Monday, March 31, 2008

Kirtzman and Weinberger Out at CBS 2

Brian points out that both Andrew Kirtzman's and Scott Weinberger's bios have been pulled from wcbstv.com.

Kirtzman joined CBS 2 from NY1 News on November 13, 2002, joining Marcia Kramer on the station's political team. He often contributed "Kirtzman's Columns" to the end of the 6:00 newscasts on Fridays, a political week-in-review of sorts. He began hosting "Kirtzman & Co." on September 7th of the following year. The show originally alternated with Marcia Kramer's "Sunday Edition" on Sunday mornings, but the shows aired back-to-back beginning in January 2005 and were later merged into "Kirtzman & Kramer" before eventually being discontinued. Since last year, Kirtzman most often served as a general assignment reporter.

Weinberger joined the station from NewsChannel 4 in October 2005 and served as its chief investigative reporter. He was behind several heavily promoted exclusive interviews, such as with the captain of the Staten Island ferry that crashed and the "Son of Sam."

The personnel moves come amid cost-cutting measures at other CBS O&O stations including KCBS in Los Angeles, WBBM in Chicago, KYW in Philadelphia, WBZ in Boston and WCCO in Minneapolis.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Brahim Leaves CBS 2

Today is Joanna Brahim's last day at CBS 2. She's been with the station's Communications Department since September 2005 and, since January 2007, has held the title of Director of Communications and Community Affairs in January 2007. On a personal note, I'd like to thank her for all of her help and congratulate her new employer on the get.

Good luck, Joanna!

Friday, March 21, 2008

March Madness Preemptions

"March Madness" is here and that means another round of preemptions and delays for local news. Coverage of the college basketball tournament began shortly after the noon hour yesterday after a brief CBS 2 News at Noon newscast. The games were scheduled to go until around 5:00 but they went long, as they often do, pushing back CBS 2 News' start time to 5:20 yesterday and 6:14 today.

CBS Sports returns at 7:00 with games slated to run until midnight but CBS 2 News did not start until 12:14 last night. And CBS 2's 6:00 p.m. Saturday and 6:30 p.m. Sunday newscasts will be preempted this weekend. Go to wcbstv.com/ncaa for updated game schedule information.

Expect more of the same next week beginning Thursday.

Fadal Leaves CBS 2 News

Reporter Tamsen Fadal is leaving CBS 2 News to join WPIX-TV, according to this press release posted on TV News Talk. She'll begin reporting on the "CW11 Morning News" on Monday and will join a handful of CBS 2 alumni including Sukanya Krishnan, Linda Church and Emily Frances.

According to her bio, Fadal joined CBS 2 News from KYW-TV in Philadelphia as a freelance reporter in December 2004 and officially joined the staff the following month. She reported primarily for CBS 2 News This Morning.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 on CBS2-HD

Kate Sullivan and Steve Bartelstein anchored the news at noon today. Bartelstein joined Kristine Johnson for the news at 5. Don Dahler joined Kristine Johnson for the news at 6 and 11.

Ducis Rodgers announced the CBS2 Bracket Challenge, for March Madness, where the winner will receive a 40" flat screen TV. You can play against CBS2 personalities including Chris, Lonnie, Sam, Dana, Jim, Ducis, Kristine, John E, John D and Steve. Sign up here. So far, Sam thinks Georgetown will win it all, Ducis decided on Texas.

Steve Bartelstein shared a quick laugh with a tie-less Lonnie Quinn on CBS2 at your Desk at 3PM. Steve quipped that the best part of Tiger Woods buying a $65 million dollar Southampton home was that he was making Lonnie move out. Lonnie responded by saying "$65 Million? That's like your salary and my salary put together." The video is here.

Finally, Kristine signed off at 11 saying "Have a good night and a great tomorrow" a line that is similar to the sign-off of Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update: "Have a good night and a pleasant tomorrow."

Monday, March 17, 2008

Monday, March 17th, 2008 on CBS2-HD

Chris Wragge was live in Albany for the swearing in of New York's 55th Governor, David Paterson, at Noon and 5. He joined Kristine for his regular anchoring duties at 11 in New York City.

