Hurricane Sandy is churning in the Atlantic, and approaching New York. Preparations for the serious storm have caused the area TV stations to cover the impending destruction.

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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WABC/Channel 7 remembered its longtime friend and colleague Gil Noble yesterday. On the station’s weekly African-American public affairs show Here and Now, host Sandra Bookman opened the program with a six-minute remembrance of Noble.

Noble, the trailblazing journalist was the co-host and reporter on Like It Is when it debuted in 1968. He remained host of the award-winning show documenting the black experience for 43 years. Noble suffered a severe stroke last summer and died Thursday.

Bookman interspersed vintage clips of Noble, with several former guests sharing their memories. Noble’s daughter Lisa, Bill Cosby, Harry Belafonte, Reverend Al Sharpton, and former Mayor David Dinkins were among those interviewed for the tribute.

It’s not clear whether Channel 7 rushed to do the Noble piece after his death or if it were recorded previously, given Noble’s deteriorating state. For what it’s worth, Bookman’s voice-over may shed some light.

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It’s been non-existent since television first had a picture in the 1940s. New York City has never had a one-hour 11 p.m. newscast. But, that all changed at the start of 2011 when WABC/Channel 7 expanded its late weekend newscast.

Anchors Sandra Bookman and Joe Torres, meteorologist Jeff Smith, and sports anchor Laura Behnke now give viewers a comprehensive 60 minutes until midnight.

“We thought that another half-hour of news would be better received by the viewers than the repeat, syndicated programming that we have been running there,” Dave Davis, WABC president and general manager, tells FishbowlNY.

It’s rare to consider a newscast counter-programming, but with options like Saturday Night Live on WNBC and recent episodes of Alcatraz and New Girl on WNYW/Channel 5, WABC is providing another choice for the proven commodities.

Davis says the change has already been evident, as numbers indicate more people sticking with WABC’s news during the weekend than prior to the expansion.

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On a night that the world learned about the death of Osama Bin Laden, TV networks and New York City stations poured in special coverage.

The first word came in at 10:45 p.m. last night that President Obama would make a major announcement from the East Room of the White House. He actually was scheduled to speak to the nation at 10:30 p.m.

The major networks all hit the air.

At the same time, Fox 5/WNYW broke into Sports Extra with anchor Sharon Crowley telling the audience that President Obama would speak shortly. Waiting, Fox 5 returned its regularly scheduled programming. Following Sports Extra, Crowley did have an extended 10 minutes leading up to Fox News Channel’s simulcast at 11:10 p.m. (Ironically, FNC had the graphic as their standard–”Usama,” while previously he was “Osama” on WNYW.)

Meanwhile at WPIX, Jim Watkins informed viewers of the breaking news at approximately 10:50 p.m., moments after the networks took to the air.    
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As the blizzard began to barrel down on New York yesterday with varying intensity, stations gave viewers information on the storm ending their Christmas holiday with varying results.

The best of the bunch was WABC, which provided top-of-the-hour updates until 3 p.m. with meteorologist Bill Evans. After that WABC, which had no sports commitments, went full throttle with complete c0verage. The seriousness of the impending storm was shown when Bill Ritter was brought in to co-anchor coverage. Ritter was joined by weekend anchor Sandra Bookman. For the next four hours, Ritter and Bookman took viewers on a tour of the snow with reporters stationed throughout the region. The meteorologists’ hands were all on deck as well, with Lee Goldberg and Jeff Smith as part of the special broadcast.

Part of WABC’s coverage was to take Mayor Bloomberg’s press conference live. Another feather in their cap—they would be the only station to carry it in its entirety. Ritter and Bookman, along with seven live reporters and Goldberg and Smith returned for an expanded 11 p.m. newscast.

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