CBS 2 Produces 10 p.m. Primary Special

CBS 2 News will air a special 10:00 newscast tonight to cover the results of the New York City primary elections.  Voters will narrow down the parties' candidates in races for mayor and comptroller.  Polls close a 9:00.

CBS 2 to Cover Parade of Champions

CBS 2 News will air live coverage of tomorrow's Parade of Champions for the New York Yankees tomorrow beginning at 11:00 a.m. According to Chris Wragge's Facebook, the coverage will last for about three hours and will be anchored in part by himself along with sports anchors Sam Ryan and Otis Livingston.

The parade begins at Battery Park and will continue north on Broadway's "Canyon of Heroes" to City Hall, where a ceremony will be held at 1 p.m. in front of 500 lucky fans who won an online ticket lottery this evening.

John Slattery reported tonight that this will be New York's 206th ticker-tape parade, the most recent of which was in February 2008 for the New York Giants after winning the Super Bowl. This is the first such parade for the Yankees since beating the Mets in the 2000 World Series.

Campaign 2009 Coverage Tonight

CBS 2 News says it will provide live coverage tonight of the election results. It begins at 8:00 when polls in New Jersey and Connecticut close.

The major race of the hour will be for New Jersey governor, between Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine, Republican Chris Christie and independent Chris Daggett.

Then at 9:00, polls in New York close and the results for New York City mayor should be known as Democrat Bill Thompson is seeking to keep independent Michael Bloomberg from getting a third term.

The coverage will likely be short updates at the top of the hour instead of a wall-to-wall broadcast during primetime.

Studio 46 has a "Campaign 09" logo on the right side of the desk for today's coverage:

Yankees Pep Rally Coverage

CORRECTION: 12:33 P.M. WEDNESDAY: It looks like the coverage is only on wcbstv.com and not on the air. So if you go check out the live stream right now, you can watch video of the rally complete with audio of "The Young and the Restless."

CBS 2 News just announced that they will provide live coverage of the Yankees pep rally tomorrow. The rally takes place in Times Square the day the Yankees return to the World Series for the first time since 2003. CBS 2's coverage begins at 12:30, just after CBS 2 News at Noon.

9/11/08

CBS 2 News will again air special coverage of the September 11th memorial ceremonies tomorrow. A station spokeswoman tells us that Chris Wragge and Kristine Johnson will anchor the broadcast, which begins at 8:25 a.m. and runs commercial-free until noon. Nearly 3,000 names will be read during the services.

Wrap-Up of Pope's Visit Coverage

CBS 2 News provided several additional hours of coverage, anchored by Chris Wragge and Kristine Johnson, of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to New York.

The station interrupted programming at around 9:30 Friday morning when "Shepherd One" landed at JFK International Airport about 15 minutes early. The coverage continued covering the pope's journey to the United Nations, where he addressed the General Assembly. Live reports included Hazel Sanchez at the UN (she mentioned at 5:00 that she had been there since 3:00 in the morning), Lou Young interviewing some lucky kids who got to meet the pope, Deborah Garcia at St. Patrick's Cathedral and Pablo Guzman in Yorkville (which has been dubbed "Little Germany"). Magee Hickey also provided a report from Washington with reaction from victims of the sexual abuse. The 5:00 newscast attempted to recap the day in a "regular" format but returned to live coverage when the pope visited Park East Synagogue, continuing until 6:30.

CBS 2's coverage resumed Saturday morning after "The Early Show." Wragge and Johnson's broadcast began just before 9:00 and covered the mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, signing off at 10:12. They would return at around 1:15 to cover the pope's moving from St. Patrick's to the Papal Residence. CBS 2 went back to CBS Sports' LPGA golf coverage at 1:52. Wragge and Johnson anchored CBS 2 News at 6:00.

More coverage this morning began after CBS 2 News Sunday Morning. Wragge and Johnson came on at 9:00 and covered the Pope's visit to Ground Zero. They signed off at 10:14 and joined CBS News Sunday Morning (which was already in progress from a tape-delayed 10:00 start time). Coverage picked up again at 2:00 as the mass at Yankee Stadium got underway and was simulcast in Philadelphia on KYW-TV and in Boston over WSBK (a CBS-owned independent station). Mary Calvi and John Slattery provided live reports from around the field. This coverage lasted until 5:12, when CBS 2 returned to coverage of the Verizon Heritage golf tournament. The 6:30 newscast was also anchored by Wragge and Johnson and provided a wrap-up of the events of the past few days. The final special report aired from 8:00 - 8:42 as a JFK departure ceremony honored the pope.

All of the coverage was streamed live on wcbstv.com, where on-demand video from every day of coverage is also available.

Feel free to post additional special report times as it was difficult to keep up with all of the broadcasts!

CBS 2 News Covers Pope Benedict XVI's U.S. Arrival

Pope Benedict XVI's airplane arrived at Maryland's Andrews Air Force Base a few minutes ahead of schedule, pushing up CBS 2's coverage. Originally planned to start at 4:00 p.m., CBS 2's special report kicked off at 3:52, making it the first local station on the air (the others started at the top of the hour).

