WCBS-TV
Encyclopedia : W : WC : WCB : WCBS-TV
WCBS-TV, channel two, is the flagship television station of the CBS television network, located in New York City. Its signal, currently broadcasting from the Empire State Building, covers the three-state New York metropolitan area. The station's studios are located within the CBS Broadcast Center in midtown Manhattan.
In the few areas of the eastern United States where viewers cannot receive CBS programs over-the-air, WCBS-TV is available on satellite to subscribers of Dish Network and DirecTV, which also provides coverage of the station to Latin America.
History
WCBS-TV's history dates back to the Columbia Broadcasting System's opening of experimental station W2XAB on July 31, 1931. Its initial broadcast featured New York Mayor Jimmy Walker, Kate Smith and George Gershwin. The station boasted the first regular seven-day broadcasting schedule in American television, broadcasting 28 hours a week. On November 8, 1932, W2XAB broadcast the first television coverage of presidential election returns. The station suspended operations on February 20, 1933; it returned on September 3, 1940 with the first color broadcast in the United States.On July 1, 1941 W2XAB received a commercial license as WCBW, the second commercially-licensed television station in the United States. The call letters were changed to WCBS-TV on November 1, 1946. In 1997, it adopted the CBS 2 name along with sister stations KCBS-TV in Los Angeles and WBBM-TV in Chicago, while retaining a unique and distinctive logo. The practice of CBS-owned stations placing the network identity ahead of their local identity would end up being known as the CBS Mandate.
During the September 11, 2001 attacks, channel two stayed on the air. Unlike most of the other major New York television stations, it had long maintained a full-powered backup transmitter at the Empire State Building after moving its main transmitter to the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The station was also simulcasted nationally on Viacom (which at the time owned CBS) cable network VH1 that day. In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, the station lent transmission time to the other stations who had lost their transmitters until they found suitable backup equipment and locations.
Logos
While CBS was well-known for its precise branding standards in its glory days, WCBS-TV itself did not have a standard logo until 1986. The station simply put the CBS Eye in front of a "2" in whatever font was available.After the station began calling itself "CBS 2" on-air, the "2" became slightly slanted, with the Eye usually in yellow or gold. The "CBS" font changed from an italicized Helvetica to the proprietary CBS Didot font (used exclusively by CBS Corporation and CBS affiliates) in 2000.
News operation
WCBS-TV housed the highest-rated news operation in New York for most of the time from the mid-1960s until the early 1980s. Broadcast news pioneer Robert Trout did double duty as a CBS correspondent and as channel two's main anchor for many years. In 1965, he left for a new assignment in Europe and was succeeded by Jim Jensen. Jensen had only come to WCBS a year earlier, but was already well-known for his coverage of Robert F. Kennedy's 1964 campaign for the United States Senate. His gravelly voice and demeanor were very similar to that of Walter Cronkite, and he was reportedly the model for the character of Jim Dial (played by Charles Kimbrough) on the CBS sitcom Murphy Brown. The station was known in the New York area as a hard news station, with lots of investigative reports and features. Like sister station WBBM-TV, which took a similar approach, it was one of the most respected local news operations in the country.
WCBS-TV's better-known personalities during this era included anchors Rolland Smith and Carol Martin; meteorologists Frank Field and Irv "Mr. G." Gikofsky; reporters Michelle Marsh, Tony Guida and Arnold Diaz; and sportscaster Warner Wolf. Smith and Field were New York television legends in their own right, while Martin was one of the first African-American female anchors on New York television, predating WNBC-TV's Sue Simmons by almost a year.
Channel two first faced real competition after WABC-TV (channel 7) introduced Eyewitness News to New York. For most of the 1970s, WCBS-TV went back and forth in first place with channel seven. During this time, WCBS-TV's main anchor team of Jensen and Smith went head-to-head with WABC-TV's Roger Grimsby and Bill Beutel. In the early 1980s, WABC-TV lost some momentum, but WCBS-TV faced a new challenger when WNBC-TV became the first station to run a successful newscast at 5 p.m. However, channel two scored a major coup when it lured Field from WNBC in 1984.
