newsteam13

WPLG and ABC stayed married for 69 years. Through it all, this marriage between network (ABC) and affiliate (WPLG) survived all the craziness with WSVN, WTVJ and WCIX/WFOR going on in both 1989 and 1995. Together, Channel 10 and ABC were (as the network's late 70s campaign said it) STILL THE ONE in South Florida! That was, until this week, when WPLG filed for divorce from ABC. The nearly 70 years of marriage is over. All because ABC was demanding more money from WPLG and its parent company Berkshire Hathaway. A quote fulled from the article in the Miami Herald - “[It] became clear that if we accepted the deal ABC was proposing, we too would have been forced to lay off employees in order to pay the hefty price the network was demanding.”

Past the 28:46 mark...WHAT"S THIS? Is that the full-length close we get to hear? Same music as heard on KUSA?

Nobody comes home to watch the news anymore. Not even the local news at 5pm, 6pm and 11pm (10pm on central/mountain). Certainly not the network evening newscasts. More people are streaming nowadays, not to mention getting their news on the internet. CBS News's YouTube channel offers full-length episodes of the CBS Evening News. After they broadcast on their local affiliates, CBS News uploads that night's newscast like 4 hours later, so people who prefer online can watch on YouTube at their own convenience. ABC News YouTube channel, same deal with World News Tonight uploaded like 4 hours after they broadcast on ABC affiliates. NBC News YouTube Channel uploading the NBC Nightly News the same night. Talk about ease of access! Why aren't local stations following suit with the networks? That is, uploading the local newscast on their stations YouTube channel the same night after they aired it live?

Though I love that CBS brought back the 1987-1991 original Dan Rather theme music (from Trivers/Myers), this is like the 3rd time they brought it back? How about bringing back the 1991-2006 updated version done by Patterson, Walz and Fox? A REFRESHED version with the This is CBS branding mnemonic thrown in, of course?

Been such a long time since the early 1980s, when the multi-anchor/multi-city format became passe. Remember the Huntley/Brinkley Report and then NBC Nightly News? Chet Huntley (1956-70), John Chancellor (1970-82) and Tom Brokaw (1982-82) anchored from New York. David Brinkley (1956-81) and then Roger Mudd (1979-83) co-anchored from Washington. How about the first few years of World News Tonight from ABC News? Peter Jennings from London, Max Robinson from Chicago, Frank Reynolds from Washington and Barbara Walters as the forth anchor. Awesome they're making the old-school very cool again, but with a twist. Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson as the two-man anchor team from New York. Margaret Brennan from Washington. Throw in Meteorologist Lonnie Quinn with the weather news. You got yourself a cool twist on the old-school format. Never in the history of the CBS Evening News had that New York anchor/Washington anchor format like NBC and ABC had. Not even during the days of Douglas Edwards, Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather

The media landscape under Gannett was characterized by significant investment in resources, fostering a vibrant and distinctive identity for each station. Gannett stations enjoyed access to high-quality cameras, advanced equipment, helicopters, the best damn photojournalists (NPPA award winners), and top-tier talent, including renowned voiceovers like NBC's Danny Dark and ABC's Ernie Anderson (for station promos and news opens). Not to mention the patriotic red/white/blue color scheme for each station's logos and graphics. The emphasis was on creativity and local engagement, allowing each station to develop its unique branding and tailor content to resonate with local audiences. This commitment to individuality and quality resulted in a rich viewer experience, with stations able to connect deeply with their communities. In contrast, the current model under Tegna reflects a shift towards standardization and efficiency, often at the expense of local identity and production values. Centralizing marketing teams means that individual stations no longer have the autonomy to customize their branding and messaging for their specific markets, leading to a homogenized viewer experience. As Tegna prioritizes cost-cutting and uniformity, the previous emphasis on creativity is diminished, which can alienate local audiences who appreciate the distinctiveness of their hometown stations. This transition may also have negative implications for employees, resulting in job losses and decreased morale, ultimately affecting the connection between the stations and the communities they serve. I remember KUSA in Denver as a fabulous television station during the Gannett days. The anchor team featured Mike Landess and Ed Sardella. 9NEWS was allowed to showcase its theme music, which included the "It's All Right Here" promos and news theme music packages from Peters Productions and Frank Gari. When KUSA was an ABC affiliate in the 1980s, who better to promote 9NEWS and open its newscast than Mr. ABC himself, Ernie Anderson? Unfortunately, today's KUSA doesn't resemble its glory days. One noticeable change is removing the signature patriotic red, white, and blue lines from the current 9NEWS logo, which was introduced in 1984 when the station changed its call letters from KBTV to KUSA. Not to mention we don't see the 9 K*USA logo as much nowadays.

