Adam Yosim joins WLEX in Lexington as a general assignment reporter. He previously worked at WCTI in Greenville.

Kristine Johnson renews her contract as 5 and 11 p.m. anchor at WCBS in New York City.

WCBS reporter Jay Dow joins rival WPIX in New York City.

WTNH meteorologist Steve Villanueva joins WPIX as a traffic reporter and back-up weather anchor.

Karen Hepp is promoted to weekday morning anchor at WTXF in Philadelphia. Read more

Jay Dow, a reporter at WCBS in New York, has joined WPIX the CW-affiliate in the same market, FishbowlNY reports.

Dow has been a reporter at CBS O&O WCBS since 2001. He will be a reporter on the WPIX’s morning newscast, which is anchored by Sukanya Krishnan and Frances Rivera, beginning January 16.

Read more at FishbowlNY

Richard Huff takes an interesting look at the use of mobile cameras at New York’s local stations in the New York Daily News today. Although the stations each bill their technology as “exclusive,” Huff concludes the coverage rarely looks unique, and can even be dangerous:

Trouble is, for the most part the reports are routine and not much different than the typical hand-held story anyone else does.

For instance, last week [WCBS reporter] Mark Morgan used the “exclusive” Mobile 2 technology to report on the Occupy Wall Street protest at Zuccotti Park. Morgan’s report was, in fact, no different than any of those done every day by [WNYW]’s John Huddy or [WABC]’s N.J. Burkett or others who have been stationed there regularly. For crying out loud, Morgan wasn’t mobile at all. He was, thankfully, stationary. Read more

“Stay at home if you can and watch channel 7 all day long,” advised WABC reporter Anthony Johnson as he covered the aftermath of a storm that dumped over a foot of snow on the New York area.

New York stations expanded their morning coverage on Thursday to provide local reports on school closings, road conditions, and the city’s clean-up efforts.  Viewers looking for sustained local coverage, though, had to flip to WCBS, not WABC, or WNBC, for that matter.

WNBC was the first to go to network programming as it cut to the “Today” show around 8:30 a.m.  WABC decided to go to “Live! with Regis and Kelly” at 9:00.

As their competitors went to regularly scheduled programming, WCBS continued its special coverage anchored by Rob Morrison and Mary Calvi. Read more

Like the snow removal crews stationed around the area, New York stations were well-prepared for the blizzard that never was on Wednesday morning.  As Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared a “weather emergency” Tuesday evening, the market’s ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates planned expanded morning newscasts with all three stations beginning at 4:00 a.m. Wednesday morning, a half hour earlier than normal.

WNBC led off with a weather report from meteorologist Chris Cimino (left) as anchors Michael Gargiulo and Darlene Rodriguez shepherded coverage that included live reports from Tracie Strahan and Brian Thompson.  When Cargulo asked him if he had brought along a yard stick to measure the snow fall, Thompson nicely summed up the morning’s coverage, saying that he had brought a foot-long ruler instead.

WABC began its expanded newscast with a quick update of the weather and commuting conditions. Anchors Ken Rosato and Lori Stokes spoke with reporters stationed around the area, including NJ Burkett, Stacey Sager (right), Josh Einiger, Lisa Colagrossi, and Anthony Johnson.  Even though snow continued to blanket their surroundings, all of the reporters said that the city’s snow removal efforts were moving along efficiently.

At the beginning of WCBS‘s newscast, Jay Dow (left) reported on the snow removal from a unique vantage point: he was in a car, driving and following a sanitation department truck as it plowed and salted streets in Brooklyn.  After receiving an in-depth weather report from Lonnie Quinn as well as John Elliot, anchor Rob Morrison pointed out that the station had “all four meteorologists working today.”

CW-affiliate WPIX also offered extensive coverage of the storm during its morning newscast, which regularly begins at 4:00 a.m.  James Ford (right) reported live on Long Island where clean-up crews were successfully clearing the roads. Anchors Chris Burrous and Tamsen Fadal spoke with a representative from the Metro Transit Authority about conditions on subway lines. The newscast began with a dramatic graphic open that included images from the Christmas weekend blizzard that rocked the area. The narrator ended with “This can’t happen again.” “Thankfully, so far [its'] not happening again,” Burrous said at the outset of the newscast.