As Hurricane Irene moved closer to the East Coast this morning, New York stations brought live coverage of Mayor Michael Bloomberg‘s press conference on emergency preparedness, preempting regularly scheduled programming and giving viewers a glimpse of the type of coverage that can be expected in the coming days.

In what looks to be the first of many special reports over the next few days on the hurricane, WABC, WCBS, and WNBC all went live around 9:00 a.m. ET this morning and stuck with special coverage until 9:30.  At which point, WABC went back to “Live! with Regis & Kelly,” WCBS cut to “The Doctors,” and WNBC switched to “Today.”

WABC and WCBS gave their meteorologists a chance to get into hurricane mode following the mayor’s address. WABC’s Amy Freeze and WCBS’s John Elliott both provided updates on the path of Irene at the end of the half-hour.