WABC investigative reporter Sarah Wallace found Julio Acevedo, who the NYPD has been on a manhunt for since leaving the scene of a car crash that killed a young Orthodox Jewish couple in Williamsburg. The interview was coordinated through Acevedo’s former cellmate friend.

The story resonated further with the city. The couple was en route to the hospital early Sunday to deliver her baby. The newborn survived for one night after an emergency c-section on the dead mother.

Acevedo told Wallace via cell phone that “My heart goes out to all of those people. I was feeling like I’m just so much of a bad guy.”

Acevedo admitted to speeding because he claims to have been shot a short time earlier.

“That cab driver came out of nowhere. I couldn’t stop.”

Jim Dolan was the reporter to package the story last night. Given the tremendous get for Wallace we won’t come down on Dolan for wrapping up live from Williamsburg with a double negative.

“…Not turning himself into police is not helping his case any.”

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In every daypart, WABC was tops among households and the all-important adults 25 to 54 demographic.

The Bill Ritter-Sade Baderinwa broadcast scored a 6.3 household rating, the highest for any 11 p.m. newscast in a major sweep in nearly four years, the station says.

WCBS/Channel 2, though, was pleased with its February performance.

Its late news, anchored by Maurice DuBois and Kristine Johnson, had an average of 511,000,
the station’s largest 11 p.m. audience during a major sweep period since November 2010 and best February sweep performance since 2005, a station spokesperson says.

The station also saw year-to-year gains at 5 and 6 p.m.

If the final day of the sweeps period is any indication, WNBC came in third among noon newscasts in the 25 to 54 demo and households.

At 5 p.m., WNBC only beat WNYW and WPIX. The same applies for Channel 4 at 6 p.m. (minus a WPIX newscast).

However, thanks to the Ellen lead-in, WNBC may have notched a slight victory in the adults 25 to 54 demo at 5 p.m.

WNBC was third at 11 p.m.

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With a blizzard warning blanketing New York, area stations are treating the impending storm with necessary seriousness.

This afternoon, ahead of the snow, WCBS started its wall-to-wall coverage. Anchors Maurice DuBois and Kristine Johnson led the team into action at 3 p.m., with reporters stationed throughout the tri-state area. Joining Lonnie Quinn in the “Weather Center” was John Elliott, who was seen shoveling the icy, snowy mix on the roof. A WCBS spokesperson tells FishbowlNY that the same group will be in place starting tomorrow at 6 a.m.

WABC also got a 3 p.m  start with Bill Ritter and Lori Stokes at the desk. Weekend meteorologist Jeff Smith assisted Lee Goldberg.

WNYW did not offer extended coverage until its 5 p.m. newscast. Channel 5 did give viewers hourly updates with Nick Gregory. Sister station WWOR also broke in for top-of-the-hour reports with Audrey Puente. Channel 9, like most stations, ran a live press conference by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at 3:45. Harry Martin briefly did a recap.  WNYW skipped the governor’s news conference to stay with The People’s Court.

WNBC ended the Christie remarks from Trenton by sequeing into the start of its “Severe Weather Coverage” at 4 with Tom Llamas and Shiba Russell.

NY1 and NY1 Noticias were in non-stop mode for the blizzard. On Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m., NY1 will present a special half hour with the latest storm information.

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But, WCBS/Channel 2 went one step further. Channel 2 brought in its main anchor team of Maurice DuBois and Kristine Johnson to lead the 11 a.m. coverage.

At WABC/Channel 7, Bill Ritter joined morning anchor Lori Stokes for its special reporting.

Related: FishbowlNY, Memories of Longtime Media Favorite, Mayor Ed Koch

Otherwise, it was the morning talent that handled the coverage. Good Day New York anchors Rosanna Scotto and Greg Kelly hosting the programming that took WNYW viewers to Temple Emanu-El. Sister station WWOR stayed with it regular lineup.

WPIX/Channel 11 opted fot its usual “must see” daytime TV, starting with Jerry Springer.

Michael Gargiulo and Darlene Rodriguez anchored for WNBC.

In addition, WLNY was used as the way station for WCBS shows pre-empted by the special coverage.

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We begin with the Best Morning Newscast.

Everyone is chasing WABC. The veteran team of Lori Stokes and Ken Rosato, the epitome of morning anchors, along with senior meteorologist Bill Evans are a great combination of talent and chemistry.

Best Sports Anchor—The local Emmy Awards can’t be wrong year after year. Bruce Beck is the most popular sports anchor in New York. Although entertaining, like his predecessor Len Berman, Beck is more nuts and bolts. And it works effortlessly.

Best Weather Anchor–Although Evans and Lee Goldberg at WABC hold their own, this is Lonnie Quinn‘s year. The weatherman shined with his, seemingly, non-stop Sandy coverage. Quinn finds a way to entertain and inform, and especially with severe storms, He understands his role perfectly, never causing a panic.

