CBS 2 "Storm Watch" Coverage

CBS 2 Weekend News had special storm coverage last night, beginning at 6:06 (delayed a few minutes by NCAA Basketball). Vince DeMentri and Alexis Christoforous (who was filling in for Kirstin Cole) anchored. Meteorologist Craig Allen was in the studio with the forecast, and Chief Meteorologist David Rogers was outside on the roof on the CBS Broadcast Center. Whitney Casey reported on driving safety from New Brunswick, New Jersey, and Scott Rapoport was in Chelsea following the city's preparedness. Craig Allen also appeared on the CBS Evening News, talking about the area's first major snowstorm of the season. Coverage continued this morning with a special hour of news at 7:00, and then again with a half-hour edition of CBS 2 News at 11:30, with Michael Pomeranz and Cindy Hsu. Aimee Nuzzo was in New Jersey, Paul Fleuranges was on Long Island, and Marcella Palmer was in the City. Ira Joe Fisher was in the studio with the forecast, and Meteorologist Janine D'Adamo was on their West Side roof reporting on the melting snow. Debbie DuHaine had the CBS 2 Road Watch report. More CBS 2 News coverage tonight at 6:30.

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 Coverage Of Crash Of Flight 587

Unbelievably, New York has suffered another tragedy just one day after the two month anniversary of the attacks on America. This time an American Airlines Airbus A300, Flight 587, crashed at 9:17am, just three minutes after takeoff, into the residential neighborhood of Belle Harbor, Queens. The flight took off from John F. Kennedy International Airport and was bound for Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. It is not believed to be terrorism-related, but rather an engine problem is likely the cause of the crash. 260 people were onboard the airplane, and there are at least six people reported missing on the ground.

Minutes after the crash, CBS 2 News broke into regular programming with a special report. Michael Pomeranz and Cindy Hsu anchored the coverage all morning long, and a Metro camera shot of the smoke filled the screen. David Diaz provided constant updates from the newsroom. Jennifer McLogan, the first CBS 2 News reporter near the scene, reported via telephone. Then at 10:15, CBS 2 provided the first live camera shot from Belle Harbor, which was picked up by cable news networks CNN and Fox News Channel. CBS 2's full team of reporters were soon reporting from the scene, the area airports, and in the Broadcast Center. By 11:15, CBS 2 began using special graphics created for the tragedy. Just after 1:00, Todd McDermott took to the anchor desk along with Cindy Hsu. Angela soon joined him at around 2:00. Two minutes after 3:00, the anchor team was Dana Tyler and Ernie Anastos. An hour later, CBS 2 began to use a special opening animation, soon accompanied by a theme and the announcer. The regular 5:00 anchor team of Todd McDermott and Angela Rae came on at 4:59, and Dana Tyler and Ernie Anastos returned to the desk at 5:58. A special one-hour edition of the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather started at 6:30. By 7:30, CBS 2 was back on with another special report updating viewers on the ongoing situation.

"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!

Coverage Of The Terrorist Attacks On The World Trade Center

Tuesday, September 11th started out as a beautiful day throughout much of the northeast. That all changed when a hijacked airplane crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center at 8:45am. Eighteen minutes later, another plane hijacked by terrorists crashed into the south tower. A half hour later, all air traffic nationwide was halted, the first time in U.S. history that has happened. But that wasn't enough to halt the attacks. At 9:43, another hijacked plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Just before 10, the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed. At 10:10, a fourth hijacked airliner crashed near Pittsburg, missing its probable target: The White House. Less than twenty minutes later, the north tower fell in ruins. Over 6,000 people are reported missing, including hundreds of police officers, firefighters, and other rescue workers.

CBS 2 had continuous coverage of these tragic and horrific events all week long. Dana Tyler, Ernie Anastos, Angela Rae, and Todd McDermott anchored the coverage, called "Attack On America", throughout the afternoon and evening. CBS 2's full team of reporters provided every angle of the story; from the disaster, the local, national, and international reaction, the search, the rescue, the recovery, the investigation, and the healing. Whitney Casey joined CBS 2's reporting team on the day of the attack. CBS News and Dan Rather had special reports for many days as well, but CBS 2 chose to stay local most of the time, providing more local coverage than any other station. At 5:25, Seven World Trade Center collapsed, live on CBS 2.

On Tuesday, CBS 2 announced, "It is with deep regret that WCBS-TV announces that two of our transmission engineers were located on the 110th floor of One World Trade Center when it was attacked. Isaias Rivera, an employee of the station for more than 30 years, and Bob Pattison, who joined CBS 2 in 2000, are both still missing. Channel 2 and all of its employees regard Isaias and Bob as tremendous professionals. We are saddened by these tragic events and offer our prayers to the families of our colleagues." CBS 2 was the only New York station to have a back-up transmitter located on the top of the Empire State Building. All other stations were knocked off-the-air for viewers without cable or satellite.

