Erin Kennedy

One year after WBBM-Channel 2 abruptly cut Susan Carlson, the CBS-owned station finally has hired her replacement as weekday morning news anchor.

Erin Kennedy, who’s been a reporter and morning news anchor at WKYC-TV, the NBC affiliate in Cleveland, is joining CBS 2 alongside co-anchor Kris Gutierrez from 4:30 to 7 a.m. Monday through Friday, starting May 19.

Calling Kennedy “an exceptional broadcaster,” CBS 2 news director Jeff Kiernan said in a statement: “She’s an experienced news anchor and reporter who will bring an intelligence and warmth to morning news in Chicago.”

Since Carlson was dropped in May 2013, CBS 2 mainly has deployed weekend anchor Marissa Bailey and midday anchor Roseanne Tellez as fill-ins alongside Gutierrez. Carlson joined NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 as a reporter and fill-in news anchor.

In the Nielsen ratings for April, CBS 2 was tied for dead last in mornings with Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32. Both average a 0.6 percent rating or 21,204 households. Among viewers between 25 and 54, CBS 2 trails all others with a 0.3 rating.

A summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Kennedy began her career at KAMC-TV in Lubbock, Texas, and worked at WPRI-TV and WNAC-TV in Providence, Rhode Island, before joining WKYC in January 2012. She is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

“I’m excited to be a part of a community as diverse as Chicago,” Kennedy said in a statement.  “I learned the business and practice of journalism in the Midwest, beginning at Notre Dame, and my goal has always been to return here to tell the stories that make the people of these communities great.”