Noon Graphics Recap

Continuing our roundup of CBS 2's new graphics, here's a look at the noon newscast:


1. The open follows the same wording as the morning: "Live from Studio 46, this is CBS 2 News at Noon." (Last night, it started out: "Live from the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City...") Since the HD launch in April 2007, only the morning newscast's open had a specific mention of the time of day -- all other opens named the newscast simply "CBS 2 News."

2. The "@CBSNEWYORK" Twitter handle appears on most talent lower-third banners. (Anchors previously did not have any other text below their names. Reporters in the field used to have "CBS2 NEWS" written beneath.)

3. The lower-third graphic does not loop smoothly and appears to "restart" when it reaches the end of the animation.


5:00 p.m. promo:

Wragge In New AM Promo

Since Rob Morrison's sudden departure from CBS 2 in February, Mary Calvi has been without an official co-anchor in the morning and at noon.  Chris Wragge, who had co-anchored the 6:00 p.m. and WLNY 9:00 p.m. newscasts, has been filling in since February 20th, but no announcement has been made about it being a permanent change.

Topical promos for CBS 2 News This Morning, which had featured just Calvi since Morrison left, began including Wragge a few weeks ago.  Now, nearly three months after becoming a temporary team, the two appear in an "Expect More" promo for the morning newscast in what appears to be a sign that the change is more permanent than not:

Wragge's bio still identifies him as the 6:00 anchor (but it also says he will co-anchor the WLNY broadcast "beginning this summer," which was last summer).

Sullivan Leaving CBS 2 News

Apologies for being late in reporting this...

Robert Feder blogged Wednesday night that morning and noon co-anchor Kate Sullivan is headed to WBBM in Chicago to co-anchor the evening newscasts there. According to Brian, the print edition of the Daily News reported that Sullivan's final day is this Friday. The New York Post says Lisa Daniels, who was once a reporter and weekend at CBS 2, is among the possible replacements being interviewed, then reported the next day that weekend anchor Mary Calvi was the leading candidate to replace Sullivan.

Sullivan joined the station and a retooled CBS 2 News This Morning with Maurice DuBois in April 2006. The pair also took over the noon newscast last year.

CBS 2 News Debuts News Graphics

CBS 2 News debuted new graphics today at noon. It appears to be more of a update of the April 2007 Giant Octopus package than an entirely fresh look in that Arial is still the main font and similar CBS eye elements are used for the background animations. One major difference is that the yellow and gold colors that had been used along with the blue seem to have been dropped. As spotted last night and this morning, the "HD" lettering in the logo now sit next to the eye-2 logo and seems to make the logo look unbalanced, especially with the time, temperature and website address aligned with the eye-2 part in the bug.

The whole "upgrade" brings to mind the August 2006 simplification of the April 2006 look.

Here are some snapshots taken from the wcbstv.com videos:









2:29 P.M. UPDATE: A few more snapshots...
Looks like the CBS eye in the lower-thirds gets covered up for specific franchise brands, such as part of a caduceus for HealthWatch.


The weather graphics have also been updated. The graphics for the maps appear to be the same but the new unanimated background appears on the today/tonight/tomorrow slides and seven-day forecast along with new border treatments. The "CBS 2 HDTV" logos in the studio weather center have generally been replaced with "CBS 2 NEWS" logos.

Dahler Debuts at Noon and 6:00

Don Dahler made his weekday debut today though his new co-anchor was still off. Kate Sullivan filled in for Dana Tyler at noon while Kristine Johnson filled in at 6:00. No mention was made that it was Dahler's first day as permanent anchor of those newscasts.

Dahler is also filling in for Chris Wragge at 11:00.

Dahler to Replace Rosenfield

The Daily News reports this morning that Don Dahler has been named to take over Jim Rosenfield's spot on CBS 2 News at Noon and at 6:00. He'll sit next to Dana Tyler. Dahler joined the station the day after Labor Day, filling in for Rosenfield at 6:00.

Meanwhile, the paper also reports that Steve Bartelstein "picks up Dahler's weekend assignments," presumably meaning that he will do both the morning and evening newscasts on weekends. This is the same assignment that Mary Calvi has had since November when Bartelstein joined.