In 1987, WABC surged past WCBS for the lead, and WCBS' ratings went into rapid decline. One of management's more controversial responses was to take Jensen off the anchor desk in late 1994 and demote him to host of a Sunday morning public-affairs show, Sunday Edition. At the time, Jensen had served as an anchor longer than anyone in New York television history (he has since been passed by WABC-TV's Beutel and WNBC's Chuck Scarborough). The move was roundly criticized by many in New York, especially since WCBS-TV had supported him after he went into drug rehabilitation in 1988. Station management came under more fire in 1995 when Jensen was forced to retire shortly after the Westinghouse Electric Corporation merged with CBS. By the end of 1995, channel two had crashed into last place and has remained there for most of the last decade.
1996 \"massacre\"
On October 2, 1996, the station executed an unprecedented mass firing without any advance warning, citing the need to shake up its news operation. Seven people were fired: anchors John Johnson, Michelle Marsh and Tony Guida; sports anchor Bernie Smilovitz; and reporters Reggie Harris, Roseanne Colletti, and Magee Hickey. The firings came after the 6 p.m. newscast. Johnson and Marsh had anchored the 5:00 newscasts and signed off at 6:00 expecting to be back that night for the 11:00 broadcast."The massacre," as it has come to be known, was part of a move to boost ratings, although it came at a time when CBS was under pressure to boost revenues, having been acquired by Westinghouse. It was also part of a major reconstruction of the newscast, culminating in the May 1997 rebranding to News 2.
WCBS-TV news in the 2000s
In 2000, Joel Cheatwood, creator of the 7 News format at WSVN in Miami, came in as news director. At his suggestion, the news department rebranded itself from News 2 to the CBS 2 Information Network, using "content partners" such as U.S. News & World Report and VH1. He also gave the newscasts more of a tabloid feel. While considerably watered down compared to Fox flagship WNYW and to Cheatwood's work at WSVN--and even compared to WHDH-TV in Boston--it was much flashier than had previously been seen on New York's "Big Three" affiliates. It didn't work, and Cheatwood was gone by 2002 in favor of New York veteran news director Dianne Doctor, most recently of WNBC. The station became simply CBS 2, and gradually phased out the tabloid elements. In its place, Doctor introduced a "news for the people" approach similar to that of WNBC.After Doctor's arrival, WCBS-TV placed a revived emphasis on hard news, while attempting to revive some elements of its glory days. For instance, in 2003 Arnold Diaz rejoined the station to revive "Shame on You," an Emmy-winning series of investigative segments. He had previously worked at the station from 1973 to 1995. In December 2005, Diaz once again departed, this time leaving for WNYW. Another segment was "Eat at Your Own Risk," which highlights unsafe conditions at New York-area restaurants. Ironically, the cafeteria at the CBS Broadcast Center was cited for violations by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Violations included the presence of rats and roaches, as well as food temperature issues. ([NY Daily News] [link] [link])
Despite this and other attempts at fixes, the ratings did not significantly improve under Doctor's watch. Doctor was criticized for airing "Shame on You" and "Eat at Your Own Risk" segments ahead of major stories. She also came under fire when channel two led its 11 p.m. newscast of May 24, 2005 with a story and exclusive video of actor Burt Reynolds slapping a CBS producer, while rivals WABC-TV and WNBC-TV led with an important vote in the U.S. House on stem cell research.
On May 27, 2004 Doctor fired popular sports anchor Warner Wolf, three months before his contract expired, without giving Wolf a chance to say goodbye on air. This incident was widely panned by several newspapers, including the New York Daily News (as a front page story, [link]). The move alienated and angered many viewers. Wolf was replaced by the much younger Chris Wragge.
On June 1, 2005 Jim Rosenfield rejoined the station to anchor the 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts with Roz Abrams. He'd previously worked at the station from 1998 to 2000 before moving to WNBC (to anchor Live at Five) after a contract dispute with channel two. Rosenfield replaced Ernie Anastos, who moved to WNYW in July.
On August 22, 2005, WCBS-TV launched its new Doppler radar named "Live Doppler 2 Million". It has one million watts of power, and is live, compared to other dopplers in the market which are delayed by about 15 minutes. "Live Doppler 2 Million" was the punch line of a joke on an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live and also was ridiculed on the popular Opie and Anthony radio show. The station renamed the radar in 2006 to "Live Doppler". Coincidentally, WCBS transportation reporter Arthur Chi'en was fired from the station three months earlier after mistakenly using expletives live on the air in response to someone from Opie and Anthony disrupting his live report as part of thier "Assault on the Media" contest.
