IT'S A NEW `MORNING' FOR CBS.

Byline: Jay Bobbin Tribune Media Services

With a theme song by Carly Simon, a revised format and new yet familiar anchors, CBS' weekday morning show is being reborn this week.

Hoping for better ratings footing against ABC's ``Good Morning America,'' NBC's ``Today'' and a number of similar, locally produced programs, CBS' ``This Morning'' will be relaunched Aug. 12, with two personalities already known to viewers of the broadcast.

Jane Robelot, formerly the show's news reader, and ex-weather and features reporter Mark McEwen will be joined by Jose Diaz-Balart, previously a Miami TV-news anchor.

McEwen has been associated with CBS' morning programming longer than any of the other major players in the new ``This Morning,'' since he first landed in that slot with 1987's ill-fated ``Morning Program,'' which folded humor into the information flow.

``The way I see it now, Harry Smith was the main male anchor for the last eight years on `This Morning,' and the second-most-seen male anchor was me,'' McEwen said. ``I've been in that chair many times, so I know how high the bar is set.

``I'm looking very forward to getting the story and asking the hard questions when they demand to be asked,'' McEwen said. ``I'm also looking forward to people asking me, `Is it going to rain this weekend?' Now I can say, like everybody else, `I don't know.' ''

Craig Allen, who has been based with the CBS-owned television and radio outlets in New York City, will be the new weathercaster. Unlike ``This Morning's'' most recent incarnation, the new revision won't have a studio audience.

While the other network morning shows have fairly rigid formats, with affiliated stations supplying local news briefs at the bottom of each half-hour, the new ``This Morning'' structure represents a major shift.

Options exist for CBS stations during the first of the show's two hours, allowing for extensive local news or a smaller amount while also incorporating some of the network's program in a seamless fashion; however, a CBS affiliate still can take the full network hour instead. In the Los Angeles area, it will be a cooperative effort for the first hour, with both local and network news being offered. The second hour will be more traditional, supplied almost fully by CBS and encompassing longer segments and interviews.

Jim Murphy, the executive producer of ``This Morning,'' said the affiliates are expressing enthusiasm for the more flexible format.

``We figured that probably half of the CBS stations would go with the full local-cooperative format when we went on the air, and at last count, we're just about at 75 percent,'' he said. ``That's a really good sign to us.''

Former ``This Morning'' anchors Harry Smith and Paula Zahn left the program in June, and have been reassigned by the network since. (Smith did a ``CBS Reports'' documentary last month and is getting a regular ``CBS Evening News'' segment. Zahn will anchor CBS' Saturday night newscast starting this fall and contribute to ``48 Hours.'')

CBS News President Andrew Heyward recalled that when the new ``This Morning'' venture was announced, Smith and Zahn felt, quite properly, ```OK, let's move on to other things.' I understood that from their point of view. We had effectively declared (their) program sort of over by putting all our attention on the new one.''

Morning habits die hard, though, and new anchor Robelot is aware of that. ``The beauty of it, for me, is that I'm not filling Paula's shoes,'' she explained. ``She has walked into a new job at CBS in her own shoes, so I get to start (this show) in my own. That's the perfect situation.

``It was a privilege to be able to work with Harry and Paula, and I was sort of under Harry's wing when I filled in for Paula, so I don't feel like I'm a stranger to the morning broadcast, which will really help me out a lot in terms of those butterflies on the first day.''

CBS This Morning

When: 7 a.m. weekdays

Network: CBS

Co-anchors: Mark McEwen, Jane Robelot, Jose Diaz-Balart

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3 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) Jose Diaz-Balart, left, Jane Ro belot and Mark McEwen co-anchor the revamped `CBS Morning News.'

(2--3) Jane Robelot and Mark McEwen hope CBS' revamped morning news program will boost ratings.