If you were an ABC affiliate in a big city, and if the owner was wealthy and could afford it, you couldn't go wrong with Mr. ABC himself Ernie Anderson. That was exactly the case when KUSA was an ABC affiliate in Colorado's capital, and its parent company Gannett (now Tegna) had a lot of money to burn. Gave KUSA carte blanche to make their 9NEWS product kick-ass, including hiring the voice of ABC to do promos and news opens for KUSA. Here's one of the 9 Country/11 Country cuts with Ernie promoting the call letter switch from KBTV to KUSA in 1984 And here's the main cut of 9 Country/11 Country with Ernie opening for Landess and Sardella

YEP! Both news sets from both WXIA and KARE (KUSA's sister stations) DID give off that vibe of the news set from KOA-TV/KCNC (KUSA's competitor) from their NewsCenter 4 days. All of them NBC affiliates, except one affiliate in Denver was owned by GE and then the NBC network itself (became a CBS O&O in 1995). KCNC's color scheme was different from the patriotic red/white/blue American flag color scheme that KUSA, KARE, WXIA and other Gannett stations have used

I wonder who composed that awesome 80s news theme package. Before and after the switch from KBTV to KUSA in 1984, Channel 9 started using it in 1983. What made the KUSA news opens with that theme ever better...Mr. ABC himself Ernie Anderson opening for Mike Landess/Ed Sardella and the rest of the 9NEWS team. When Gannett bought sister station KARE (the WTCN) Channel 11 in 1983, it brought KUSA's Joe Franzgrote to the Twin Cities. Along with him came that theme music package and some of his KUSA news team. I'm dying to know who composed that 1983-88 news theme music package

Metromedia owning an independent like WTCN. When I think of that time, I think of stations like KRIV, WTTG, WNEW (now WNYW), KTTV that became the original O&O stations with the then-new FOX network. As far as use of that news theme from 1984 (9 Country/11 Country), I'm more partial to the use on sister station 9NEWS KUSA in Denver from the Mike Landess/Ed Sardella years with the voice of Mr. ABC himself Ernie Anderson opening for 9NEWS About the Magers brothers: had Ron came back to the Twin Cities when his brother Paul came, these two brothers anchoring together would've made a splash in icy Minnesota. Sounded like Gannett back then had a boatload of money to spend on its stations, its equipment, its people and news production. Seems like they were a wealthy media group. Today, with all this standardization going on, that's just not the case.

That's one of them lipstick makeovers of existing things. KUSA took an existing set and made it even more cool.

Station Logo lapel pins. A sweet fashion accessory for every on-air talent. You gotta love em!!!

You know what? THIS news set - that was used by Daily Blast Live - is actually really awesome. Hope they NEVER leave this set in favor of the new one being built.

Check THIS out! This was KARE 11's take on NBC's "Let's All Be There" promo from the 1985-86 season. NBC affiliates often request localized promo versions with the same musical arrangement, but KARE 11 created a unique arrangement that differs significantly from the standard version used for localized network promos. NOTES: Channel 11 was WUSA for one year before it moved to its rightful place, Washington DC on CBS affiliate Channel 9. WUSA in Washington also signed on July 4th in 1986, as did Channel 11 Twin Cities in 1985. Now, KUSA in Denver AND WUSA in Washington DC are on Channel 9. Still under the ownership of Gannett (now Tegna)

Cue it to the 1:48 mark - A partial news open from KOA-TV Denver (now KCNC). You'll see how the opening animation looks quite similar to the open from former sister station WNGE Nashville (now WKRN), see that of course both were owned by General Electric Broadcasting at the time. One difference though, the aerial shot of the Denver skyline before the iconic cash register building went up, as well as other big tall skyscrapers