On April 14, 2006, Dianne Doctor left WCBS-TV. The station decided to move its news department in a new direction under new general manager Peter Dunn, who axed "Shame on You" and "Eat at Your Own Risk." Doctor reportedly did not agree with the new plans, and opted to leave. Current reports in the New York media expect her to follow Lew Leone (former WCBS-TV president/general manager) and Dennis Swanson (former president of Viacom Television Stations Group) over to WNYW. The station has since overhauled its graphics and anchor lineup, winning praise from media observers. It is too early to tell whether this will lift WCBS out of last place, however. For the last decade, WNBC and WABC-TV have fought it out for first, while reruns of Seinfeld (on WNYW) and Spanish-language newscasts (on WXTV and WNJU) regularly finish ahead of channel two's 11 p.m. newscast.
WCBS-TV cooperates with sister station KYW-TV in Philadelphia in the production and broadcast of statewide New Jersey political debates. When the two stations broadcast a statewide office debate, such as for Governor or U.S. Senate, they will pool resources and have anchors or reporters from both stations participate in the debate. Additionally, the two stations cooperate in the gathering of news in New Jersey where their markets overlap; sharing reporters, live trucks, and helicopters.
From 2002 to 2004, the station was the broadcast home of the New York Yankees, with the broadcasts produced by the team-owned YES Network. WCBS-TV lost the broadcast rights to WWOR-TV in 2005.
Like other CBS-owned stations, WCBS-TV offers a web only newscast called "CBS 2 At Your Desk", available weekdays at 9 a.m. (anchored by Maurice DuBois or Kate Sullivan), and 12:30 and 3 p.m. (anchored by Roz Abrams and Mary Calvi). There is also a "LoHud Report" edition of "At Your Desk", operated by WCBS-TV and [LoHud.com], the website for The Journal News, a newspaper covering Westchester County and other areas of the lower Hudson River valley. The Journal News has a partership with WCBS where WCBS uses their offices for their Westchester Buerau, and The Journal News gets 30 seconds during the 6pm news where the anchor reads the top story of the Journal News for the next day.
Newscasts
Weekdays- CBS 2 News This Morning - 5:00-7:00 a.m.
- CBS 2 News at Noon - Noon-12:30 p.m.
- CBS 2 News at 5 - 5:00-6:00 p.m.
- CBS 2 News at 6 - 6:00-6:30 p.m.
- CBS 2 News at 11 - 11:00-11:35 p.m.
- CBS 2 News This Morning Saturday - 6:00-7:00 and 9:00-10:00 a.m.
- CBS 2 News Saturday - 6:00-6:30 p.m. and 11:00-11:35 p.m.
- CBS 2 News This Morning Sunday - 6:00-9:00 a.m.
- Kirtzman & Kramer (public affairs) - 11:00-11:30 a.m.
- CBS 2 News Sunday - 6:30-7:00 p.m. and 11:00-11:35 p.m.
- Sports Sunday with Chris Wragge - 11:35 p.m.-Midnight
Anchors
- Roz Abrams - weekday co-anchor, Noon and 5 p.m.
- Craig Allen - weekend evening meteorologist; also heard on sister station WCBS-AM
- Jeff Berardelli - weekend morning meteorologist
- John Bolaris - weekday evening meteorologist
- Mary Calvi - weekday co-anchor, Noon and 5 p.m.
- Kirstin Cole - consumer reporter/weekend co-anchor, CBS 2 News Ths Morning
- Kevin Connors - weekend morning sports anchor
- Maurice DuBois - weekday co-anchor, CBS 2 News This Morning
- Reid Lamberty - reporter/weekend co-anchor, CBS 2 News This Morning
- Audrey Puente - weekday meteorologist, CBS 2 News This Morning and Noon
- Ducis Rodgers - weekday sports anchor, CBS 2 News This Morning
- Jim Rosenfield - weeknight co-anchor, 6 and 11 p.m.
- Sam Ryan - Friday and Saturday evening sports anchor
- Kate Sullivan - weekday co-anchor, CBS 2 News This Morning
- Dana Tyler - weeknight co-anchor, 6 and 11 p.m.
