Susan Barnett, evening anchor for Philadelphia CBS owned KYW and CW affiliate WPSG, is leaving the station.

Barnett said in a statement, “I have decided to not renew my contract with the stations at this time. I am incredibly thankful for having been a part of the CBS Philly family, but I feel that this is the right decision at this time.” You can read the statement after the jump.

Barnett’s co-anchor, Chris May reacted to the news on his facebook page, “Susan Barnett is the first person I met in Philadelphia. We’ve been partners for five years — and best friends. And that’s why it’s so hard to let you know that Susan has made the very difficult and personal decision to leave CBS3. Suffice it to say, I’ll miss working with my friend. But I am excited about our future.” Read more

Philadelphia’s KYW and Sacramento’s KCRA have both separately announced plans to provide disaster relief for those affected by Hurricane Sandy through the American Red Cross.

In Philadelphia, CBS O&O KYW will air cut-ins at the top of every hour and in newscasts from 6 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. tomorrow.  KYW’s Susan Barnett, Chris May, Pat Ciarrocchi, Ukee Washington and Erika von Tiehl, along with personalities from CW Philadelphia and the local CBS owned radio stations will staff a phone bank to take pledges for the American Red Cross Hurricane Sandy Response Fund.

In Sacramento, NBC affiliate KCRA will air live cut-ins asking for donations during regular programming and newscasts from 6 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Viewers in Sacramento can donate by calling 1-800-513-3333 or by texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.  Philadelphia viewers can call 1-877-KYW3-ASK (1-877-599-3275) or also texti the word REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10.

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The American Forces Network, which provides programming to Americans serving in the military overseas, will begin airing a special produced by KYW worldwide later this month.

The special, “We the People: The Constitution’s 225th,” debuted on the Philadelphia CBS O&O July 4 and has been broadcast on CBS stations across the country throughout the Summer. It is anchored by Chris May and Susan Barnett.

“We are so honored that our local program has not only been picked up by CBS stations across the United States but will now be seen by Americans stationed all around the world,” KYW president and general manager Jon Hitchcock said in a statement. Read more

KYW, the CBS owned-and-operated station in Philadelphia, will kick off the 23rd annual toy campaign benefiting the Salvation Army this week.

Starting Friday, evening anchors Chris May and Susan Barnett will be requesting new, unwrapped toys through public service announcements that will air on KYW and sister station WPSG, the CW affiliate. The toy drive will run through most of December.

On December 19, the anchors will wrap-up the event with a five-hour on-air fundraiser from 3 – 8 p.m. All five Philadelphia radio stations will join the television stations in soliciting toys.

President Obama sat down with three local stations yesterday to talk about the national debt and the economy. This is the second round of local interviews Obama has done this month, as the White House makes a continued push to localize their message.

Obama was interviewed by Chris May of KYW (pictured at left), Jim Vance of WRC and Scott Macfarlane of Cox Television. The hot topic in the interviews, which ran about eight minutes each, was the increasingly acrimonious negotiations between Obama and congressional leadership as the debt deadline looms.

The interviews were embargoed until 5 p.m. yesterday, but began running on the respective stations on the evening broadcasts. Cox Television owns 11 local stations nationwide and ran Macfarlane’s interview on several different stations.

Watch video of the interviews inside… Read more

As the fight over raising the debt ceiling heats up in Washington, Pres. Barack Obama is doing yet another round of interviews with local TV stations today.

Obama will sit down at 2pmET with reporters from Washington, DC’s WRC, Philadelphia’s KYW and Cox Television, which has 15 stations in 11 markets. The interviews will take place in the White House Map Room and will focus on debt reduction and the economy — the same location and topic as the four local interviews the president did last week.

KYW’s interview, conducted by evening anchor Chris May, will air at 5, 6 and 11 p.m. tonight. KYW is promoting the Obama interview as an exclusive (above). The Cox Television interview will be conducted by Washington correspondent Scott Macfarlane.