Samantha

Wow, that WXXA open is voiced by Larry Van Nuys! Also, that KPRC animation must have been made at the same time at this thing. They both have the same problem... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=tvGL7GbJ-6k;t=29

A WOKR promo from 1984...

KBJR did not have that jingle made for themselves (the news package is definitely a custom and you'll see why). There's an incomplete (old, one account probably deleted) YT comment thread in which it's sort of implied that the jingle might have been used in Nashville. WSMV did use "4 the Family" as a station slogan in the late 80s and early 90s, and they had a ton of image campaigns in this general period. (Seriously, the decade-plus of Hello usage masks a considerable amount of change at channel 4!) nashvilletv.org did have a copy of this, but the whole site has disappeared in recent months. On Internet Archive copies of the site, they list a 615 campaign from 1986 and a Florence Warner-sung Gari jingle from 1987. (The RealMedia files are no longer downloadable, unfortunately.) We do still have two of the later themes that used that campaign in some form. One is a resing of Turn To, again only used for image purposes: The other was The Diary, whose image song began airing in December 1992. This one did make it to the newscasts on January 4, 1993: (Also consult the WSMV-centric demo of Yours Truly from JAM — the line "We're 4 the Family, always here for you" is in that image song, too!)

I think this is the first image song I've heard from the People You Can Count On (The Coast) campaign! And this must be the image package that prompted the alternate signature of Great News/KBJR... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=7cYX2LRCZuo;t=264

Remember when KPNX was actually good?

To make up for that wall of text... ...we'll go from KSTWashington: ...to Washington's most experienced news team...News 7!

It had existed since the fall of 1981, in fact — and kept the name for 15 years! With its launch on September 7, 1996, Fox Sports Arizona and ASPN (or Cox Sports — Dimension had been sold at this point) began sharing a channel on the Cox cable system. Cox Sports held the rights to the Suns, but Fox Sports had Pac-10 football (including its opening night telecast of an ASU football game and quite a few games in the Sun Devils' Rose Bowl season, though it was not until 1998 that the university moved its own games from KTVK) and the newly relocated Coyotes. If you want to be more confused, ASPN apparently picked up Prime Sports programming. (Prime Sports' LA feed was even available for a time in Tucson!) It wasn't until June that Prime wanted to set up its own Arizona channel: "Prime move? Prime Sports, the subsidiary of Fox-Liberty Sports, is negotiating with Cox about leaving ASPN for a separate channel of its own. It would house the Diamondbacks (in two years), along with with Coyotes and its Pac-10 football and basketball packages. If a separate channel is landed, Cox may pay as much as a 50-cent-per-subscriber increase to Prime, which, in turn, undoubtedly will be passed on to subscribers in the monthly basic cable cost. Johnson says negotiations are ongoing, but said a decision hasn't been reached and ASPN remains a viable outlet." In between that (which turned out to be what happened) and September 1, the Prime Sports brand was dropped for Fox Sports. While it was announced that the rest of the RSNs would not change until October, the new Arizona network was exclusively referred to Fox Sports Arizona in the paper, though apparently it did use Prime Sports Arizona for two months. The Suns remained with Cox for some time after. For the 1998-99 NBA season, Cox Sports was replaced with the more general-themed Cox 9 (later Cox 7, then YurView Arizona — the rebrand also allowed Cox to give KAZT channel 7 on cable). Fox Sports picked up the Suns at some point after in the early 2000s. YurView continues to dabble in sports besides high school, particularly with GCU, though it has also telecast Arizona Rattlers and other smaller sports events in the past.

WOKR in 1987... WHO in 1989... A March 1994 KPNX tease with Sean McLaughlin (!) and Ron Hoon (!): Not news material, but certainly rare. ASPN (not a typo!) was something of Arizona's first RSN, as it had the rights to the Suns and high school football telecasts (it's the predecessor to what's now YurView Arizona in that regard):

A WROC tease from 1987:

There will be one less PBS member station next year as Brigham Young University drops PBS programming from KBYU-TV to air its BYUtv network. (Only BYU's student-produced newscast will make the transition, but cable/satellite BYUtv viewers will still not see it.) KBYU-FM is also to drop classical music, leaving the area without a station in the format. The university says that the formats these stations have now would not be chosen in this day and age, citing heavy duplication of the PBS schedule to KUED.

This is a real weird transitional look. TVbD elements in some places (the station ID, the "12 NEWS SUNDAY" text in the open) but the new theme music, stone textured graphics and set. It is worth noting here that "12 News At This Hour" cut-ins continued to use the The Coast theme after this new look was fully implemented. Their weeknight 6:00 also had a cold open, though the clip for it is *long* gone. (The other 1992 Sunday newscast is a good stand-in.) Only a few newscasts seemed to have had full opens in the post-TVbD era in 1992-93.