- Chris Wragge - sports director/Sunday-Thursday evening sports anchor
Reporters
- Tony Aiello (Westchester County)
- Morry Alter (part-time features)
- Joe Biermann (evening traffic)
- Liz Burke (morning traffic)
- Jess Cagle (entertainment)
- Dave Carlin
- Ti-Hua Chang (investigative)
- Jay Dow (New Jersey)
- Tamsen Fadal
- Pablo Guzmán
- Magee Hickey
- Cindy Hsu (family issues; also substitute anchor)
- Brendan Keefe
- Andrew Kirtzman (political reporter, anchor Kirtzman & Kramer)
- Marcia Kramer (political reporter, anchor Kirtzman & Kramer)
- Brett Larson (technology)
- Claire Leka
- Dana Lowey
- Kerri Lyon (education reporter)
- Dr. David Marks (health and science)
- Jennifer McLogan (Long Island)
- Tanya Rivero
- Hazel Sanchez
- John Slattery
- Christine Sloan (New Jersey)
- Andrea Stassou
- Tony Tantillo (food and produce features)
- Scott Weinberger (investigative)
- Lou Young
Personality gallery
Former Personalities
- Ernie Anastos - anchor (1989-1997 and 2001-2005)
- Mario Bosquez - anchor (2001-2006)
- Maureen Bunyan - anchor/reporter during the early 1970s (now at WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C.)
- Mark Danon - meteorologist (1997-2000)
- Vince DeMentri - reporter/anchor (1994-2002; now at WCAU in Philadephia)
- Tom Dunn - reporter/anchor (1963-1968)
- Dr. Frank Field - meteorologist (1984-1995; now at WWOR-TV)
- Storm Field (son of Frank Field) - meteorologist (1991-1995)
- Ira Joe Fisher - meteorologist (1995-2002; now at CBS's The Saturday Early Show)
- Shon Gables - co-anchor of CBS 2 News This Morning (2003-2006)
- Irv "Mr. G" Gikofsky - meteorologist (1977-1993; now at WPIX)
- Sukanya Krishnan - reporter (1997-2001; now at WPIX)
- Carol Iovanna - anchor (1990-1994; now at Fox News Channel)
- Jim Jensen - reporter/anchor (1964-1995)
- John Johnson - anchor (1995-1996)
- Lynda Lopez - reporter/anchor (2003-2006)
- Dave Marash - reporter/anchor (1973-1978 and 1981-1982)
- Sal Marchiano - sports anchor (1967-1970 and 1979-1980; now at WPIX)
- Michele Marsh - anchor (1979-1996)
- Carol Martin - reporter/anchor (1976-1994)
- Todd McDermott- anchor (19??-2004) (now at WUSA in Washington, D.C.)
- Mary Murphy - reporter (1986-1993; now at WPIX)
- Randall Pinkston - reporter/anchor during the 1980s and 1990s (now at CBS News)
- Dave Price - meteorologist, CBS 2 News This Morning (2003-2006; now at CBS's The Early Show, weekdays)
- John Roberts - reporter/anchor during the 1990s (now at CNN)
- Jim Ryan - anchor, CBS 2 News This Morning (2005-2006)
- Rolland Smith - anchor (1970-1986) (now at WWOR-TV)
- John Tesh - reporter/anchor during the late 1970s
- Robert Trout - anchor (1952-1965)
- Meredith Vieira - reporter during the early 1980s (to become co-anchor of NBC's The Today Show in September 2006)
- Brian Williams - anchor (1987-1993, now the anchor of NBC Nightly News)
- Warner Wolf - sports anchor (1980-1992 and 1998-2004)
Newscast titles
- News of the Night (1950s)
- The Six O'Clock Report/The Eleven O'Clock Report (1960–1964)
- Channel 2 News (1964–1996)
- 2 News (1996–1997)
- News 2 (1997–2000)
- The News on the CBS 2 Information Network/ CBS 2 Nightcast (2000–2002)
- CBS 2 News (2002–present)
News music packages
For all but six years since 1982, WCBS-TV has used a music package based on Chicago sister station WBBM-TV's 1975 news music package composed by Dick Marx, "Channel 2 News." The station used the original version from 1982 until 1985. The melody has become the unofficial music of CBS' owned-and-operated stations. In 1985, it commissioned composer Shelly Palmer to create a new music package based on WBBM-TV's theme. This eventually became known as the Palmer News Package and was used on dozens of stations.In 2000, shortly before it began the "Information Network" experiment, WCBS-TV adopted a theme called "WCBS Grand" by Edd Kalehoff, who had written several themes for rival WNBC. It included what some consider to be the station's best graphics package ever, with various scenes from midtown Manhattan. The graphics were considerably toned down in after the September 11, 2001 attacks, but channel two kept "Grand" until 2003. Since 2003, it has used "News in Focus", by composer John Hegner, which is based on "Channel 2 News". (This package orignated at KCBS-TV in 1997 and was updated for WCBS-TV. KYW-TV also used the package for their Eyewitness News newscasts until 2005.) In April 2006, along with revamped graphics and changes to the news set, channel two dropped the "News in Focus" theme in favor of "The Enforcer" theme pacakge from Frank Gari.
