

NewsByte2 is catching up with the latest on the latest apparent round of anchor changes:

- It looks like Chris Wragge is now the solo anchor of CBS 2 News at Noon. He's been anchoring it solo since shortly before Kristine Johnson took her maternity leave. The move was said to be giving her extra rest as she was in her ninth month. She returned to the 5:00 newscast on Monday but hasn't returned at noon. (Maurice DuBois mentioned that he was filling in for Wragge today.)

- Cindy Hsu and Kirstin Cole are no longer the anchors of the weekend morning newscasts. Sean Hennessey and Deborah Garcia anchored the broadcasts the last two weekends. Both Hsu and Cole seem to have added general assignment reporting to their respective parenting and consumer beats.

- John Discepolo is now the morning sports anchor. Kate Sullivan and Maurice DuBois welcomed him to the newscast earlier this week.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Bolaris and Quinn Trade Positions

Not even two weeks after Lonnie Quinn joined CBS 2 News as the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. weatherman, it looks as if his assignment has changed to noon and 5 p.m.

Quinn did the weather for yesterday's CBS 2 News at Noon from the studio and was out in the field at 5 p.m. Then John Bolaris, whose assignment had been reduced to just the 5 p.m. newscast (and possibly also the noon newscast), was in the studio for the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts yesterday.

WCBSTV.com updated Quinn's bio recently to remove the word "evening" from his duties, according to the sharp eye of Brian, a frequent contributor to NewsByte2.

It is unclear why the change was made in such a short amount of time.

Kristine Johnson Returns

New mother Kristine Johnson returned from her maternity leave a little bit earlier than expected. She was welcomed back on CBS 2 News at 5:00 yesterday.

She was last seen on CBS 2 on February 28th and gave birth to a baby boy on March 5th. During that time at 5 p.m., Kate Sullivan filled in Mondays through Thursdays, with Deborah Garcia filling in on Fridays. Chris Wragge anchored the noon news solo.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Lyon Leaves The Business

Former CBS 2 reporter Kerri Lyon, who left the station a few weeks ago, is leaving the television news business. The Daily News reports that she will be a communications advisor for the New York City Department of Education.

When Lyon first joined CBS 2 in 2002, she was the station's education reporter.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

CBS 2 News Covers the Nor'easter

CBS 2 News brought in some big names to cover the big storm tonight.

Regular weekend evening anchor Mary Calvi was joined by weekend evening anchor Jim Rosenfield at the desk in Studio 46. Meteorologist John Bolaris had the forecast in the weather center and reported that, as of 6:30, 5.51 inches of rain had fallen in Central Park, making it the wettest day in 30 years and the sixth wettest day of all-time. He tossed to weatherman Lonnie Quinn in Lindenhurst on Long Island. Brendan Keefe reported from Grand Central Terminal, with the news that Metro North service was suspended and added that, had this been snow, it could have been more than 40 inches. Christine Sloan reported from Secaucus, Westchester reporter Tony Aiello was in Larchmont, Dave Carlin was in Freeport and Lou Young was in Greenwich, CT. Elizabeth Hur (whose name was shortened to Liz on the graphic and by Mary Calvi's script) reported in the second block from LaGuardia Airport and CBS Newspath's Bianco Solorzano was live in Sea Bright, NJ.

Storm coverage continued until 6:55, interrupted only by two commercial breaks. CBS 2 then reported a non-weather story: an update on the health of New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine. Ducis Rodgers then did sports before the 6:30 p.m. newscast closed.

The coverage felt similar to that of snowstorms, except that the live shots looked more like TV news coverage of hurricanes with the wet and blurry camera lenses. A ticker ran across the bottom of the screen with additional information.

CBS 2 News This Morning will begin an hour early at 4:00 a.m. tomorrow with storm coverage.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Elise Finch's Weather

CBS 2 News welcomed Elise Finch to the weather team this morning. According to this Wikipedia page, the meteorologist was with NBC Weather Plus until last December. Finch is the second addition to the weather staff just this week. Liz Carothers has been handling the weekend morning slot along with her weekend evening position since Jeff Berardelli left a few weeks ago.

Friday, April 13, 2007

John Discepolo's Sports

Jim Rosenfield welcomed former Fox 5 sports anchor John Discepolo as "a new face here at sports" tonight. It looks like he could be the weekend sports anchor.

Only HD Studio Shots For Now, HD Field Reports Later

TVPredictions.com reports that only in-studio shots are in high definition at the moment, but a WCBS spokeswoman said that field reports will be shot in HD in the fourth quarter of this year.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

HD Snapshots

The poster IceManNYR captured these HD snapshots of the new CBS 2 News last night for TVNewsTalk.net and he's been kind enough to allow them to be displayed here:













Katie McGee Does Traffic

Katie McGee returned to CBS 2 News This Morning, this time as a traffic reporter. She first joined the newscast in October of 2002 as an entertainment reporter, where one of her first stories was on the announcement of the new anchor team for The Early Show, according to the NewsByte2 archives. That was after having done traffic for NBC 4's "Today in New York." McGee left CBS 2 in early 2006, around the time that the "2 Crew" was being dismantled.

It is not clear whether McGee has permanently rejoined CBS 2 News or whether she's just filling in.



Wednesday, April 11, 2007

11:00 Snapshots
















Lonnie Quinn Debuts on CBS 2 News at 6:00

Jim Rosenfield and Dana Tyler welcomed Lonnie Quinn to the station tonight at 6:19. It appears that he will do the weather at 6 and 11. Is John Bolaris going to stay at 5?



Evening Snapshots