Special Superstorm Sandy Achievement: WPIX

Everyone worked hard to provide Sandy coverage. But Channel 11 took it further. The PIX Morning News did three remotes from areas devastated by the storm. Sukanya Krishnan, Frances Rivera, and Tamsen Fadel took viewers to parts of the Jersey Shore, Staten Island, and Nassau County.

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The rampage is the second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, behind the Virigina Tech massacre in 2007 where 32 students died.

The weekend was the time for families and friends to cope with the insurmountable loss. President Obama attended last night’s prayer vigil.

Although Newtown is on the outskirts of the New York tri-state area, it’s close enough for stations to easily send reporters to cover the services.

By Saturday, this was anything but a typical story. WNYW/Channel 5 brought in Dari Alexander to co-anchor with Christina Park. Likely unrelated, top meteorologist Nick Gregory was on-duty Saturday night as well.

For the Sunday night vigil, it was WABC/Channel 7 that shined. Bill Ritter anchored for Newtown, while Sade Baderinwa was behind the desk. Ritter struck the perfect balance of reporting the information, while masterfully dealing with the incredibly sad story.

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You probably woke up this morning to stations locked in ”wall-to-wall” mode, but that was not the case last night. Unlike last year’s Hurricane Irene (when I was holed up in a hotel), Sandy did not lead to an all-nighter by the area stations.

Here is how they took to the air this time.

Kaity Tong was a calming presence, anchoring a two-hour edition of the News at Ten on WPIX.  As was the case with Irene, WPIX’s coverage did not include Jodi Applegate.

Tong, as a solo anchor, was given an assist by reporter Dan Mannarino, who handled some phone interviews and other information for viewers. WPIX double-teamed the audience with veteran experience from Mr. G and Craig Allen.  WPIX was the only game in town until 11 p.m., as WNYW/Channel 5 was televising the final game of the World Series.

While the storm moved closer to New York, the other channels opted for prime-time network scheduling. At 11 p.m., WCBS/Channel 2 anchors Maurice DuBois and Kristine Johnson, first appearing at halftime of the New York Jets game, led the station’s one-hour special Sandy newscast. Thereafter, WCBS kept a crawl on the screen until the morning team resumed coverage at 4 a.m.

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Most of the city stations took Mayor Bloomberg’s briefings live and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie‘s comments. WCBS/Channel 2 left wall-to-wall mode at 1 p.m. to join the New York Jets game. However, sister station WLNY TV 10/55, anchored by Cindy Hsu, broke into the Munsters Marathon for the latest Christie press conference.

Channel 2, though, was first to bring in the main team. At halftime of the Jets game, viewers got another sense of the severity as Maurice DuBois and Kristine Johnson assumed the coverage with Lonnie Quinn tracking the potentially deadly storm.

“I’ll be with you all night, guys,” Quinn said.

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That part is known since the major anchor shifts in July. But more subtle is where Alexander places herself, and why.

Viewers of the 5 p.m. see no changes–Alexander in her familiar spot next to Anastos on her (TV) right. However, take a look at the 10 p.m., where Kelly replaced Anastos. Instead of seeing Kelly taking Anastos’ seat, it’s Alexander who’s jumping into her on-air partner’s spot.

Two factors could be at play here. First, it would appear that Fox management is trying in subliminal fashion to take “pressure” off Kelly. Grabbing Anastos’ seat, still used at 5 p.m., could be viewed as “stealing” his job.

But now we’re faced with an TV news anomaly. When was the last time an anchor sat in different positions for multiple newscasts? It’s a rare occurrence, if it happens at all.

Another point to note: on all of the major newscasts the male anchor is sitting on the left, whether it be Maurice DuBois, Chuck Scarborough, or Bill Ritter. (One exception: WNBC’s Today in New York has Darlene Rodriguez on the left, alongside Michael Gargiulo.)

A WNYW spokesperson had no comment to FishbowlNY on the record.

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WNBC/Channel 4 anchor Tom Llamas reported live from New Orleans during last night’s 11 p.m. newscast with Chuck Scarborough and Shiba Russell as the storm was about to make landfall.

WABC/Channel 7 had the only other local presence in the Big Easy. Reporter Jim Dolan also handled the impending fury at 11 p.m. with David Navarro (in for Bill Ritter at the Republican National Convention) and Sade Baderinwa at the anchor desk.

At WCBS/Channel 2, Drew Levinson reported live with Maurice DuBois and Kristine Johnson. Levinson, though, is a national correspondent for CBS Newspath, an affiliate news service.

This week marks the one-year anniversary of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene hitting our area.

