Samantha

WALB's 11 O'Clock Report on this date in 1988: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=4hV7gi4h4g0;t=46

That curtain backdrop for the talent... What were they thinking?

It sounds like the 96 theme a little bit, honestly... We really need more KXTV from this period.

A new Canadian open found: CFRN Eyewitness News from 1993: The obvious comparison is the CBS Newsnet end-80s/early-90s graphics:

The KSL late 80s pack debuted not in '89 but late in '88: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=OfZue5S8fDU;t=185 And who dared to trim the open from this!?

No music but some rare WPBN-WTOM material from 1993: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=hNct0v1R5tE;t=452 Plus this volume of commercials starts with an Ed Hopkins-voiced Jeep/Eagle ad: It appears they used the News Leader production track from FirstCom: From later in the 90s, more WPBN, including footage of their equally rare Television by Design graphics and march-like music theme:

They need to get that typeface off their weather computer and put it on their CG. Myriad, to me, always will be the default or the indicator of a missing font. That's just the way it is.

WLUK's 30-second Hello song from 1983: WTTG's "most complete news of the world you live in" from 1991: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=givEcRZatDU

What do you get when college students make a newscast in 1988? From the University of Georgia, it's University News!

KDLT's "5 News at Ten" 10pm newscast for April 19, 1995: And from the land of rare oddities, "Today's Monitor", some sort of Christian Science Monitor-on-TV program from March 9, 1990: Bill Moller also has a bunch of his reports in the 80s from WVUE and WESH, including consumer reports on everything from UHT milk to health insurance changes:

KATU's Spirit of the Northwest in 1988:

Commercials from KIMT in 1988 including for its news. The bump at about 30 seconds in uses the unknown KIMT/WTOK theme: The first KXVO commercial here is backed by... The Ticket!? (It's even on the station ID!) The station had just signed on in June. Also, plenty of other KXVO and KPTM promos and TVbD design (for KXVO as KPTM's pack wasn't there).

There's at least two NMSA package listings in there... (the ABC WNT theme in the very early 80s and Total News in the mid-90s after the Waterman consolidation)

KMGH in 1985 (60fps!) with coverage of a flash flood in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The open is clipped but it's a nearly full half hour with a young Harry Smith, the Welch Newsmat look and set, and a fantastic close:

That 4 logo with the bump in the lower right is...oddly shaped, for sure.

KSAZ's 4pm news could very well be permanent. The others are obvious cash grabs.

WPGH's "Good Day Pittsburgh" in 1979:

A KHQA newsbreak from 1987 (no music): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=PrEzIA-mr1c;t=1007 Meanwhile on WGEM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=iwIUIo_ItOk;t=1272

"VIET Television", KBCB Bellingham-Seattle (the station Fox famously tried to acquire as a backup), and Newswatch 24. I don't know how they came together, but they did. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=efLnaT6UNqc;t=344

A KPNX Action News Digest from November 1985, complete with some quick teases, a station ID with the We're Going Where You're Going theme and in the middle, a radio promo for KKLT "K-Lite 99 FM" featuring Lisa Malay. Yes, the Lisa Malay that later became KPNX's station voice (and was brought in to do other Gannett stations like KTHV):

You'd think the network would want to see stations actively tweeting about their entertainment shows. But with 3,300 followers, it likely does not matter. I'd be curious to see if there are any ABC affiliates in the top 100 with fewer followers.

I'm surprised there aren't network social media promotion plans. Now they have zero tweets. On said account, they boast, "KDNL-TV, ABC30 is St. Louis's leader in news and entertainment." I actually help run a Twitter account with more followers than KDNL. They have 3,309. (Compare: KPLR has 26,945; KMOV has 109,585; KSDK 228,249; and KTVI 233,243)

Wow, this is absolutely fascinating. I think a contributing factor is that St. Louis has very few full-power TV stations compared to other markets. Commercially, St. Louis has just seven stations — a very low number for a market of its size that I've never completely understood. WRBU was only a commercial independent/netlet outlet between 2003 and 2013, and it only signed on in 1989. KNLC was religious for the longest time. That meant that there were just few places to shop around and stations had a lot of leverage. Weigel's conversion of KNLC to Me-TV is perhaps the most exciting change in the market in quite some time. If ABC wanted to leave KDNL, it only would have KPLR or KNLC as options. Consider that at the time of the affiliation switch in 1994, Koplar cited KPLR's sports programming as the reason not to affiliate with ABC. Koplar decided that the Cardinals and the Blues were worth more to their station than ABC and potential disruption of those relationships. As to local news, I want to point something out that is forgotten. When KDNL began local news in January 1995 (under the name "News 30 Now" and at 9pm), they were the first TV news operation to set up shop in the market since 1959. That's a long time, 36 years. And we're already at 23 years since another attempt was made at building a new TV newsroom in St. Louis.

I have not seen this WKAQ open on YouTube in years (though I seem to remember a slightly different open animation?): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=Qv6IE0Qz5eo;t=83

That is a very well-done post in the style of so many high school athlete commitments. Put a smile on my face.