WWUpdate

Since several of the TV Guide ads above feature Mary Joe West, here is a short PBS feature on Phoenix's first female anchor and her early years at KOOL: And here's a clip of West during her KTVK years:

Here s the evolution of KTVK from 1979 to the late '80s -- an era of substantial turmoil at the station -- as seen in TV Guide ads: September 1979: November 1981: April 1982: December 1982: May 1983: October 1983: May 1988:

My old TV Guides give us some idea of the call-letter and logo switch from KOOL to KTSP. This 1981 ad features the long-running KOOL News logo: KOOL announced the callsign switch to KTSP with this ad that ran next to the listings for October 2, 1982: But for some weeks afterward, news ads still featured a modified version of the old logo (minus, of course, the "KOOL News" branding): By late November 1982, the new logo makes an apperance, but the station's news operation is branded "TV10 News" (and Mary Jo West is apparently gone from the station, since neither the ads for the 6 nor the 10 P.M. news mention her): Finally, by January 1983, the "NewsCenter 10" branding, which would survive for the rest of the decade, is in place:

It couldn't have been very long. There is a clip on YouTube of KTVK using a different logo in 1978 ( ), and another clip indicates that KTVK had already moved on to its next logo -- the one seen in Raymie's avatar -- by December 1980, when John Lennon was shot ( ).

As promised a few weeks ago, I got a chance to scan and upload various Phoenix news ads from my 1979 TV Guides:

Here's a 1979 WLS report on WBBM Newsradio 78 (the clip includes the close): And here's WLS's coverage of the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, 1980: Can you imagine such in-depth, intelligent coverage of an important international news story airing on local TV news these days? I'm having a hard time.

Here's the same network 19 years later (1997) -- with one of the most minimalist looks ever attempted in TV news: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEZ6dKyHIR4 And here -- slightly off-topic for this thread, but posted here for comparison -- is what the newscast looks like these days: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Sq87Gz9VPE

BTV; 2 P.M. local news for the city of Barcelona, Spain, 2013: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zq8Vbk6bHI

All April Fools jokes aside, but still on the subject of "fake" newscasts (and nuclear disasters), I've always felt that the "China Syndrome" (1979) was very accurate in its portrayal of local TV news. For example, take a look at the opening scene from the movie -- not too many movies have captured the stressful (and decidedly unglamorous) behind-the-scenes atmosphere of a control room this realistically:

I assume all of you know about the short-lived but influential NBS, right? Here's a rare clip of America's fourth network from 1970 -- the NBS Nightly News with Ted Phillips:

I wonder if that reporter round-robin beginning at the 0:35 mark inspired the legendary news opens of Toronto's CityTV. (Example: )

Here's a KTVK news promo from 2012 -- this one emphasizing the benefits of being an independent station:

Antenne 2, France; 8 P.M. national news open, 1978 -- the person providing the voice-over is the producer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPSaAImoj3U

Duplicate post. Sorry!

BTW, that's the same chopper -- N123TV -- as seen in this 1985 promo from KTVK's Eyewitness News era: In 1996 or thereabouts, this chopper was replaced by N613TV, which was lost in that 2007 mid-air collision with KNXV's chopper.

KTVK, Phoenix; promo for NewsChopper 3 and its pilot, Jerry Foster, mid-1990s:

Various news promos (topical, weather, etc.) for KTVK, the Phoenix independent, 2009:

France 3, late news, 2013: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ees5i9ADu8

France 2, 1 P.M. news, 2013: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frE8NYy1DtQ

And here's a 1987 affiliation switch Australian-style (involving the simultaneous swap of affiliations and channel numbers in Adelaide):

Nice find. Another interesting clip from his account is this compilation of WAGA promos and reports about the 1980 Atlanta affiliation switch:

Here's the first minute of a French national newscast... from 1965: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWQcHTPhg0M

A cool news open from FR3 (now known as France 3), 1987: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQcZqmhFa7M

Great clips, WKMG! Given the top story, this open is from May 1993 (most likely May 3, 1993), not 1991.

Whoops! Fixed it. Speaking of news channel launches, this is how CBC Newsworld in Canada signed on for the first time in 1989: And also from 1989, here are the first 22 minutes of Britain's Sky News, Europe's first news channel (the theme is Gari's "Great News"):