Special 3PM Newscast Tomorrow

With the rainy weekend in Flushing, the U.S. Open had to deal with postponed matches. The men's final (between Juan Martin del Potro and Roger Federer) will now take place tomorrow afternoon, with CBS Sports coverage beginning at 4:00 p.m. and scheduled to last about three hours.

Due to the preemption, CBS 2 News will air a special newscast at 3:00... That information is according to Lou Young's Twitter.

Twagiarism?

...Just because the cool thing to do these days seems to be to change the first letters of a word to "tw" whenever it involves Twitter.

If that headline still doesn't make sense, maybe these screenshots will:

Tweet from @BreakingNews this afternoon:

Tweet a few minutes later from @wcbstv:

Those familiar with Twitter know that copying tweets is not rare. "Retweeting" is a popular way of sharing favorite and interesting posts but that usually includes the letters "RT" and a link to the original tweeter as a way of citing the source. That's not what happened here.

This might be a good time to announce that NewsByte2 is now on Twitter: twitter.com/newsbyte2.

New Promos: "Your 5:00 News"

The competition is narrowing -- again -- and CBS 2 News is trying to take advantage of it.

The station launched a series of spots this week promoting its 5:00 newscast. That's because WNBC 4 will dump "News 4 New York at 5:00" on September 14th and replace it with a lifestyles program.

Here are the promos. The last one doesn't feel like a typical CBS 2 promo because it uses a different announcer. You can check out more videos on NewsByte2's YouTube page.

This isn't the first time the station has promoted its 5:00 newscast in this way. In September 2008, CBS 2 began airing this "News As It Happens" promo when WNBC changed the format of the 5:30 show. Then when WNBC put an entertainment show at 5:00, CBS 2 ran this promo touting "one full hour."

Wragge's Busy Schedule

TVNewser profiles CBS 2 News anchor Chris Wragge today, saying that he is "out of his mind" for having such a busy schedule. He's filling in on CBS News' "The Early Show" all week while still anchoring CBS 2 News at 5:00 and at 11:00. This certainly isn't the first time this has happened but what's different this week is that he has other CBS Sports and CBS News shoots to do this week.

Here's a look at his schedule this week:

3:45AM		Alarm goes off
4:30AM		Car arrives
4:45AM		Arrive at studio, begin prep
7:00AM		Host "The Early Show"
9:30AM		Post-wrap meeting
10:15AM		Out of studio
10:30AM		Home
10:45AM-12:30PM		Nap
1:45PM		Back in office; lunch at desk
2:00PM		Meeting
2:45PM		In studio shoots and prep
5:00PM		WCBS News
6:00PM		Break for dinner or nap
7:00PM		Prep for tomorrow
9:30PM		Prep for evening news
11:00PM		Evening News
12:00AM		Home
12:30AM		Asleep Repeat.

He says it takes two or three weeks to recover.

Sam Ryan Changes Mind, Will Stay at CBS 2

Brian sends in this story from examiner.com, which reports that sports anchor Sam Ryan has changed her mind and will remain at CBS 2. Ryan, who's looking to spend more time with her family, apparently agreed to stay with the station as long as she can work one less day a week. Otis Livingston is expected to pick up the remaining days of the week.

5:20PM UPDATE: Newsday reports that Ryan will work Monday through Wednesday. Thanks again to Brian for the link!

Sam Ryan to Leave CBS 2

The Daily News' Richard Huff reports that lead CBS 2 sports anchor Sam Ryan will leave the station August 27th. She will focus her attention on sportscasting duties for CBS, including anchoring Saturday broadcasts for CBS College Sports (formerly "CSTV") as well as reporting for "The NFL Today."

Ryan tells the Daily News that she's looking forward to spending more time with her family, four-year-old daughter Jensen, seven-year-old son Nicklaus, and husband. She will also freelance at SportsNet New York, anchoring the 1 a.m. edition of "Sports Nite" tonight as well as appear on other shows in the future.

Ryan joined CBS 2 News from ESPN in June 2006. When the station let Ducis Rodgers go in January, Ryan and Steve Bartelstein split the evening sportscasts during the week. Then when Bartelstein left shortly after that, Ryan became the lead sports anchor.

CBS 2 and CW 11 Share Chopper

Richard Huff reports in the Daily News this morning that CBS 2 and CW 11 will share a helicopter. The partnership, which starts tomorrow, will reportedly save each station half a million dollars. Last spring, FOX 5 began sharing its chopper with NBC 4, leading to NBC 4's reporter/photographer Jim Smith returning to CBS 2.

Picture of Couric and Dunn

Check out this picture of WCBS-TV general manager Peter Dunn with the CBS Evening News' Katie Couric:

Major Changes in the WCBS Sports Office

In a move that may very well be a "sign of the times," WCBS has laid off sportscasters Ducis Rogers and John Discepolo.

Rogers' final sportscast was the 6PM edition of CBS2 News on Thursday, January 29th, 2009. His final story was on Shea Stadium in which he said "all good things must come to an end" referring to Shea's demolition which is currently under way. Sam Ryan did the 11PM sportscast. She will do weekday evening sports and pre-tape morning sports the night before, while Steve Bartelstein will do weekend evening sports.

CBS2-HD's Literary Talent

WCBS anchor Don Dahler is set to release his book, entitled "A Tight Lie" in March. It has already gotten a rave review from none other than WABC meteorologist Bill Evans: "It's an exciting read! An absolute thriller! Once I started reading it, I could not and did not put it down!" This is Dahler's first novel, but it may not be his last if he keeps getting reviews like that. You can pre-order it at Amazon and Barnes and Noble if you are interested.

Dahler is not the only familiar face writing a book. Former political reporter Andrew Kirtzman is, according to the New York Post, writing a book on the Bernie Madoff scandal. He was apparently offered $250,000 by Harper Collins, the publisher of his last book "Rudy Giuliani: Emperor of the City." The book title has not yet been announced, but it is expected to be out sometime in 2010.