Trivia
- Former anchor/reporter Lynda Lopez is the younger sister of the actress and singer Jennifer Lopez.
- Meteorologist Audrey Puente is the granddaughter of the Latin bandleader Tito Puente.
- Anchorwoman Roz Abrams appeared as herself in the 2005 film War of the Worlds.
- Anchorwoman Dana Tyler appeared as herself in the episode of Everybody Loves Raymond in which Robert gets gored by a bull.
- Former sports anchor Warner Wolf appeared as himself while at channel two as sports anchor in the movie How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. He has also appeared as an extra in other movies.
- WCBS-TV is one of many CBS stations to air the soap opera Guiding Light at 10 a.m. (Eastern) instead of the network-scheduled time 3 p.m. (Eastern). The episodes were aired on a one-day tape delay until CBS decided to do a second feed for the stations choosing to air the program in the morning timeslot.
See also
References
- [With Wolf, Ch. 2 sends wrong signal (5-28-2004)]. New York Daily News.
- [Rosenfield's back at Ch. 2 (6-1-2005)]. New York Daily News.
External links
- [WCBS-TV Website]
- [Query the FCC's TV station database for WCBS-TV]
- [Aerial photo of WCBS-TV transmitter from Google Local]
| Terrestrial television>Broadcast television in the New York City market [(Nielsen DMA #1)] | ||
|---|---|---|
|
WCBS 2 (CBS) -
WNBC 4 (NBC) -
WNYW 5 (Fox) -
WABC 7 (ABC) -
WWOR 9 (UPN-to be MNTV in 09/06) -
WPIX 11 (The WB-to be The CW in 09/06) (The Tube on DT2) -
WNET 13 (PBS) -
WEBR-CA 17 (GCN) -
WLIW 21 (PBS) -
WMBQ-CA 22 (MTV2) -
WNYE 25 (NYC) -
WPXN 31 (i) -
W36AZ 36 (Ind) -
WDVB-CA 39 (ImaginAsian) -
WNYN-LP 39 (Azteca América) -
WXTV 41 (UNI) -
WSAH 43 (S@H/JTV) -
WNJU 47 (TMD) -
WEDW 49 (PBS/CPTV) -
WNJN 50 / WNJB 58 (PBS/NJN) -
WVVH-LP 50 (A1) -
WKOB-LP 53 (Ind) -
WTBY 54 (TBN) -
WRNN-LP 57 (Ind) -
W60AI 60 (HSN) -
WMBC 63 (Ind) -
WFME 66 (Religious) -
WFTY 67 (TFR) -
WFUT 68 (TFR)
| ||
| Local digital-only channels | ||
|
WRNN 48 (Ind) -
WLNY 57 (Ind) (Both stations also have low-powered repeaters in analog.) | ||
| Local cable television channels | ||
| MSG Network - News 12 - NY1 - NYCTV - SportsNet New York - YES Network | ||
| '''CBS Network Affiliates in the state of New York | |
|---|---|
| WCBS 2 () - WIVB 4 () - WTVH 5 () - WRGB 6 () - WWNY 7 () - WROC 8 () - WBNG 12 () | |
| '''See also: , , , , , and stations in New York | |
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