Newcomer joins CBS 2’s morning parade

Erin Kennedy

Erin Kennedy

It’s showtime for Erin Kennedy as WBBM-Channel 2 tries yet again to compete for morning news viewers.

Kennedy, just in from in Cleveland, debuts Monday alongside Kris Gutierrez on the CBS-owned station’s chronically anemic morning newscast. Airing from 4:30 to 7 a.m. weekdays, it’s been trailing the ratings for years.

Until Kennedy’s hiring was announced May 6, CBS 2 had gone 12 months without a permanent morning anchor team in place. Billboards around town promoted Megan Glaros weather and Derrick Young traffic instead, all but ignoring the news product itself.

Will viewers check out Kennedy and Gutierrez?

Jeff Kiernan, vice president and news director at CBS 2, cited the “intelligence and warmth” Kennedy would bring to morning news in Chicago, calling her “an exceptional broadcaster” and “an experienced news anchor and reporter.”

But what the station may need most of all is a little stability on its morning anchor desk. Besides Gutierrez, others who’ve popped up in recent years included Marissa Bailey, Steve Bartelstein, Susan Carlson, Kristyn Hartman, Don Schwenneker, Roseanne Tellez, Jim Williams and the late Randy Salerno, not to mention "Monsters & Money in the Morning,” the four-headed beast featuring Mike North, Dan Jiggetts, Terry Savage and Mike Hegedus.