Every year is a busy one here in New York City in the world of broadcast news, and 2013 was no exception. Here's a rundown of the news that made our headlines this year, station by station. If you think of anything that we didn't include, let us know! Tweet us @NYNewser and @Ny_NewsObserver!
WCBS-TV (Channel 2)
There was a lot going on in 2013 at WCBS! From the Rob Morrison arrest in February to the Time Warner Cable feud, CBS 2 saw its fair share of drama this year, paired with some anchor changes and new graphics and music. In February, CBS2 This Morning anchor Rob Morrison was arrested in his Connecticut home and charged with strangulation, threatening, and disorderly conduct when he was accused of choking his wife following a verbal altercation. Morrison resigned from WCBS over a week later. The charges against him were later dropped. Channel 2 saw the departure of anchor Don Dahler in March, but he didn't go very far. Dahler would stay at the CBS Broadcast Center on 57th Street, becoming a CBS News correspondent. Cindy Hsu and Andrea Grymes then took command of his former newscasts. In November, reporter Katie McGee moved to Los Angeles, with no TV job lined up at the time. After Rob Morrison left the station, Chris Wragge moved into the weekday morning and noon timeslot, with Mary Calvi. In August, a contract dispute between CBS and Time Warner Cable took all CBS-owned Television Stations, including WCBS, off of TWC systems. The outage lasted about two weeks, ending with a new contract between the two parties. Time Warner Cable reportedly lost a large number of subscribers as a result of the incident. In September, WCBS, along with the other CBS-owned stations, debuted new on-screen graphics and music.
WNBC-TV (Channel 4)
WNBC went through 2013 without much drama, but there was still some significant news going on at Channel 4 throughout the year. WNBC extended the Sunday 11pm newscast to a full hour, anchored by Erika Tarantal and David Ushery. Two anchors were brought in from KCBS, the CBS O&O in Los Angeles, Rob Schmitt to anchor the noon newscast, and Sibilia Vargas to anchor the noon with Schmitt and the 6pm with Chuck Scarborough. WNBC saw the updates of its news app and mobile website, when NBC Universal took over the design of both from a third party company. WNBC also updated its weather mobile app to improve functionality. The "Today in NY" alarm clock app, similar to that of WABC, debuted as well. Finally, Harry Cicma would take over weekend sports from Scott Stanford, who departed the station in late August to become the co-anchor of WPIX's PIX11 News at 10.
WNYW (Channel 5)
It was a busy year at Fox 5 in terms of personnel. 2013 saw the return of Greg Kelly, who had been anchoring Fox 5 News at 10, to the morning program Good Day New York, with co-anchor Rosanna Scotto. Dave Price, who had replaced Kelly on Good Day, later left Fox 5. When Kelly left the 10pm newscast, the station moved Steve Lacy from Good Day Early Call and Good Day Wake Up to the 10pm. Ben Simmoneau took over Lacy's post on Good Day. 2013 also saw Audrey Puente take on a larger role at the station, doing the weather for the weeken evening newscasts. Russ Salzberg, formerly the Sports Director at WWOR my9, was moved to Fox 5 when WWOR ended its flagship and only newscast, "The Ten O'Clock News." Antwan Lewis was promoted from reporter to weekend evening anchor as well. Finally, WNYW embraced social media in 2013, adding Twitter and Facebook- based segments to its newscasts to engage viewers.
WABC (Channel 7)
2013 brought some moderate changes to Eyewitness News. There were some personnel changes, but nothing major at the station. Early in the year, longtime traffic anchor Joe Nolan moved from the morning newscast to the afternoon newscasts, switching with Heather O'Rourke, who then joined Ken Rosato, Lori Stokes, and Bill Evans in Nolan's previous position on Eyewitness News This Morning. In May, the ABC Network announced the Watch ABC service, to be tested in New York (WABC) and Philadelphia (WPVI). The service allows users to view episodes of all ABC shows, and for selected TV providers, view live programming. Watch ABC was then expanded to include all of the ABC Owned Stations later in the summer. WABC, along with all of the other ABC Owned Stations, debuted a new mobile application for iOS and Android devices. The app replaced the outdated 7Online app, which was designed by a third party. The new application was designed by ABC Digital. WABC also introduced the AccuTrack Weather Alert mobile application around the same time. This application was designed by Weather Decision Technologies, and provides real-time weather information for a specific location, as well as a live radar and severe weather alert function. In June, longtime Meteorologist Bill Evans was arrested at his Greenwich home along with his wife. Both were charged with third degree assault and disorderly conduct, and were released, pending a future court hearing. Evans took over a week of personal time from WABC, but the station never suspended him. He returned to his post as morning weather anchor shortly thereafter. WABC also made use of its spacious studio in 2013, constructing a new demonstration interview area, which is used principally for Tory Johnson's "Secret Sales" segment, but is also used for any segment where a product may be shown off. Following the design of the ABC Network, which released a new logo in 2013, WABC updated its traditional circle 7 logo, with the new network logo and modernized circle 7. For November Sweeps, WABC released new talent opens, which feature the updated ABC logo and updated shots of the anchors. Finally, Phil Lipof, anchor of Eyewitness News This Morning (Weekend), announced in November that he would depart the station, to anchor the news at ABC affiliate WCVB-TV in Boston, Massachusetts. Rob Nelson, former anchor of ABC World News Now, was named his successor.
