Changes to WLNY's "The Couch"

When WLNY debuted its 7-9 a.m. broadcast "The Couch" in July 2012, it was hosted by weathercaster John Elliott, sportscaster Lisa Kerney and former Z100 radio personality Carolina Bermudez. While Kerney and Bermudez both took maternity leaves toward the end of the summer, the station brought on former PIX 11/News 12 Long Island/Fox 5 anchor Jodi Applegate to fill in. Now, as both women have returned from their respective leaves, it appears Applegate has replaced Kerney on the morning show.

@Mister_Bill @TheRealCarolina @WLNYTV Hi Bill! I'm focusing more on sports now all morning long on @CBS2ThisMorning Catch me there!!!
— Lisa Kerney (@LisaKerney) November 15, 2013

@RITGIN unfortunately @lisakerney is focusing more on sports for @cbsnewyork & @alexdenistv is great- still working for @wlnytv #thecouch
— Carolina Bermudez (@TheRealCarolina) November 17, 2013

The show also bid farewell to Katie McGee two weeks ago.  She said her husband was taking a job in Los Angeles with the NFL Network so she's going to look for work there.  McGee first joined CBS 2 in October 2002 and reported on entertainment primarily for the morning newscast until "The 2 Crew" was removed in early 2006.  She rejoined when the station went HD in April 2007 as the morning traffic reporter, a position which she held until January 2012 when Alex Denis took over, sending McGee at first to 5:00 p.m. entertainment reporter until joining WLNY's "The Couch" in the summer of 2012.




WLNY's other newscast at 9:00 p.m. also saw changes this year with Dick Brennan and Alice Gainer taking over the anchor desk after its previous anchors became exclusive to CBS 2: Chris Wragge left for the mornings and Dana Tyler remained at 6:00.

CBS 2 Weather on WCBS 880

CBS 2 News meteorologists and weather anchors began providing the forecast on sister station WCBS NewsRadio 880 this morning. After longtime 880 (and former CBS 2) meteorologist Crag Allen's morning reports are over at 10:00, John Elliott jumps in for "Traffic and Weather Together on the 8s." Lonnie Quinn takes over from 2:00 to 4:00, when Allen returns for the evening commute. It seemed that every other hit was live, at least during Quinn's two hours, while the others were prerecorded.

As reported a few weeks ago, CBS 2's sports anchors Sam Ryan and Otis Livingston will soon be anchoring the 11:00 p.m. "20/20 Update" on WFAN SportsRadio 66 but it won't be tonight, as was originally planned.

KYW Pays Off Bet With CBS 2 News This Morning

Start spreading the news.

Before the World Series began, the morning team at KYW-TV in Philadelphia bet the crew of CBS 2 News This Morning that the Phillies would win. If they were right, Maurice DuBois, Kate Sullivan, John Elliott and Katie McGee would have to sing Elton John's "Philadelphia Freedom" live in New York and Philly.

Last night, the Yankees beat the Phillies 7-3 in Game 6 of the Fall Classic, bringing home the Yankees' franchise 27th ring. That meant the CBS 3 Eyewitness News This Morning team of Ukee Washington, Liz Keptner, Maria LaRosa and Bob Kelly had to sing Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York." CBS 2 rubbed it in a little more by showing video of the champagne celebration in the Yankees' clubhouse during the early morning performance. At the end, both teams said they were hopeful to be at it again next year.

If you want your ears to bleed, check out the simulcast from CBS 2 and KYW.

World Series Wager with KYW

The CBS 2 News This Morning crew has a lot at stake in the outcome of the World Series, which begins this evening. Maurice DuBois led the team in some trash talk with Ukee Washington and KYW Philadelphia's CBS 3 Eyewitness News This Morning. If the Yankees win, CBS 3 will have to sing Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York." CBS 2 will have to sing Elton John's "Philadelphia Freedom" if the Yanks somehow lose to the Phillies.

Check out video from the 5:40 simulcast this morning from the CBS 2 perspective and the KYW perspective.

Oh, and someone please tell the KYW anchors that her name is Katie McGee.

Special "Eye on the Storm" Coverage

CBS 2 News is on the air right now with a special "Eye on the Storm," with live coverage of the biggest snow storm to hit the tri-state all season. Maurice DuBois and Kate Sullivan are anchoring the broadcast, which opened at 8:55 and will continue until 10:00. John Elliott and Lonnie Quinn are providing team weather, forecasting six-to-nine inches for the city, while Katie McGee is updating viewers on the traffic and transit. A team of reporters are out in the snow, including Magee Hickey in Woodside, Queens; Jay Dow in Paramus; Deborah Garcia in Yonkers; Pablo Guzman at LaGuardia Airport; Tamsen Fadal at Penn Station; and Steve Bartelstein in Jericho, Long Island.

New Weather Factoid Promos

Due to popular demand, here's a look at some of the new weather factoid promos that began rolling out last month. They feature the CBS 2 weather team of Lonnie Quinn, John Elliott and Elise Finch. You'll find out why sunglasses are important in the winter, how to forecast winter weather by looking at spider webs, and the difference between sleet and freezing rain. These are winter updates to the ten spots that began airing back in June.