Johnson Returns to CBS 2 News at Noon

Kristine Johnson returned as the anchor of CBS 2 News at Noon today, about one month after she returned to CBS 2 News at 5:00. Johnson, who gave birth to a son in March, anchored her last noon newscast on February 20 but remained on the 5:00 newscast until going on maternity leave March 1. She returned to CBS 2 News at 5:00 from maternity leave on April 23, just in time for May Sweeps, but Johnson did not return to CBS 2 News at Noon. At the time, the station told the Daily News that Johnson would "eventually" return to the noon newscast.

During Johnson's three month absence from CBS 2 News at Noon, co-anchor Chris Wragge anchored the half-hour newscast solo. Wragge was off today, so Johnson anchored solo. The only allusion to Johnson's return came when Money Watch reporter Alexis Christoforous welcomed her back to the noon newscast.

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.)

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.

Lowering the Lower-Thirds

CBS 2 News seems to be experimenting with the lower-thirds today. The graphics have been lowered to a position almost aligned with the time and temperature, covering up the space that had been left open for the morning ticker. Over the course of the noon newscast, the graphics seem to changing positions slightly: They either line up with the time/temp bug on the bottom or are slightly above that position.

It's not just the L3s that are affected: The "live" graphic has also been lowered, though this appears to be in error. The "Money Watch" full screen graphic was lower as well.

During the first tease of the newscast, the text for the upcoming stories was not lining up with the "Coming Up" graphic, but the "Coming Up" was lowered to correct this by the second tease.

Interestingtly, there were no graphics and no bug in the final block of the News at Noon.

Split Edition of Noon News

Chris Wragge is co-anchoring CBS 2 News at Noon from near Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan today on the arrival of President Bush. Kristine Johnson is at the desk in Studio 46. This is believed to be the first time since News Director David Friend's arrival that a newscast has been done in this split format. The station experimented with it often last summer for several big stories.

CBS 2 News Covers Manhattan's Strange Smell

CBS 2 News broke into programming multiple times in the 9:00 and 10:00 hours this morning to report on a possible natural gas leak in the city. It seems that thousands of people called in to 911 to report a heavy odor just after 9 a.m. attracting coverage from all of the local stations and the cable news channels.

Maurice DuBois handled most of the breaking news reports from the newsroom with admittedly little information. They were awaiting Mayor Bloomberg's regularly scheduled press conference at 9:30, but that had been postponed and the media were told that it would happen "shortly." After 10 a.m., DuBois was joined by Scott Rapoport live in Midown and John Elliott with how the weather was affecting the smell. Chris Wragge anchored a brief special report at 10:30 from the studio and was back on at 10:43 with the mayor's remarks about the situation. Video of the special reports is available on wcbstv.com.

Team coverage topped the noon newscast: Rapoport in Midtown, Dave Carlin in Jersey City, Elliott in the studio and Kerri Lyon on the East Side with how the schools were handling the confusing situation.

CBS 2 News at Noon Shortened

Today's edition of CBS 2 News at Noon was cut in half today due to CBS News' coverage of Gerald Ford's funeral, starting at 9:00 a.m. Kristine Johnson anchored the newscast, which began at 12:15 p.m., from the studio while Chris Wragge reported from Capitol Hill on the events.

There were just two blocks in this scheduled abbreviated newscast. The first block consisted primarily of funeral coverage but did include some other local stories as well. The second block was just the weather, before which Johnson and John Elliott talked about how they had once worked together (at MSNBC), and the close.

CBS 2 News Does Not Cover Spitzer's Inauguration on TV, As Was Originally Planned

They lucked out with a delay last night but lose out with one today...

CBS 2 had announced on the air over the weekend that CBS 2 News at Noon would be a full hour today to provide coverage of Eliot Spitzer's inauguration as governor of New York. However, due to today's heavy rains, the outdoor ceremony was delayed by an hour until 1 p.m. CBS 2 News at Noon with Chris Wragge (who will be headed down to DC later today) and Kristine Johnson went the usual length and the station filled the 12:30 - 1:00 p.m. slot with "Chevrolet's Tim McCarver Show."

