President Obama is scheduled to comment on the disaster in Oklahoma at 10 AM and it is likely that all of the broadcast networks will break into regular programming to cover it.  ”CBS This Morning” went into the 9 AM hour to cover the fallout. We hear that “CTM” will stay live until 12 PM on the east coast covering the damage, and 10 AM pacific.

Update: “Our prayers are with the people of Oklahoma today,” Obama said. “Oklahoma needs to get everything that it needs right away.”

“If there is hope to hold onto, not just in Oklahoma but around the country, it is the knowledge that the good people there in Oklahoma are more prepared than most, and what they can be certain about is that Americans around the country will be right there with them,” he added.

Meanwhile, the news channels are sending their A-teams to Oklahoma to cover the fallout from the tornado.

As we noted yesterday, NBC has Brian Williams,  Lester Holt, Ann Curry, Harry Smith, Kate Snow, Anne Thompson and Dr. Nancy Snyderman in Oklahoma, as well as the Weather Channel team of Jim Cantore, Mike Bettes, and Mike Seidel.

ABC News has Sam Champion, Ginger Zee, David Muir and Alex Perez in Oklahoma. Byron Pitts, Mike Boettcher, and Cecilia Vega are also either in Moore or en route.

CBS has Norah O’Donnell anchoring from Moore, and Anna Werner on the ground, and Scott Pelley will anchor the “CBS Evening News” there this evening.
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Cable:

The Weather Channel not surprisingly, has a slew of coverage planned. “Wake Up With Al” will air this weekend starting at 5:30 AM, and 5 AM starting next week.

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Perez joins ABC News from WMAQ, the NBC-owned local station in Chicago, where he has been a reporter and anchor for six years. In a memo to staffers, Sherwood called Perez “a skilled and energetic reporter who understands the power of words and images.” He will spend the next few weeks in New York before returning to Chicago.

Perez is the third recent ABC News hire from NBC Chicago. He joins former WMAQ colleagues Ginger Zee, who is the “Good Morning America” weekend meteorologist, and Paula Faris, who is the co-anchor of “World News Now,” at ABC. The three ABC hires have the added benefit of pulling top talent from an NBC station, which competes with ABC-owned WLS in the Chicago market.

Read the full memo from Sherwood after the jump.

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Faris joins ABC from WMAQ, the NBC station in Chicago, where she has been a sports anchor and reporter for the past six years. News of her hire was first reported by Time Out Chicago’s Robert Feder in October; an official announcement was delayed until Faris’ contract with WMAQ was finished.

In addition to co-anchoring the overnight newscast with Rob Nelson, Faris will contribute to “Good Morning America,” where she will join her former WMAQ colleague Ginger Zee.

Read the full announcement from Sherwood after the jump.

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As we reported last month, Cobiella left CBS News and moved to the U.K. where her husband is from. In a note to staff, Sherwood writes, Cobiella “is no stranger to ABC after many years with our affiliates in Miami and Grand Junction.” She’ll work out of ABC’s London bureau.

After learning the ABC ropes in New York, Kanani will move to Africa to be ABC’s correspondent in Nairobi. Kanani’s father is from Tanzania. Her mother was born in Kansas and raised in Colorado.

According to her KUSA bio, “Bazi” is a traditional tribal name, short for Baz’imana which means “Ask God.”

Sherwood’s note to the staff, which includes details on Ginger Zee who joins as meteorologist for weekend GMA, after the jump…

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Two familiar Chicago faces are headed to New York. WMAQ meteorologist Ginger Zee (left) and WMAQ sports anchor Paula Faris (right) are both set to join ABC News in New York. Robert Feder, who knows about all things Chicago TV, has been reporting the developments of both.

ABC News tells TVNewser Zee will join “Good Morning America” weekend this Saturday.

GMA weekend has been without a regular weather anchor since the departure of Marysol Castro last September. (Castro jumped to CBS’s ‘Early Show’ but that only lasted 9 months.)

Meanwhile, Faris is expected to be named co-anchor of “World News Now” later this year, when her WMAQ contract ends. She will join Rob Nelson on the ABC overnight show.

Faris has been with WMAQ since 2005, Zee since 2006. A third WMAQ talent, morning co-anchor Zoraida Sambolin, is joining CNN as part of the revamp of their “American Morning.”

The Zee and Faris hires at ABC have the added benefit of taking top talent away from an NBC O&O which can help their competitors, including Chicago’s ABC station WLS (which doesn’t need much help since they’ve been #1 forever).

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