Web news.

KCBS-TV (Channel 2) and the Los Angeles Times are adding several high-tech toys and other interactive features to their respective Web sites in an effort not only to drive more traffic to the sites but also build audience loyalty for their traditional media outlets.

The Viacom Communications Inc.-owned CBS affiliate recently devoted 90-second segments during the evening newscasts to promote each new feature of cbs2.com. The traffic page, for example, can send alerts to a user's cell phone.

The new online format is being rolled out by other Viacom TV stations nationwide, but customized for each market, according to senior executive producer Jason Ball, who plans to include more video segments from the station's newscasts. Last week, the site was scheduled to offer an extensive sneak peak of the Marilyn Monroe exhibit, scheduled to set to open at the Queen Mary in Long Beach on Nov. 10.

Also featured are blogs by news anchor Kent Shocknek, sports anchor Alan Massengale and meteorologist Josh Rubenstein. Ball said that Web traffic was up 93 percent the week of Oct. 19, the first full week after the launch.

Latimes.com also is wading into the largely un-moderated blogosphere with a growing slate of weblogs written by both staff and freelance writers.

Business section columnist Michael Hiltzik last week launched a blog he will update several times a week, in addition to the twice-weekly Golden State newspaper column that Hiltzik also has been recording as a podcast.

James Gilden, whose "Intemet Traveler" column appears in the Times' Travel Section, has launched a "Daily Traveler" blog. There's also a blog tracking the Lakers that's co-authored by brothers Andrew and Brian Kamenetzky, regular contributors to ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com. A new Times' sister site covering the entertainment awards season, TheEnvelope.com, will include an Oscar-centfic blog by former Premiere magazine writer Steve Pond.

Blog-tracker Peter Hirsh-berg says he's been impressed by how quickly newspapers and television stations have embraced a format they scorned less than two years ago. "They've realized that blogs not only drive readers to their sites, but also make the main news product more relevant," said Hirshberg, executive vice president at Technorati Inc. in San Francisco. "It's real-time interactivity and feed-back that they've never received before.