No info on who wrote it, but some info around the debut of the WFLA Spirit of Tampa Bay package in 1982: -The debut was April 5, coinciding with the revamp of the NBC Nightly News -The figure-8 was designed by New York artist Aki Seki, formerly of CBS -Another item says it was written in New York ——— A lost WICZ 1994 theme that must not have lasted long at all: "There will be a new sound to WICZ, channel 40, news broadcast starting 5:30 p.m. Monday. The Binghamton station commissioned Richard Thomas, a retired Binghamton music teacher and longtime bass player with the BC Pops, to write new opening music for the 5:30 and 1 1 p.m. news broadcasts. "We're a local station; we thought we ought to have a local theme," said Dave Tillery, general manager. Thomas at first thought some generic, public domain tune might do, but the more he researched, the more he felt he should compose something original. The result is a two-minute fanfare, Reel to Real, which was debuted last weekend at the BC Pops concerts at The Forum. What pleased Thomas more than anything else is that members of the Pops volunteered to record the theme at no charge, so the local theme for the local station will be played by local musicians." Unfortunately, our composer died three years ago. ——— A WHBF theme in 1981 attracted some ire... "I agree with the caller who thinks the new Channel 4 theme music Is ridiculous. When we first heard it, we thought it was a commercial for the Ford Motor Co., then when we realized what it really was, we were surprised that the management of Channel 4 would let it run, because not only does it set back the image of rural America, it also sets back the image of small town TV about 20 years. Please, let that female vocalist spit the hayseed out of her mouth and try a different approach." And did WQAD in 1985 come with an image theme? "I like Channel 8's new theme song. It's catchy, upbeat, exciting even. I like their "One Quad-City" theme and the billboards that go along with it."

The university's own literature says it's an indefinite closure (so there's a chance), though it's quite clear that reestablishing TV service is a very low priority for the university.

KCST's callsign could have been said to mean "Constantly Stuck in Third". Gillett bought Storer late in 1987. They got a new GM in March 1988. He set out to blow up NewsCenter 39, which was described in one piece I read as "matronly", and replace it with News San Diego and the KNSD callsign (he also replaced the ND, again, for good measure). It's honestly the WIAT/WATN situation of the 80s. Morale was low, as this June 1988 article attests: "Morale has been a huge problem in the newsroom, [Nancy Bauer, who months later was named ND] acknowledges. Reporters' contracts have not been renewed since the station went on the auction block two tense years ago, anticipating it was better to put off such negotiating until the new owners made their likes and dislikes clear." By late June, the first rumors of a callsign change were swirling. Over all of this was the looming threat of a potential sale of the station, along with WJBK, to Group W, so that Gillett could reduce its debt load. KNSD debuted its revamped look and product in time for the Seoul Olympics. The KNSD look that the station had for quite some time (really wasn't altered until 1996, jettisoned entirely in late 96/early 97) is among my personal favorites, to the point where I recreated the entire KNSD custom typeface!

The KCST "Eyewitness News" open is a real monkey wrench. That's *three* open sets for KCST with the same music. The progression appears to be: 1. The squares opens in 1986: 3. The first open (with the marble slabs) above. The date on this is 9/3/87 (mention of a chemical spill on I-5) In between this, KNSD jettisoned both Dennis Morgino and Laura Buxton and brought in new anchors, Marty Levin and Denise Yamada. 2. The second (Eyewitness News) open from Black Monday, 10/19/87 (did you catch the spelling error?) 4. The Leading Edge theme using graphics from the v2 and *returning* to the NewsCenter 39 name:

It's been silent since May 2016. There are not going to be many opportunities to resurrect it. ——— And speaking of silent, Puerto Rico's PBS member station could be a permanent casualty of Hurricane María. Sistema TV (WMTJ San Juan + WQTO Ponce), owned by the Sistema Universitario Ana G. Méndez, will be dark until further notice. The university system has suspended all non-academic operations, and apparently Sistema TV also suffered storm damage. Many are treating this as the station being gone for good. The cessation of non-academic operations also has led to the suspension of the university's athletic programs for the 2017-18 school year. President José F. Méndez Méndez said in a statement: "It is a difficult decision, but as an educational institution, at this time our priority is to guarantee the continuity of our teaching and educational services so that each student can complete the academic term in our schools. All of our efforts are directed at making it possible for students to receive the best education and the best service in order to achieve their professional goals." The university system took on the PBS affiliation when WIPR-WIPM, which is owned by the government of Puerto Rico, left PBS in 2011. Sistema TV had been operating since 1985.

The sunset of the Sunset 10 in September 1996. Several 10 News promos (with John B. Wells VOs) and Fox 10 IDs (with Chris Corley VOs): And a KPHO "5 Investigates" promo: A KTVK station ID from 1982 with the italic circle 3. The meatball was not yet in:

You're not the only one...I happened to send this in today almost immediately upon hearing this clip. Bob Israel did indeed write this theme, in 1986.

LA news clips from 1990:

Well that's confusing. I expect a move-in. Not sure what exactly is up here though. Apparently this station was originally licensed to Rehoboth. Either WBOC is going to eventually move it back across Delaware Bay to provide channel relief for WBOC, or they are setting up some sort of rebroadcaster in far southern New Jersey. The minor modification filed at sale appears to be part of an effort to do the former by moving it back, with the first step to move the stick south within New Jersey.

Yet more Phoenix news teases. KPHO and KSAZ, 1998: KSAZ, May 2001:

Not local news but very special. Today is the 30th anniversary of the "Black Monday" October 1987 stock market crash. Here is a ton of FNN coverage of the event. Coverage on "MarketWrap": A special edition of the "FNN Evening News", which was just uploaded today:

And a KSAZ tease set from the same night: Plus some KCBS Action News material from 1994:

WEWS definitely had TVbD stuff in the final days of '86, like this Morning Exchange endboard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=MPVOgjoLVV4;t=91 But news promos had not yet changed over: This video, however, is actually from the summer of '87 (the story on Richard Branson's balloon crossing):

Smart branding move to help distinguish the two feeds. I could see them attempt to bring the 21.x branding to WSJZ if they move the Fox sub.