CBS 2 News Covers Second Times Building Climber

Just minutes after reporting about the "French Spiderman" Alain Robert, who climbed the 52-story New York Times Building earlier today, Dana Tyler announced that it was happening again. Yes, a second man was scaling the building's wall. CBS 2 was the first station to report the news at 6:05 and immediately tossed to shots from Dave Carlin's position on the ground. Pictures from Chopper 2 followed soon after and Joe Biermann provided additional information. At one point, an "exclusive" graphic was put up but that was quickly discontinued after it was clear that the other stations had joined in the live coverage of the odd scene.

CBS 2 went to a commercial break at 6:12 and returned with some of the day's other news, weather and sports (which was reduced to just a story about the Yankees) mixed in with additional live coverage. Tyler explained to viewers that the station did not want to follow it continuously because of the possibility that it could end tragically. At 6:17, Biermann noted, "He is getting tired."

At the end of the 6:00 news, Tyler said that they would have more on the climber at 11:00.

WCBSTV.com has a story about the incident here.

Update: WCBSTV.com has the video of the initial breaking news report here... and here are some snapshots:


Tagging the story about the day's first climber with some video of other notable NYC stunts.


CBS 2 had a live shot almost immediately because they had been covering the first climber.


Chopper 2 and Joe Biermann on the scene.


The 52-story New York Times building in Times Square.


A police officer tells Dave Carlin to move out of the way.


The "exclusive" graphic did not stay on the screen for long.

CBS 2 News Covers Bell Verdict

CBS 2 News broke in at 9:14 to report the news of the verdict in the Sean Bell trial. Dana Tyler and Jim Rosenfield tossed it right away to John Slattery, who was standing outside the courthouse in Kew Gardens, Queens, with news of the verdict: The three officers were acquitted on all charged. The news was significant because there were concerns that there might be a violent reaction to such a decision. Pablo Guzman was inside the courtroom at the time the verdict was announced and reported via telephone before he was able to get on camera. Jay Dow, Dave Carlin and Jackie Hyland also provided live reports on the community reaction. Chopper 2 HD provided aerial footage of the area.

As of this posting, CBS 2 News is still on the air.

5:04 P.M. UPDATE: The initial special report lasted until 10:29 and included the Bell family's march to the cemetery and press conferences from NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly and the PBA. CBS 2 broke in again at 11:53 to cover Mayor Michael Bloomberg's statement live from Jamaica, then transitioned at 11:59 to CBS 2 News at Noon. The newscast led with reports from Guzman, Carlin and Dow, but did eventually get to the rest of the day's news. Dana Tyler anchored another special report at 1:17, which covered a press conference by the Detectives' Endowment Association, including comments from the three officers who were found not guilty this morning. At the end of the special report, a brief statement from the Rev. Al Sharpton was played, before returning to regular programming at 1:43.

CBS 2 News Covers the Nor'easter

CBS 2 News brought in some big names to cover the big storm tonight.

Regular weekend evening anchor Mary Calvi was joined by weekend evening anchor Jim Rosenfield at the desk in Studio 46. Meteorologist John Bolaris had the forecast in the weather center and reported that, as of 6:30, 5.51 inches of rain had fallen in Central Park, making it the wettest day in 30 years and the sixth wettest day of all-time. He tossed to weatherman Lonnie Quinn in Lindenhurst on Long Island. Brendan Keefe reported from Grand Central Terminal, with the news that Metro North service was suspended and added that, had this been snow, it could have been more than 40 inches. Christine Sloan reported from Secaucus, Westchester reporter Tony Aiello was in Larchmont, Dave Carlin was in Freeport and Lou Young was in Greenwich, CT. Elizabeth Hur (whose name was shortened to Liz on the graphic and by Mary Calvi's script) reported in the second block from LaGuardia Airport and CBS Newspath's Bianco Solorzano was live in Sea Bright, NJ.

Storm coverage continued until 6:55, interrupted only by two commercial breaks. CBS 2 then reported a non-weather story: an update on the health of New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine. Ducis Rodgers then did sports before the 6:30 p.m. newscast closed.

The coverage felt similar to that of snowstorms, except that the live shots looked more like TV news coverage of hurricanes with the wet and blurry camera lenses. A ticker ran across the bottom of the screen with additional information.

CBS 2 News This Morning will begin an hour early at 4:00 a.m. tomorrow with storm coverage.

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.