Saturday morning, September 15th, CBS 2 and CBS News renamed the coverage to "America Rising", focusing on the aftermath of Tuesday's deadly terrorist attack. CBS 2 continued to use their regular weekday anchors. The week after, CBS 2 began to lessen the amount of coverage slightly and resumed some normal network programming. Most local shows during the day (Martha Stewart Living, Crossing Over, Entertainment Tonight, and Hollywood Squares) were preempted for local coverage beginning at 9:00am, 3:00pm, and 7:00pm (the CBS Evening News sometimes went on for one hour until 7:30pm).

On Thursday, "America Rising" became "America Fights Back", changing the focus slightly to the nation's response and military retaliation. The same day, Dr. Mike Rosen joined CBS 2 as medical reporter. Yesterday, CBS 2 started out yesterday morning at 7:00 with a two-hour newscast anchored by Michael Pomeranz and Cindy Hsu. CBS 2 had more hour-long newscasts at 11:00am and 2:00pm. Vince DeMentri and Kirstin Cole (who has probably replaced Amanda Grove as weekend anchor) were on at 7:00pm. Then they were back at 11:00 with more coverage. This morning, "Sunday Edition" with Marcia Kramer was live for one hour starting at 6:30 interviewing the six mayoral candidates running in Tuesday's primary elections (they were originally scheduled to take place September 11th, but were postponed due to the attack). At 7:30, Lisa Hill and Cindy Hsu had more news until 9:00. Dana Tyler and Ernie Anastos had coverage of the "A Prayer For America" memorial service at Yankee Stadium from 2:00 to 4:00. More news tonight at 11:00. And this week ahead, CBS 2 will have special coverage at 9-10am, and more coverage beginning at 3:00pm.

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."

The CBS 2 Information Center

J.R. Whalen, manager of the CBS 2 Information Center, tells me some interesting information. Most of the people in the CBS 2 Information Center are not volunteers, rather they are a diverse mix of researchers. I was also told, "On the first day, Michael Pomeranz tried to 'stump the Info Center' twice during commercial breaks, asking us trivia questions such as the square footage of work space inside the Pentagon (3.7 million sq. ft.) and the name given to the pads seen on the underside of a dog's foot (they're called pads.) The Info Center research staff had answers for each question for him within 60 seconds. You may see instances like this on the air in the future." I expect that we will see more of the Information Center soon.

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 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:

Hsu to Throw First Pitch at Mets Game

CBS 2's noon and 4:00 update anchor Cindy Hsu will be throwing the first pitch at tonight's New York Mets game at Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens. Hsu was selected by the Mets to throw the pitch for Asian Day at Shea. Today during CBS 2 First News @ 4:00, Cindy told Ernie Anastos and Dana Tyler that her co-anchor at noon, Michael Pomeranz (a former Minor League baseball player), and many of the behind the scenes people at CBS 2 have been giving her pointers. She will throw the pitch at around 6:45 tonight. Good Luck Cindy!

-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.

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.

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!

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.

Welcome Back Ira Joe!

Today on CBS 2's "The News at Noon", Ira Joe Fisher made his first appearance in over four weeks. He had to have knee surgery on January 30th after slipping on ice the night before. He has been on the phone twice for "New York Live!"; first on February 7th, and the second time on the 21st. At Noon, Ira Joe Fisher stayed at the news desk, rather than walking over to the chroma-key screen for the weather, and Michael Pomeranz gave Ira a "Welcome Back Home" cake. At 4:00, Ira didn't walk much because he said he need crutches. He was standing up quite a few times though. I'm sure everyone is hoping Ira Joe Fisher's knee heals completely very soon!

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 Storm Watch

Last night on CBS 2's special 7:30pm newscast, the two top stories were the Presidential Inauguration and the Winter Storm Warning. Vince DeMentri and Amanda Grove said that there would be a special CBS 2 Storm Watch report at 7:00 on Sunday morning. This morning, the two-hour special Storm Watch report began at 7:00, and the anchors were Michael Pomeranz and Cindy Hsu. David Rogers was on the roof of the Broadcast Center, and Ira Joe Fisher was live inside the studio with the forecast. Carrie Lee was live at the Metro Traffic Center, and the reporters were Jennifer McLogan (in Garden City), Aimee Nuzzo (in Paramus), and Sukanya Krishnan (at LaGuardia Airport). Another special report at 11:00am on CBS 2.

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.