Chris Wragge and Kristine Johnson anchored the report and spoke over live video of the pope's arrival ceremony. They were joined at the desk by Father Joseph Chapel of Seton Hall University's Immaculate Conception Seminary. Mary Calvi reported live from Washington, D.C. in front of the Catholic University and spoke with Father Mike Russo, a professor at St. Mary's College. She was later joined by the Catholic University's Frank Persico. John Slattery also reported from Washington and Tony Aiello was live at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, where the pope will visit Friday afternoon. The lower-third graphic during the live coverage provided all sorts of biographical and historical information but also reported that Pope Benedict XVI plays the piano, listens to Mozart and Beethoven, and is the first pope to own an iPod.

CBS 2 News at 5:00 began at its usual time (4:58) with a special pope-related opening. Calvi, Slattery and Aiello returned to provide live reports and Sean Hennessey also reported live from the Flatiron District with how the city's subways are stepping up security. Pablo Guzman, Jennifer McLogan and Scott Rapoport contributed packages related to the pope's New York visit. Lonnie Quinn came on in the third block of the newscast with an abbreviated weather forecast. After a recap of the papal top stories, the 5:30 half-hour covered the rest of the day's news. Lonnie Quinn's forecast at 5:50 included "Weather for Papal Visit," a summary of the weather for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

At 6:00, Dana Tyler and Jim Rosenfield continued with more coverage of the pope. Calvi, Slattery and Hennessey were back with live reports and Hazel Sanchez, live at St. Patrick's Cathedral, joined the team. Rosenfield reported on the first time a pope visited the United States back in 1965, with appearances by Bill Plante and Harry Reasoner. It was the first time in recent memory that an entire black-and-white package has aired on CBS 2 News. The 6:00 newscast returned to the rest of the news in the second block.

Coverage Plans for Pope Benedict XVI's U.S. Visit

Pope Benedict XVI makes his long-awaited visit to the United States this week and CBS 2 plans full coverage.

It starts tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 when the station promises live coverage of the pope's arrival at Andrews Air Force Base. After three days in Washington, D.C., Pope Benedict will make his way to New York on Friday where he will address the U.N. General Assembly and visit a synagogue. Saturday he'll visit St. Patrick's Cathedral and then Sunday he is expected at Ground Zero in the morning and will celebrate mass at Yankee Stadium in the afternoon.

For a more detailed itinerary list, click here to go to wcbstv.com, and check out this promo:

CBS 2's Giants Parade Coverage Plans

With the Giants' stunning win against the Patriots last night in Super Bowl XLII comes time to celebrate. The tickertape parade through the "Canyon of Heroes" on Broadway is scheduled for tomorrow and CBS 2 News plans team coverage beginning at 11:00 a.m. According to plans announced on-air this morning, the CBS 2 sports team will be positioned along the parade route and Chris Wragge will be at City Hall, where the parade will become a pep rally.

9/11/07 Coverage Plans

CBS 2 News will air the September 11th memorial service tomorrow morning with coverage beginning at 8:25. The service will include the reading of nearly 3,000 names.

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.

Sunday Morning Newscast Continuing Through November

A CBS 2 Press Release:

CBS 2, which has provided expanded news coverage since the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center, will continue to broadcast a Sunday morning newscast (8:00-9:00 AM) for the remainder of October and throughout the month of November.

“The events of the past several weeks, which continue to unfold daily, have led to an increased demand for information,” said Joel Cheatwood, Executive Vice President for News, Viacom Television Stations and WCBS-TV News Director. “CBS 2 remains committed to serving the public with the most up-to-date information of this developing story and will continue to expand the number of time periods we offer news as events warrant.”

(Thanks to Brian for sending this to me!)

"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 On Guard"

Friday evening, CBS News changed the title of their coverage from "America Fights Back" to "America On Guard". Shortly after, CBS 2 News began to use the new title as well, but still use the "Fights Back" title along with it. This is the fourth title used since September 11th (the others were "Attack on America" and "America Rising"). CBS 2's coverage continued this morning at 8:00, when Lou Young and Hazel Sanchez anchored a special newscast (the regular "CBS 2 Weekend News" open was used).

"America Fights Back" on CBS 2 News

CBS 2 News This Morning begins one hour earlier tomorrow at 4:00am as "America Fights Back" coverage on CBS 2 News continues. It does not appear that the 9:00am and 3:00pm special newscasts will continue any longer (unless any big breaking news occurs).

"America Fights Back" Coverage Expands

Due to yesterday's U.S.-led attacks on key targets in Afghanistan, CBS 2 will continue their extended coverage. They're adding newscasts at 9:00am and at 3:00pm (thanks to Brian for the information on the 3:00 newscast). No information yet on if they'll continue the extended coverage at 7:00pm.

"America Fights Back" Coverage

This morning on CBS 2, Cindy Hsu and Lou Young anchored special coverage from 7:00-9:00. This week, "Hollywood Squares" returns to CBS 2, but this time at 7:00pm. "Entertainment Tonight" had been occupying the 7:30pm slot for the past two weeks. And "Crossing Over" appears to be returning at 3:00pm Monday (this is according to the CBS 2 Program Guide, but no commercials have been aired announcing this yet). And Kevin tells me that Sports Rap Live has moved to Saturday Nights.

"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.

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.

Elevation Of An Archbishop

Tomorrow morning CBS 2 will come on the air at 4:30 with live coverage of the elevations of Archbishop Edward Egan, Father Avery Dulles, and Archbishop Theodore McCarrick to Cardinals. John Slattery will be reporting live from Rome.