WCBSTV.com is currently providing streaming coverage of the event while CBS Sports is covering the Gator Bowl.

Spitzer had a private swearing in ceremony just after midnight but the public oath of office was scheduled for today.

John Elliott Joins CBS 2 News

John Elliot will join CBS 2 News This Morning and at Noon as weathercaster, according to his bio page that was recently added to WCBSTV.com. He was most recently at KCBS-TV in Los Angeles, where he spent the last two years, after a two-year stint at MSNBC and NBC News as weathercaster, anchor and correspondent.

Video of one of Elliott's final weathercasts on KCBS is available here.

His bio shows CBS 2 News This Morning as his new favorite program, replacing Everybody Loves Raymond for the top spot. He writes that he is in this business because he "love[s] the connection television provides with the viewers."

Elliot replaces Audrey Puente, whose bio is still posted on WCBSTV.com, though no assignment is listed.

And there are rumors of more weather changes in CBS 2's forecast to come. Stay tuned...

CBS 2 News's Coverage of Mayor Giuliani's Farewell Speech

Today, CBS 2 News at Noon began half an hour earlier, interrupting the Price is Right, for a "CBS 2 News Special Report." Cindy Hsu and Michael Pomeranz gave a brief introduction and explanation of Mayor Giuliani's farewell speech today and then went live to St. Paul's Church just blocks from Ground Zero for the speech. After airing the 53-minute speech in its entirety, Marcia Kramer, CBS 2 News political correspondant, provided highlights of a one-on-one interview with the mayor's friend, Judith Nathan. CBS 2 News at Noon then ended at 12:30 after a check of the top stories with Mike and Cindy and the weather forecast.

-Michael

CBS 2 News at Noon Today

There was a CBS 2 News at Noon today, but it opened at 12:21pm because a tennis match went longer than it was expected. It was its regular length, about a half an hour long. At 12:28 during Jennifer McLogan's report, and again at 12:49 at the end, CBS 2 used a "Labor Day" graphic on the top-left of the screen, with the starts circling around it. CBS 2 News at Noon will probably air again Friday during the tennis, but it could be delayed (as it was today). There will not be any newscasts today at 4:00 or at 5:00.

CBS 2 News At Noon in Studio 43

Today CBS 2 News at Noon began with the top stories at 11:58, but the anchors weren't standing on the left of the desk this time. Then they had the open, with the CBS 2 Information Network logo and a sweeping shot of Michael Pomeranz and Cindy Hsu at the desk ("Live from the CBS 2 Information Center in New York, this is CBS 2 News at Noon"). Lou Young, standing by the plasma screens on the left, reported on a developing story in Iraq. At 12:08, there was a new CBS HealthWatch animation, and Cindy was standing by the screens. A minute later, Alexis Christoforous joined her and did the CBS.MarketWatch.com report from inside the studio (she usually reports from the CBS.MarketWatch.com Newsroom at noon). Then at 12:17, Dana Tyler had a preview of CBS 2 First News at 4:00 "live in the Information Center". Then they went to Todd McDermott in the CBS 2 Newsroom who previewed CBS 2 News at 5:00, including Marcia Kramer's exclusive interview with Senator Hillary Clinton. More snapshots coming later this week!

CBS 2's July 2001 Ratings

While CBS 2 isn't doing very well in the evening or in the morning, they are still number one with their noon newscast. The New York Post reports that CBS 2 News at 5:00 averaged a 2.1 rating in July, or 146,000 households (last July 2000: 194,000 households). At 6:00, CBS 2 News's rating was a 2.2, or 153,000 households. CBS 2 News at Noon (with Michael Pomeranz, Cindy Hsu, and Ira Joe Fisher) is still winning at noon, with a 4.4 rating, or 305,000 households.

CBS 2 News At Noon: #1 And Up 10%

The Daily News reports on CBS 2's ratings for May 2001. Although CBS 2 News at 5:00 and at 6:00 are in third, CBS 2 News at Noon is still number one at 12:00. It averaged 353,716 households per day, that's almost 50% more than WABC-TV's noon newscast. CBS 2 also adds nearly 20% more households from the number one 11am show, "The Price Is Right".
(Thanks to Brian for sending me this article!)