Alex Denis Returns

Alex Denis returned from maternity leave this morning. But she didn't go back to being the traffic reporter.

When Denis went on leave in the winter, Jill Nicolini, who had been doing WLNY's "The Couch," took over her CBS 2 News This Morning traffic duties.

Now Denis appears twice a morning with a new segment called "Now Trending."

She joins Lisa Kerney in returning from maternity leave to a much reduced role. Kerney had been one of the three anchors of "The Couch" in addition to morning sports on CBS 2 but, after giving birth, was back to just sports. (Kerney left CBS 2 for ESPN a few months later.)

Denis herself replaced Katie McGee as morning traffic reporter in January 2012 while McGee was on vacation for over one week.

Lisa Kerney Leaves CBS 2

Today was Lisa Kerney's last day at CBS 2.  She tweeted the news this morning:

Humbly grateful for an amazing run w/ my @CBS2ThisMorning fam & our loyal viewers! Leaving @CBS w many memories & grt friends! THANK YOU! Xo
— Lisa Kerney (@LisaKerney) January 29, 2014

She also tweeted at around the same time that she was headed to ESPN, according to NewsByte2 reader Brian, but quickly deleted that message.

Kerney joined CBS 2 in January 2012 as morning sports anchor in time to cover the Giants' appearance in the Super Bowl.  She, along with John Elliott and newcomer Carolina Bermudez, were the three original hosts for WLNY's "The Couch" when the show premiered that July.  She lost that position while on maternity leave this past summer to Jodi Applegate, who herself left shortly after this blog reported on her arrival.  The third host is now Jill Nicolini, who just recently joined the program as its traffic anchor.

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.