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There's another clip of WXIA from January of 1982 and they are using "Hello News". This appears to be the earliest use of it.

If someone has access to BMI/ASCAP listings, that could narrow it down a bit. That promo is about the only glimpse into that brief era, aside from a few clips of Dick Crippen and Suzanne Bates from 1981.

A big mystery is who composed WFLA's "The Spirit of Tampa Bay"? I believe this theme may be related to KYW's "Believe in Yourself" as there was a video with KYW's Diane Allen doing a newsbreak and the KYW theme had the same keyboard notes as was used in WFLA's promos with TSOTB. There is a connection to Collier Concepts as they were noted as producers of WFLA's promos using TSOTB.

WBNS 1984 "People You Can Count On" jingle spot: I have no idea if this is related to the theme used by WCHS/KTNV from the '80s. I wouldn't be surprised if Otis Conner might be responsible for the WBNS theme.

IIRC, that theme was also used as production music. We'd have to see an open to know.

Several vintage WTSP clips from 1992 on this channel:

WOWK had adopted a new theme by 1993, if not earlier.

The news director in '89 was Mel Martin, longtime WJXT news director. He was brought in to rescue WTSP after the huge computer scandal, where the former N/D (Terry Cole, now with Sinclair) and asst. N/D broke in to WTVT's newsroom computer system and stole confidential material. Mel Martin brought Frank Gari's theme and the very elaborate 'look', which IMO was WTSP's best looking era.

Another vintage Tampa Bay open (Very hard to come by!). It's WTOG-44 circa early 80's:

We wouldn't have found that WTSP open without your assistance. It's nearly impossible to find any WTSP opens from the 1989-92 era.

Someone on YouTube who worked at an NBC affiliate in the 1970s said that the "WTLV" theme was a part of the afternoon NBC affiliate update that came over the network feed.

Yeah, It was a real fluke finding it. I'm thinking the "WTLV 1972" theme was only used on the mid-day news as I'm quite sure that they were using "Part of Your Life" at the time. The other possibilty is that the "WTLV" theme was a holdover and maybe had been used for many years.

WFLA 1977 news open:

WNAC-Ch. 7 (Boston) 1979 news open (at 1:41): Weird clip. It was recorded in black and white. Also, the news theme (not in the NMSA) sounds like a disco track.

I really like that WLNE newscast. Thanks for posting.

WGN January 1994/Tom Skilling. What surprises me is that WGN was still using their old late '80s set. I thought they had debuted their new set by that point:

WBNS 1989 newscast with Bob Orr (CBS News) and Dana Tyler (WCBS) at the anchor desk:

I have read there was quite a ratings battle circa 1982 with KDFW beating WFAA for a time but by '83 WFAA pulled out in front, and it shows they put in the extra effort.

Big find: WFAA 1983 news open with the previously unheard version of "NewsBeat": The open is at 3:03

WBZ 1987 "Evening Edition" complete newscast:

KMID Mid '80s with unknown theme:

WTHR 1981 newscast, with news of the attempted Reagan assassination. "Hello News" is the theme:

TVbD 1984 demo reel (top of page), with complete opens from WJXT, WDIV (unknown theme), and WFSB. There are other demo reels from the past, but they don't have the original audio. http://tvbd.com/?page_id=112

WBBH "TV20" at noon complete report with "Tuesday 15" from 1985:

KCTV 1996 open with "24 Hour News" at 5:07: