"Storm Watch" Coverage

As the first major snow storm of the season hit the tri-state area, CBS 2 News had special team coverage throughout the day. Cindy Hsu (filling-in for Michael Pomeranz) and Lisa Hill anchored this morning, with Meteorologist Janine D'Adamo tracking the storm. Chris Silveri, normally an off-camera meteorologist, was in the CBS 2 Weather Center updating the snowfall accumulation totals. Don Piccin (in for Rachel Lutzker) had the latest on the traffic. Marcella Palmer was live in Denville, and Rose Walia reported from Westchester. Manager J.R. Whalen explains what the Information Center did:

This morning, the CBS 2 Information Center reported on school closings and delayed openings in the viewing area throughout "CBS 2 News This Morning." Viewers and callers quickly realized that the Information Center, an exclusive service of CBS 2, was the best source of up to date information about the status of their local school district. Additionally, we fielded several calls from New York City residents who had trouble with heat and hot water service. They were advised of city regulations and were advised of hotline phone numbers to call to report problems with service.

Later this afternoon and evening, Chief Meteorologist David Rogers had the forecast for the entire area, and Scott Sumner (who is also usually an off-camera meteorologist) was in the Weather Center with storm totals. He also debuted "Zone Weather", temperatures and conditions for specific areas in the tri-state (including the Interior and Northwest regions). Morry Alter was in Denville, and Whitney Casey was in Mt. Kisco.

"America Fights Back" Coverage

This morning on CBS 2, Michael O'Looney and Lisa Hill anchored the "early Sunday morning edition of CBS 2 Weekend News." The newscast was mostly coverage of America Fights Back and the Anthrax cases, but weather (with Craig Allen) and traffic (with Debbie DuHaime) was added. Tony Tantillo's "Breakfast With T" segment also aired. The newscast was an hour-long this morning starting at 8:00.

"America Fights Back" Coverage

This past week, CBS 2 has had special coverage of "America Fights Back" from 9am-10am, 3pm-4pm, and 7-7:30pm, in addition to the regular CBS 2 newscasts in the morning, at noon, 4-6:30pm, and at 11pm. Yesterday morning at 7:00am, CBS 2 had more coverage for two hours. Michael Pomeranz anchored from the newsroom (Studio 43 was being used for CBS Sports's "College Football Today" program). This morning at 7:00, Lisa Hill and Hazel Sanchez anchored another two hour special.

Michael and David inform me that last night at 11:00, CBS 2 News used their regular open for the first time since the morning of September 11th. This mean that CBS 2's coverage of "America Fights Back" is beginning to slow down as CBS 2 starts to retun to normal. Vince DeMentri anchored with Kirstin Cole. They also played a sadder version of their regular theme when going to commercials.

This week, CBS 2 continues with its special newscasts at 3:00pm and 7:00pm.

New Morning Newscast Title: "CBS 2 Morning News"?

Brian tells me that this afternoon on CBS 2 he spotted a new promo.

It's for 'The CBS 2 Morning News,' and it shows Lisa and Michael anchoring. The announcer mentions that they have excellent traffic and weather coverage. Then he says 'Watch Lisa Hill, Michael Pomeranz, and Janine D'Adamo on the CBS 2 Morning News,' while the shot of the three anchors from the other network/CBS 2 promo is shown. They also mentioned the extended coverage of "America Fights Back." I'm wondering if it was just a mistake, but I think they said 'CBS 2 Morning News' twice.

CBS 2 News This Morning's format was redone on August 27th, the same day the station moved into Studio 43. The morning newscast has has not used this format for the past two and a half weeks, due to the special coverage of "America Fights Back". Could their name be changing to "CBS 2 Morning News" on Monday, or was it a mistake in the promo? Stay tuned!

CBS 2's Fall 2001 Promos

Yesterday, CBS 2 began to use new graphics for their syndicated shows's promos, such as "Crossing Over with John Edward". They were designed to match CBS's new Fall 2001 graphics. After the promo, they show a screen with the shows before and after it (for example, the "Crossing Over" promo shows "As The World Turns" at 2:00 before and "First News at 4:00" after). And today, CBS 2 began to air a new one-minute-long Fall 2001 promo for their newscasts and shows. The promos show the anchors in the new studio, the Information Center, Chopper 2, the reporters, the weather team, and clips from primetime shows. The wording went something like this (but not exactly): "It's the place you go to find out... (Lisa Hill: "Good morning everybody and welcome to CBS 2 News.") and the tri-state wants to know about. It's the people you can count on... C B S 2. It's the Information Network. All our sources work together in the Information Center. It's the place for laughter... every drama sends a shiver down your spine. It's all here, on CBS. It's all here, on CBS 2. News, sports, and weather, and entertainment all together... On CBS 2, New York! It's all here. (Angela Rae and Ernie Anastos: "It's all here!")" This promo appears to be a localized version of the CBS Fall 2001 campaign.

Breakfast With "T"

At the end of CBS 2 News This Morning, Michael Pomeranz and Lisa Hill quickly talked about a new segment in the morning. Starting tomorrow, "Breakfast With 'T'" will be with The Fresh Grocer, Tony Tantillo. He appears three times a week on CBS 2 First News at 4:00, and he'll now appear in the morning. He will show viewers how to prepare healthy breakfasts. "Eat Fresh And Stay Healthy."

CBS 2 News This Morning in Studio 43

Today's the big day! CBS 2 News This Morning started in Studio 43 this morning at 5:00. Michael Pomeranz and Lisa Hill previewed the newscast on the left of the news desk near four monitors with the "CBS 2 Information Network" and the "CBS 2 News This Morning" logos. They also welcomed viewers to their new studio at the CBS Broadcast Center in Manhattan. The open of the show was changed, with a new Information Network animation. Then they showed Michael and Lisa walking over to the desk with the "CBS 2 News This Morning" logo on the bottom. The open went like this: "You're watching CBS 2, home of the CBS 2 Information Network... Live from the CBS 2 Information Center in New York, this is CBS 2 News This Morning." Here's a look at other changes that were made this morning:

Studio 43
This new studio, which we have been waiting for since May, finally came! It's a great studio with a news desk, an "Information Center" newsroom behind it, and an interview area. There are monitors and CBS 2 logos everywhere. Some monitors have views of New York City (nighttime scenes in the 5:00 hour, daytime views in the 6:00 hour). And the lighting creates "CBS 2 Information Network" and "CBS 2 Info Center" logos on the floor. Sweeping camera angles of the studio were shown often right before commercial breaks. And Janine D'Adamo mentioned that they now use a green chroma-key screen, instead of blue, so "I can wear blue now!"

CBS 2 Info Bar
Michael and Lisa introduced the "Info Bar" at 5:21. It's a black bar at the bottom of the screen (similar to the Sports Scoreboard) with news, weather, stocks, and sports. It's also where the current temperature is located (the "2" logo now has only the time above it). They said that it's an improvement of the CBS 2 Info Box, which used to appear on the bottom-left of the screen. It popped-up saying "INFOBOX: THIS SPACE FOR RENT".

Pet Pix and Wake-Up Call
After her weather report at 5:14, Janine D'Adamo introduced a new segment on CBS 2 News This Morning, "Pet Pix". As Brian reported earlier, CBS 2 will show viewers' digital pictures of their pets in the morning. This morning it was just some producers' pets used. And at 6:45, Janine did the "Wake-Up Call". CBS 2 News at Noon anchor Cindy Hsu was the person who was called this morning! Janine quizzed her to see how well she knew her co-anchors: Which anchor, Michael or Lisa, was a photographer before they anchored? Cindy correctly answered that it was Lisa. Janine also said that they may have contests and giveaways in the future.

Other important notes are that Susan McGinnis did the CBS MarketWatch report only once, at 5:44. This is probably because she had to go to Fifth Avenue to The Early Show's studio for her 7:20 report. The "Inside The Daily News" animation was changed to use the new Information Network graphic. There is also a new full screen for the morning newscast. The "Traffic And Weather on the 2's" animation was changed. And "Rock N Roll History", which was added to the newscast two months ago, has disappeared. Here are some snapshots, courtesy of Kevin:

Studio 43 To Debut Monday Morning

Today at the end of this morning's 6:55 CBS MarketWatch report, Susan McGinnis mentioned that CBS 2 News This Morning will be broadcasting from the new studio (43) on Monday Morning. Lisa Hill said that they would have more information on the studio after the commercial break, but CBS 2 News This Morning didn't have an ending today. This was most likely due to time constraints. More information as we get it!

-Brian

Janine D'Adamo's First Official Day

Michael Pomeranz and Lisa Hill welcomed Janine D'Adamo officially to CBS 2 News This Morning. Although she did a few weather updates on Friday, today was the first day that Janine appeared on the morning newscast. Originally from Long Island, Janine comes to CBS 2 from the CBS Affiliate in Dallas, Texas. She replaces Tony Pann, who left CBS 2 to join his wife in the Baltimore area.

-Brian

Tony Pann Leaves CBS 2

This morning on CBS 2 at 6:58, Michael Pomeranz and Lisa Hill announced that Tony Pann was leaving New York, and that today is his last day. He is moving back to Maryland where his wife, Mary Ellen Pann, is a meteorologist in Baltimore. Tony is going to join CBS affiliate WUSA-TV in Washington, D.C. this October where he be the noon meteorologist. Janine D'Adamo, Tony's replacement starting Monday, was introduced today and was even given cake! She also did the five-day forecast at the very end. Tony Pann will fill-in for Ira Joe Fisher today at noon, which will be his final newscast on CBS 2.

Tiki Barber Leaves CBS 2 News This Morning

Tiki Barber did his last sports report for CBS 2 this morning. At 6:28am, anchors Michael Pomeranz and Hazel Sanchez (who has been filling in for Lisa Hill all week long) and meteorologist Tony Pann asked Tiki some questions so that viewers could get to know him a little more. The questions included: his favorite invention (the cotton gin), the most influential person in his life (his mother), his mother's favorite son (his twin brother Ronde because he lives in Florida where it's much warmer and better to visit), the best moment in his life (marrying his wife Ginny), the best part of being an NFL star (the camaraderie between players when he wins a game and the love he gets from the city) and worst part of being an NFL star (the camaraderie you don't get when you lose a game), his favorite food (macaroni and cheese), his favorite weatherman (Tony Pann), and if he daydreamed about CBS 2 while playing in the Super Bowl last January (yes he did daydream about waking up at 4:00 in the morning every weekday for a few weeks).

Tiki Barber rejoined CBS 2 on April 30th after first joining CBS 2 March 2nd last year, and he left on June 23rd. He said that he wants to come back next year (after winning the Super Bowl!), but the plans do not appear to be definite yet. I'm sure that everyone wishes Tiki Barber a great 2001-2002 season with the New York Giants!

The News This Morning from the Newsroom!

This morning on CBS 2, Lisa Hill and Hazel Sanchez (who's filling in for Michael Pomeranz all week long) anchored The News from the CBS 2 newsroom, but because there is only one camera in the newsroom, they each anchored solo for a half hour (Lisa at 5, Hazel at 5:30, Lisa at 6, and Hazel at 6:30). They said it was because of the rain storm. I'm guessing that it has to do with the Control Room for their morning studio being a few blocks away from Studio 59B. Tony Pann did the weather from the weather center, Carrie Lee was in the traffic center (as usual), and Susan McGinnis did the CBS MarketWatch report from the Nasdaq Market Site. Here are a few snapshots from this morning:

CBS 2's Morning Storm Watch

As planned, "The News This Morning" started extra early at 4:00am. Michael Pomeranz co-anchored with Cindy Hsu, who was in for Lisa Hill. David Rogers was live on the roof of the CBS Broadcast Center on the West Side (as he has been for all major snow storms this season). Tony Pann was in the studio with more on the forecast. Aimee Nuzzo was reporting from Hopatcong, NJ. Hazel Sanchez was in the newsroom with updates on school closings. Carrie Lee was at Metro Traffic with the road and rail situation (she was also on CBS 2 last night at 6:30). John Slattery was live in Coney Island, and Morry Alter was in Paramus, NJ.

CBS 2 Extends Storm Watch Coverage

CBS 2 will begin "The News This Morning" a half-hour earlier tomorrow morning, at 4:30am. Michael Pomeranz and Lisa Hill are the anchors, Tony Pann is the meteorologist, and Carrie Lee is the Metro Traffic reporter.

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

The Latest on Jaxson Richard Hill

Yesterday on NEWS 2 at 4:00, some more information was given about Lisa Hill's new baby boy. Jaxson Richard Hill was born just past noon on Tuesday, September 12th. He's 6 pounds, 4 ounces, and 20 inches long, and everyone is doing fine. (Thanks to Stephen Clark for the information!)

Jaxson Hill

Today on News 2 at 4:00, Dana Tyler announced that Lisa Cooley Hill had her baby today, and his name is Jaxson Hill (different spelling than we reported last month). No more information was given about the baby, like the height and weight of him. If any more information is given, we'll report it to you! Today is also Stephen Clark's birthday (Happy Birthday!!)! "News 2 New York" would like to say, "Congratulations!" to Lisa Hill, and her husband, Richard Hill!

Lisa Hill Does Her Last NEWS 2 At Noon

At the end of NEWS 2 at Noon, Cindy Hsu told viewers that it was Lisa Hill's last NEWS 2 at Noon show, but she will do NEWS 2 at 5:00 today and tomorrow, and NEWS 2 at 11:00 tomorrow night. Cindy also said that she will be back in January, 2001. Also at the end, they had a graphic with two hearts which said, "Good Luck Lisa, from everyone at News 2!" If there is any special farewell to Lisa Hill tomorrow, I'll put pictures on my website this weekend.

Lisa Hill Leaves Later This Month, But Will Return In A Few Months!

Mike has just informed me that Lisa Hill, NEWS 2 at Noon and 5:00 co-anchor, got married on New Year's Day 2000, and found out she was pregnant a few weeks later (she's having a son next month). Lisa Hill will be leaving on Friday, August 18th on maternity leave, then Angela Rae will take her place at noon and at 5:00. But, Lisa Hill has said that she will come back to NEWS 2 a few months later! Now we don't know if Angela Rae will stay at NEWS 2, or if she'll go back to WFOR Miami, when Lisa Hill comes back. We'll have to wait and see.