WWOR-TV (Channel 9)
WWOR saw the end of its only news program, The Ten O'Clock News, in 2013. Hosts Brenda Blackmon and Harry Martin were reportedly offered positions at sister station WNYW, but neither have turned up at Fox 5. Sports anchor Russ Salzberg, however, did make the move to Fox 5, and now anchors sports from the WNYW studio. The 10pm timeslot on WWOR has since been filled with Chasing New Jersey, but ratings have reportedly been very low. In addition, New Jersey lawmakers are pushing for the FCC to revoke WWOR's license, saying that the station no longer provides a service to the people of New Jersey, where the station is licensed.
WLNY-TV (Channel 10/55)
WLNY underwent some personnel changes in 2013. Dana Tyler ended her stint as anchor of WLNY News at 9pm, replaced by Dick Brennan and Alice Gainer, who anchor the program from the CBS 2 studio. WLNY saw more integration with sister station WCBS as well. The Twitter handles of employees was changed to have the suffix "WCBSWLNY."
WPIX-TV (Channel 11)
In 2013, the struggling WPIX made numerous personnel changes in an effort to boost ratings across its newscasts. Frances Rivera left the station in August as a result of station brass trying to change the image of WPIX. Marysol Castro and Dan Mannarino joined the Pix Morning News, anchoring from 4-6am. Kori Chambers later joined the Pix Morning News from 6-9am. Julie Grauert joined WPIX as the morning traffic reporter. In the biggest move of the year, WPIX lured WNBC sports anchor Scott Stanford to co-anchor the Pix 11 News at 10pm with Tamsen Fadal. However, these changes were to no avail, as WPIX did not improve ratings in November Sweeps.
WCBS-TV (Channel 2)
There was a lot going on in 2013 at WCBS! From the Rob Morrison arrest in February to the Time Warner Cable feud, CBS 2 saw its fair share of drama this year, paired with some anchor changes and new graphics and music. In February, CBS2 This Morning anchor Rob Morrison was arrested in his Connecticut home and charged with strangulation, threatening, and disorderly conduct when he was accused of choking his wife following a verbal altercation. Morrison resigned from WCBS over a week later. The charges against him were later dropped. Channel 2 saw the departure of anchor Don Dahler in March, but he didn't go very far. Dahler would stay at the CBS Broadcast Center on 57th Street, becoming a CBS News correspondent. Cindy Hsu and Andrea Grymes then took command of his former newscasts. In November, reporter Katie McGee moved to Los Angeles, with no TV job lined up at the time. After Rob Morrison left the station, Chris Wragge moved into the weekday morning and noon timeslot, with Mary Calvi. In August, a contract dispute between CBS and Time Warner Cable took all CBS-owned Television Stations, including WCBS, off of TWC systems. The outage lasted about two weeks, ending with a new contract between the two parties. Time Warner Cable reportedly lost a large number of subscribers as a result of the incident. In September, WCBS, along with the other CBS-owned stations, debuted new on-screen graphics and music.
WNBC-TV (Channel 4)
WNBC went through 2013 without much drama, but there was still some significant news going on at Channel 4 throughout the year. WNBC extended the Sunday 11pm newscast to a full hour, anchored by Erika Tarantal and David Ushery. Two anchors were brought in from KCBS, the CBS O&O in Los Angeles, Rob Schmitt to anchor the noon newscast, and Sibilia Vargas to anchor the noon with Schmitt and the 6pm with Chuck Scarborough. WNBC saw the updates of its news app and mobile website, when NBC Universal took over the design of both from a third party company. WNBC also updated its weather mobile app to improve functionality. The "Today in NY" alarm clock app, similar to that of WABC, debuted as well. Finally, Harry Cicma would take over weekend sports from Scott Stanford, who departed the station in late August to become the co-anchor of WPIX's PIX11 News at 10.