"Eye on the Storm" Saturday

CBS 2 will air a half-hour special Saturday on winter weather. "Eye on the Storm: Extreme Winter Weather" will feature the CBS 2 weather team of Lonnie Quinn, John Elliott and Elise Finch. It begins at 7:00 p.m. For more information, check out this press release or watch this promo:



The special will re-air Sunday morning at 11:30.

CBS 2's last weather special was "Eye On The Storm: The Hurricane Threat," which first aired back in June.

Weather @ Bryant Park

CBS 2 has been airing this promo for Bryant Park for several weeks. Now we're starting to see more signs of this partnership.

Today at noon, John Elliott gave the forecast for the Bryant Park Film Festival tonight. He then tossed to Scott Rapoport, who reported live from the park and talked about how parkgoers were trying to beat the heat.

CBS 2 Presents "Eye On The Storm"

CBS 2 News will air a 30-minute special tomorrow night at 7:00 on the hurricane threat to the tri-state area. The weather team of John Bolaris, John Elliott, Lonnie Quinn and Elise Finch will host.

Bolaris to Weekend Evenings

In a piece headlined "Ch. 2's Quinn not so mighty at weather," the Daily News' Richard Huff reports that John Bolaris is assigned to weekend nights. This is until his contract expires at the end of the year. John Elliott again adds the noon broadcast to his morning duties. Huff goes on to criticize the making of Quinn the lead weatherman.

The article also points out that "[Jim] Rosenfield is considering his options." The anchor has been on vacation since last week and has not been on the air since the shakeup was announced last Friday. "Whether he returns, or in what capacity, is the big question," Huff writes. During Rosenfield's previous tenure ending in April 2000, then-News Director Joel Cheatwood tried to demote him, but the anchor chose to leave the station instead.

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.)

Weather NewsBytes

- CBS 2 weathercaster John Elliott appeared on CBS's "The Early Show" this morning, filling in for Dave Price. Elliott was also on CBS 2 News This Morning, and Jeff Berardelli handled the local weather updates from 7-9 a.m.

- Lonnie Quinn said goodbye to WTVJ Miami last Thursday. Pictures and video are available on nbc6.net. One of the pictures has this as the caption: "But just think... Lonnie will get to sleep late!!" Still no official word yet on whether he'll be joining CBS 2 but it looks like he's on his way.

- This poster over at TVNewsTalk.net spotted former CBS 2 meteorologist Craig Allen doing weather overnight on News 12 Long Island.

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.

Friday NewsBytes

- "Weathercaster" John Elliott appeared on the 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts last night. He reported on the above-average temperatures from a miniature golf course in Wayne, NJ. John Bolaris (or "Inside John," as Elliott said in a tease, as opposed to "Outside John") tossed to him in each of the three weather segments during the broadcasts. Elliott was joined by an ice sculptor who created "CBS" and CBS 2 logos out of blocks of ice.

- Speaking of Elliott, he appears in five-second IDs for the station. In one, the announcer says, "CBS 2 welcomes weathercaster John Elliott." Another says, "CBS 2's John Elliott. He makes weather fun."

- There are many variations of those new anchor promos. The new ones seem to attempt to draw a more personal connection between viewers and the anchors: Jim Rosenfield talks about growing up watching "Channel 2 News;" Dana Tyler on earning viewers' trust; Kristine Johnson explains the importance of broadcast journalism; Maurice DuBois and Kate Sullivan joke about having to wake up early; and the anchors talk about what happens when news breaks where Tyler says, "Breaking news is our bread and butter." There's also a spot where Johnson talks about Wragge and then Wragge interrupts. As some of you have noticed, I've posted a bunch of these promos on YouTube:







Feel free to comment on these posts or the videos and tell me what you think so far and what you'd like to see in the future.

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.

John Elliott's First Day

"Weathercaster" John Elliott debuted on CBS 2 News today. He was first seen at 4:55 a.m. and he said, "I'm so happy to be here." He was welcomed at various times by anchors Brendan Keefe (filling in for Maurice DuBois) and Kate Sullivan but it wasn't until 6:09 before they mentioned where he comes from. Sullivan said he "hails from Michigan, most recently in Los Angeles and now in New York." "And I live in New Jersey," Elliott added.

For his debut, Elliott was generally very smooth but he made one error early. At 5:11, he went from the first slide in his presentation, the Almanac page, right to the Five Day Forecast. "And look, I've already made my first mistake," he pointed out. A few minutes later, he was back at the desk and he joked, "I'll have a clicker review during the next break," as he held up the device used to advance the slides. There is apparently a button on it that skips right to the five-day. "John, it took you 11 minutes to make your first mistake," Kate Sullivan said. "It usually takes me 30 seconds."

Elliott will also appear on CBS 2 News at Noon.

Elliott replaces Audrey Puente, whose status is "undetermined," according to a CBS 2 spokeswoman, the New York Post's Michael Starr reports. Puente first joined CBS 2 News in December of 2003 (read NewsByte2's coverage and see this Daily News article from 12/17/06) and served as Dave Price's backup on the morning newscast as he had to leave early to head to The Early Show's studio. She also handled noon weather duties and often filled in for Price on The Early Show. She became the full-time meteorologist for CBS 2 News This Morning on April 12 when Price left WCBS to focus on his national duties.

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...