Hoping for a new era at Channel 2

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: Let's hope for dawn of a news era at Channel 2 : : The new boss at WBBM-Ch. 2 has barely had time to hang his own towels outside the marble shower in his corner office, let alone crystallize his own ideas about how to yank the chronically hamstrung CBS-owned outlet from the ratings pit in which it's been mired for almost a generation now. : So here we offer some free advice for Sacramento import Bruno Cohen. Not as good as a welcome basket of cookies, we know. Sorry, Bruno. But we're keeping an eye on expenses too, and the regime change was so abrupt, if not unexpected, there wasn't time to go shopping for, say, soap on a rope.Cohen's news background is a blessing. : News is the heart of any local station, and WBBM's pulse has been weak for years. The station established a template for what a local TV newsroom could be in the 1970s and early '80s, with anchors Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson, and a network farm team of reporters and producers. : Budget cuts and simple bad judgment squandered that heritage and drove off viewers and staff. If there's any petty cash left in the Channel 2 building fund, some strategic hires and expenditures would help distinguish WBBM. : The truth is its sister radio station, WBBM-AM 780, has had the stronger news brand of the two WBBMs for years. : One reason would seem to be the radio station's emphasis on business and finance, treating market updates like weather and traffic reports and planting a flag with the noon business hour. The economy isn't going to recover overnight and impacts nearly everything, from whether you can spring for a welcome basket to whether you'll get to retire -- ever. : Here's a bold idea: Dump the 5 to 7 a.m. morning newscast that looks so much like the other early morning news shows, and draw from Cohen's experience at CNBC. Keep headlines, weather and traffic, but set up the dawn show as a local version of CNBC, focusing just as much on LaSalle Street as Wall Street. Make it the must-see send-off each morning for anyone who has, wants or needs money. : This isn't so radical. WBBM's 6 p.m. newscast on Wednesday, planned long before Cohen's arrival that day, was dedicated to business stories and the current crisis. : If nothing else, with a different approach targeting a different audience, the sales staff can court a new set of advertisers than they have to date. : Newly former Channel 2 chief Joe Ahern's just-completed TV palace across from Daley Plaza includes a huge empty studio in the back. It doesn't have a window, like the news studio that gets all the attention, but you know Cohen's bosses in New York and Los Angeles are acutely aware of its existence and how much money it isn't making each day it goes unused. : Cohen can draw upon his background in program development for the Walt Disney Co.'s syndicated program wing to turn it into a moneymaker. One of the shows Cohen's division took national in 1988, during his tenure, was a then-5-year-old local morning talk show at ABC's WABC-TV. "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee," now "Live with Regis and Kelly," has been a cash cow ever since. : So while it's fine to hope that CBS Entertainment uses WBBM as home for the pilot it's developing based on WBEZ-FM 91.5's "Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me!" Cohen should try to develop some original local programs for Channel 2 that conceivably could be sold nationally someday. : Whether Cohen needs advice is dubious. Frankly, the man who, as news director, helped bring Matt Lauer to NBC in New York, could do worse than embrace a variation on George Costanza's famous "opposite" strategy. : Just figure out what past WBBM bosses would have done in a situation. Then, do the exact opposite. : : (Phil Rosenthal, Chicago Tribune)

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