Dana Tyler was joined by Steve Bartelstein for the news at Noon and 6, instead of Don Dahler, who usually covers for Jim Rosenfield when he is off. Bartelstein also appears to be growing his hair in after successfully completing chemotherapy.

The weather forecast now changes from 5 day to 7 day when the plus 2 is added during the 5, 6 and 11 PM weathercasts.

CBS 2 News at 11 lead with breaking news. Hazel Sanchez reported from the newsroom on a NY Daily News report that David Patterson had an extra-marital affair in 1999 with his wife's knowledge. The story is posted on WCBSTV.COM

CBS2-HD Team Coverage of Crane Collapse

CBS 2 News provided extensive coverage of the Crane Collapse on Saturday. Breaking news updates cut into NCAA basketball and coverage continued online at wcbstv.com. At 11PM, Mary Calvi anchored live from the site of the collapse, while Don Dahler covered the rest of the day's news from the studio. Samantha Knapp, Jay Dow and Dave Carlin all contributed live in a split format during a breaking news event. Jim Rosenfield and Chris Wragge had anchored from Westchester and Brooklyn, respectively during severe weather. Mary Calvi last anchored breaking news during an explosion of a brownstown on East 61st Street in July of 2006; Roz Abrams was in the studio.

Friday, March 14, 2008

First Look at "Eye on New York"

A promo for "Eye on New York" aired a few minutes ago:

The Week That Was

Here's a look at three 15-second promos that show how CBS 2 handled this week's big story:

"Eye on New York" Debuts Sunday Morning

According to the Daily News, CBS 2 will debut a new community affairs show this weekend. "Eye on New York" will air Sunday mornings at 6:30 and the host depends on the topic. This week, Jim Rosenfield will cover the Spitzer resignation.

12:50 P.M. UPDATE: Here's the press release, which was slightly hidden:
Beginning this Sunday, March 16, WCBS-TV will begin broadcasting a new 30-minute community affairs program called "Eye on New York". This weekly broadcast will air on CBS2 at 6:30am every Sunday with topics including community events, health, politics, technology, education, and entertainment, and will also touch base on the most talked about news stories of the week. "Eye on New York" will also feature in-depth interviews with community leaders, notable New Yorkers and local news makers. The broadcast will have rotating hosts, depending on the topic at hand.

This week's inaugural broadcast will be hosted by Jim Rosenfield and will focus on the astonishing rise and fall of soon-to-be former Governor Eliot Spitzer. The CBS2 political team along with political insiders will analyze the developments surrounding the scandal that rocked the Empire State and will also discuss what's next for Eliot Spitzer. "Eye on New York" will also shine a community spotlight on the people of New York and hear what they have to say about the disgraced governor and the effects that this scandal has had on the state he swore to serve.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

More Spitzer Coverage

Chris Wragge anchored today's split edition of CBS 2 News at 5:00 from Albany while Kristine Johnson handled the rest of the day's news from the studio. The two also anchored another 30-minute 7:00 special, called "Spitzer Resigns," and will of course be on again tonight at 11:00.

Governor Eliot Spitzer's resignation is effective Monday at noon and that will presumably be when Lieutenant Governor David Paterson is sworn in. CBS 2 will likely cover that during the noon newscast.

Political reporter Andrew Kirtzman joined Campbell Brown on CNN's "Election Center" program tonight to talk about the Spitzer resignation and offered some insight on Paterson. This isn't Kirtzman's first time on CNN at 8:00 p.m. In fact, it was just about this time last year when he spoke with Paula Zahn about then-Republican front-runner Rudy Giuliani.

Updating a Story When It's on the Air

At 5:23, Kristine Johnson read a story about Geraldine Ferraro's comments that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama wouldn't be where he is now if he were white. After bites from both Ferraro, who is a Hillary Clinton campaign member, and Obama, who talked about what it meant that Clinton was keeping her on the team, Johnson had more information. Click here for the video on wcbstv.com and watch at exactly 1:00 as Johnson announces the breaking news that Ferraro was stepping down from her position in Clinton's campaign.

CBS 2 News Covers Spitzer's Resignation

CBS 2 had at least five separate special reports as news of Spitzer's imminent resignation broke.