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View from the anchor desk

It’s closing in on a year since WABC/Channel 7 moved to new studios at the other side of its Upper West Side building. FishbowlNY was granted access recently to tour the operation with video and photos.

Regular viewers already know the new look is fan-friendly. Taking a page from the network morning news’ playbook, the studio is at street level on the corner of Columbus Avenue and West 66th Street. A window gives passersby a look of the studio, even when live on-air. The talent can also see foot and vehicular traffic. When needed, though, the black curtain can be drawn for intimacy.

But wanting the daytime, New York City feel during the live newscast was a key ingredient to breaking ground. Therefore, at times, sunlight reflects directly onto the anchors. The veteran anchors, though, have not been distracted as they keep their focus on the camera and teleprompter. While locked into the live newscast, that doesn’t mean they loosen the occasional knot in the tie. For example, a couple of months ago a touch of Hollywood came to WABC, and lead anchor Bill Ritter tweeted his followers.

“woody harrelson just came by our studio window to wave hello. c’mon… how cool is that?”

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Obama and Biden accept the Democratic nomination in 2008

The battle between Mitt Romney and President Obama moves to the convention floor next week for the nominating process, and TV and radio stations are ready for extra coverage of the key moments.

The Republicans lead off in Tampa, with Romney awaiting his party’s endorsement next week.

WABC/Channel 7 is sending anchor Bill Ritter to the GOP convention, along with political reporter Dave Evans.  Reports begin Sunday night at 11.

One week later, the Democrats convene in Charlotte, with morning anchor Lori Stokes joining Evans on scene.

As for WCBS/Channel 2, veteran political reporter Marcia Kramer is the station’s lone representative at the conventions.

A spokesperson tells FishbowlNY that Kramer will cover the national news in addition to the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut state delegations.

WNBC/Channel 4 will also not have an anchor presence. Only reporter Melissa Russo is covering both events live.

A WNYW/WWOR spokesperson did not respond to our request prior to the deadline.

WPIX/Channel 11 is not sending any on-air talent to either convention. The station says without any mystery surrounding the nominees, WPIX will likely just cover it as a news story.

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WABC took the prize as most-watched station in New York. The just-concluded May sweeps give Channel 7 wins across virtually all dayparts, winning in households and other key demographics.

Eyewitness News at 11:00, led by Bill Ritter and Sade Baderinwa, with meteorologist Lee Goldberg and sports anchor Rob Powers, scored a 6.1 household rating, the highest for a major sweep in the last three years.

The 4 p.m. newscast was the only such broadcast that failed to produce a victory for Channel 7, and that can be traced to the success of Judge Judy on WCBS.

Thanks to that monster lead-in, WCBS declared itself a winner at 5 p.m. among households and total viewers.

WCBS says it’s the station’s first sweeps win since 1982.

“It is very gratifying to get such an incredible report card.  Achieving significant ratings growth in every daypart makes it clear that we are getting a great team effort from the best local news team in the business and more and more people across the tri-state area are appreciating the quality coverage that we are providing every day,” said Peter Dunn, President, CBS Television Stations, and president and general manager, WCBS-TV.

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Bill Ritter

Ritter, who is Jewish, does not mind logging some holiday hours to help his fellow man (and woman) celebrate the birth of Jesus.

“We now have two Jewish anchors, but before Phil [Lipof] got hired I was the only male Jewish anchor,” Ritter tells FishbowlNY. “You work Christmas Day.  It’s the right thing to do.”

Ritter would typically anchor December 25^th newscasts in every daypart. However, this year’s schedule is slightly altered. Since it’s a Sunday, there is no noon newscast. And with the NBA kicking off the season on ABC that afternoon, the 6 p.m. broadcast is preempted. 

But this is more than about Ritter’s Christmas work ethic. A more impressive WABC holiday tradition is the reading of viewer emails during the morning newscasts from 6 to 10 a.m. (with a break for Good Morning America). It’s a heavy dose of communal experience for Ritter, this year’s co-anchor Jen Maxfield, and meteorologist Lee Goldberg. 

“After 9/11, we thought we want to be able to have people express themselves in a way that would be interactive, that they’d have an access to a television station, and it was before the Web took off,” Ritter says.

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But it’s also the season for countless awards. FishbowlNY is no exception, as we present our 2^nd annual Barmash Awards, honoring the local TV news scene here in New York.

As the title indicates, there is no committee making these decisions—just one co-editor.

While our intention isn’t to specifically balance the award winners, it does show the enormous talent we have to choose from across the dial.

Best Newscast (morning)

The chemistry works perfectly between WABC/Channel 7 veterans Lori Stokes and Ken Rosato. Stokes, though, brings that special connection to morning viewers. Stokes has a warm and friendly demeanor as she virtually “wakes” up people each day. Bill Evans is one of the best TV meteorogists, only falling short in the overall category to a colleague.

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