Samantha

WEAU's first ever 5pm newscast, 35 years ago today:

It's not often that ragtime music features in a news promo, but it did...

I think they were about to change their opens, but until the Centerpiece/TVbD knockoffs, WLEX looked rather dated.

New Year's Day 1984 and WLEX was still using On Top of it All.

Back to Yakima and the Tri-Cities of Washington we go...

Most definitely.

That's the actual WKBD graphics. I saw them in use elsewhere really recently too...

Definitely by 85: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=0EbuaK0vJ8I;t=84

I saw that too. I really do wonder.

A short-lived KMBC open from 1994 that was sort of an update to their 1992 open, sort of not:

Eek, only saw the second post. Hoping for some more material from the uploader soon — one of the few people with a lot of Phoenix stuff. But I've never seen this WCPO open from the fall of 1985. I guess Newschannel *preceded* the Jay Gilbert theme from 1986!?

Eh, it's just cheap.

You want an ugly duckling? WIVT is in that category. I mean, Television by Design did a great package, but it's so old there are people in college who are younger than that look. WIVT is a "blow up and start from scratch". Nexstar can do it. They've proven that before.

It's WBMA's 20th anniversary of ABC affiliation...and we have a first anniversary special from 1997!

Oh yeahhhhh... One of my white whales is the KFOR early 90s theme, so this makes me happy as heck. What's interesting is that "News Team 4" was out before the theme and graphics. The only other clip available surfaced in a KFOR montage uploaded around Bob Barry's death. It featured an almost-clean 30-second cut of what seems to be a news theme and potential image package.

Evan Mecham is the star in this 1987 KPHO news excerpt. A nomination of his was pulled yet again, he wants to trim the state budget, and oh yeah, his approval rating is already through the floor after just 100 days in office:

KFDM in 1987:

A former Tucson TV news producer was arrested in Chandler (Phoenix area) for running a prostitution operation from his home there. The alleged house of prostitution included male masseuses; Robert Richardson would watch them perform sex acts on clients from another room. Richardson was most recently a freelancer for NBC News. He worked for KVOA and KMSB in Tucson, according to this profile.

KSAZ has filled the vacancy left by Troy Hayden's move to mornings: Marc Martinez began anchoring the 6pm and 10pm newscasts tonight. Of course, now they must find a second weekend anchor to go alongside Linda Williams.

September 1993... Ooh! So KPHO would have debuted a new look in March of 94, which might not have lasted long at all. I thought *this* was the new look the Republic mentioned when it noted KPHO rolled out new graphics, music and set at the start of March 1994... Also, that Albany clip looks weird because the uploader added that effect that tilts and shifts everything around from time to time. I hate it. Absolutely hate it. —— Some Seattle material in this motion graphics compilation from 1985.

A WBKO news story from circa 1989: And this WGRZ promo from 1984 correlates to their news theme from this period (NMSA "WGRZ 1983"):

An open from WAFF's 48 The News era? Whoa! Finally! And there's a new channel of DFW clips including lots of rarities: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsswI3VG6eQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPhja06-D5U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtvOOt_phEY

KNXV definitely has the market's best social media presence. They also were the first station in Scripps with a heavy Roku presence, presumably to compete against KSAZ and its pioneering Fox 10 News Now.

A WJCL newsbreak in the late 80s with the Something's Happening affiliate news theme (as heard on WGXA, WBKO and WMGC), though it might not have been for their opens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=T5cc1Hxnp58;t=442