At 9:06, Chris Wragge broke in from Albany to announce the news that Governor Eliot Spitzer would announce his resignation today. This eight-minute special report included Andrew Kirtzman in the studio, Mary Calvi in Albany and Marcia Kramer in the newsroom.

Chris Wragge returned to the air at 10:10 with word that Spitzer was scheduled to make an announcement before the media at 11:30. Back in the studio, Kirtzman spoke with political strategist Joe Mercurio and Kramer was in the newsroom with more. This report went until 10:16.

CBS 2 broke in again at around 10:50 to carry Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno's press conference. Dana Tyler and Jim Rosenfield anchored this special report and signed off at 11:03.

Tyler and Rosenfield returned at around 11:10 to cover Spitzer's transportation from his Upper East Side apartment to his offices on the East Side. Chopper 2 provided live pictures of the motorcade as Tyler and Rosenfield talked with Kirtzman about the implications of what was about to happen. Spitzer came to his podium at 11:43 with more apologies and, at 11:45, announced his resignation, effective Monday. His statement lasted three minutes. Rosenfield and Tyler then continued anchoring the commercial-free coverage through 12:27, the time when CBS 2 News at Noon usually signs off. Wragge provided several live shots from Albany, including a brief chat with political analyst Bob Bellafiore. Calvi also had a package air from the state capital. Jay Dow reported live from Harlem with that area’s reaction to the news that David Paterson is about to become New York’s first black governor and Tamsen Fadal had even more reaction from Midtown. John Elliott came on with a brief weather forecast at 12:25 before Rosenfield and Tyler recapped the morning’s events and promised to be back at around 1:00 with State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s press conference.

CBS 2 News returned at 1:04, going straight to Speaker Silver’s press conference during which he took questions from reporters. This ended at 1:15, when Rosenfield and Tyler tossed to Calvi, who briefly spoke with State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, the Brooklyn Democrat. This special report ended at 1:17.

Monday, March 10, 2008

CBS 2 News Covers Spitzer Prostitution Scandal

Jim Rosenfield broke in at 2:28 this afternoon with a minute-long special report to announce "a potential bombshell rocking New York politics at the very top." Sourcing The New York Times, Rosenfield reported that Governor Eliot Spitzer had told advisers that he was involved in a prostitution ring.

Rosenfield returned at 3:01 with exclusive word that, according to multiple sources, Spitzer would not be expected to remain as governor. He also mentioned that Spitzer was expected to make a public statement within a few minutes.

CBS 2 News broke in again at 3:11 minutes to carry Spizter's short statement via 1010 WINS-AM in which he apologized to the public and said that politics is about ideas, not individuals. A few minutes later, Rosenfield tossed to Marcia Kramer, who was live with more information from her sources in Albany. She was the first on the station's air to mention that Spitzer might be "Client #9" and said that rumors first began swirling last week. Rosenfield tossed from the newsroom at 3:25 to Chris Wragge in the studio. Wragge was joined by Andrew Kirtzman with analysis at the desk. This special report was 17 minutes long.

CBS 2 News at 5:00 with Wragge and Kristine Johnson covered the story with a team of reporters beginning with Lou Young at governor's office on East Side. Next up, CBS News correspondent Bob Orr, who broke the "Client #9" part of the story, joined Johnson live from Washington with more details. Kramer had more on what's next, John Slattery had New Yorkers' reactions from Times Square and Dave Carlin was in Brooklyn Heights with a closer look at The Emperors Club. At 6:00, Sean Hennessey profiled Lieutenant Governor David Paterson, the man who is next in line to replace Spitzer.

Wragge and Johnson returned with a special half-hour broadcast at 7:00. Young, Rosenfield, Kramer, Slattery and Hennessey all provided reports and Kirtzman was back in the studio with more analysis. Wragge and Johnson also spoke via phone with New York State Assemblyman James Tedisco, a Republican, who called for the governor to resign. Tom DeLuca, a Fordham University political science professor, was in the studio for more discussion. This broadcast was repeated on C-SPAN 2 at 8:30 and at around 9:10 on C-SPAN with the two commercial breaks taken out. It can be watched at wcbstv.com here: Part I, Part II.