WNYW (Channel 5)
It was a busy year at Fox 5 in terms of personnel. 2013 saw the return of Greg Kelly, who had been anchoring Fox 5 News at 10, to the morning program Good Day New York, with co-anchor Rosanna Scotto. Dave Price, who had replaced Kelly on Good Day, later left Fox 5. When Kelly left the 10pm newscast, the station moved Steve Lacy from Good Day Early Call and Good Day Wake Up to the 10pm. Ben Simmoneau took over Lacy's post on Good Day. 2013 also saw Audrey Puente take on a larger role at the station, doing the weather for the weeken evening newscasts. Russ Salzberg, formerly the Sports Director at WWOR my9, was moved to Fox 5 when WWOR ended its flagship and only newscast, "The Ten O'Clock News." Antwan Lewis was promoted from reporter to weekend evening anchor as well. Finally, WNYW embraced social media in 2013, adding Twitter and Facebook- based segments to its newscasts to engage viewers.
WABC (Channel 7)
2013 brought some moderate changes to Eyewitness News. There were some personnel changes, but nothing major at the station. Early in the year, longtime traffic anchor Joe Nolan moved from the morning newscast to the afternoon newscasts, switching with Heather O'Rourke, who then joined Ken Rosato, Lori Stokes, and Bill Evans in Nolan's previous position on Eyewitness News This Morning. In May, the ABC Network announced the Watch ABC service, to be tested in New York (WABC) and Philadelphia (WPVI). The service allows users to view episodes of all ABC shows, and for selected TV providers, view live programming. Watch ABC was then expanded to include all of the ABC Owned Stations later in the summer. WABC, along with all of the other ABC Owned Stations, debuted a new mobile application for iOS and Android devices. The app replaced the outdated 7Online app, which was designed by a third party. The new application was designed by ABC Digital. WABC also introduced the AccuTrack Weather Alert mobile application around the same time. This application was designed by Weather Decision Technologies, and provides real-time weather information for a specific location, as well as a live radar and severe weather alert function. In June, longtime Meteorologist Bill Evans was arrested at his Greenwich home along with his wife. Both were charged with third degree assault and disorderly conduct, and were released, pending a future court hearing. Evans took over a week of personal time from WABC, but the station never suspended him. He returned to his post as morning weather anchor shortly thereafter. WABC also made use of its spacious studio in 2013, constructing a new demonstration interview area, which is used principally for Tory Johnson's "Secret Sales" segment, but is also used for any segment where a product may be shown off. Following the design of the ABC Network, which released a new logo in 2013, WABC updated its traditional circle 7 logo, with the new network logo and modernized circle 7. For November Sweeps, WABC released new talent opens, which feature the updated ABC logo and updated shots of the anchors. Finally, Phil Lipof, anchor of Eyewitness News This Morning (Weekend), announced in November that he would depart the station, to anchor the news at ABC affiliate WCVB-TV in Boston, Massachusetts. Rob Nelson, former anchor of ABC World News Now, was named his successor.
WWOR-TV (Channel 9)
WWOR saw the end of its only news program, The Ten O'Clock News, in 2013. Hosts Brenda Blackmon and Harry Martin were reportedly offered positions at sister station WNYW, but neither have turned up at Fox 5. Sports anchor Russ Salzberg, however, did make the move to Fox 5, and now anchors sports from the WNYW studio. The 10pm timeslot on WWOR has since been filled with Chasing New Jersey, but ratings have reportedly been very low. In addition, New Jersey lawmakers are pushing for the FCC to revoke WWOR's license, saying that the station no longer provides a service to the people of New Jersey, where the station is licensed.
WLNY-TV (Channel 10/55)
WLNY underwent some personnel changes in 2013. Dana Tyler ended her stint as anchor of WLNY News at 9pm, replaced by Dick Brennan and Alice Gainer, who anchor the program from the CBS 2 studio. WLNY saw more integration with sister station WCBS as well. The Twitter handles of employees was changed to have the suffix "WCBSWLNY."
WPIX-TV (Channel 11)
In 2013, the struggling WPIX made numerous personnel changes in an effort to boost ratings across its newscasts. Frances Rivera left the station in August as a result of station brass trying to change the image of WPIX. Marysol Castro and Dan Mannarino joined the Pix Morning News, anchoring from 4-6am. Kori Chambers later joined the Pix Morning News from 6-9am. Julie Grauert joined WPIX as the morning traffic reporter. In the biggest move of the year, WPIX lured WNBC sports anchor Scott Stanford to co-anchor the Pix 11 News at 10pm with Tamsen Fadal. However, these changes were to no avail, as WPIX did not improve ratings in November Sweeps.