ChesapeakeTV

In Springfield, at least, I would not be particularly surprised if KSPR ended up being shunted to the LP...

Now those are some cool finds. Definitely the oldest significant Savannah material I've seen. 'JCL really didn't seem to put much effort into that open though...and speaking of which, there goes the NMSA's start date for WJCL using the synth WNT theme. That WTOC Eleven Live plug though... "2 3 4 N E W S, 2 3 4 N E W S!"

That and a clip from a bit earlier, to see when they first started using News '80s in general...

Yeah, that first track is High Combustion out of the Network library. Not surprising, really... The VTS theme is definitely the main attraction though. I'd definitely have to agree that it's pretty solid proof that the KTVW, etc. theme is a straight update, rather than a separate package with some common melodic cues. I almost wonder if it was WLOX who commissioned "v2". They seem like they were the last ones to use it (I recall seeing a YT comment on jacky9br's video of the jazzy Full Potential open saying they switched to it in mid '92, and I suspect they switched from "v2"), they do have a known history of commissioning music (the '98 Ford theme comes to mind), and their news department looks quite well staffed and funded for 1984 and the market in that video...

A relatively minor find, but one I'd been hoping for since 2014... The theme, as also heard on KPHO and , is the beginning of Beyond by Herb Alpert, sped up by about 5% in the first instance. (Ironically, I only noticed the YT comment on the first video identifying it after noticing the auto ID on the third...)

A second use of the WDBB 1986 theme, too...pretty cool stuff. Also from that channel...more We're Your Kind of People, not long after it debuted. This is the best quality sample of it I've seen yet! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=84s5FTsWFcQ;t=11

KUTV. Notice the mention of how the FCC's enforcement group "[didn't] make it to Utah very often". The reporter, Randy Ripplinger, also has a LinkedIn profile that lists him as working there from June 1973 to November 1978. This report in particular would have been from the latter two years of his tenure, since the 2 logo seen on his mic flag seems to have been introduced around 1976.

The wording of that promo makes me think the music was brand-new at the time. "A new name, a whole new look..."

Another Gari theme rework turns up in Eastern Europe...this time it's from Slovakia: TV Markiza's Televízne Noviny, pretty definitely based on First News. This was their original look and sound from launch on August 31, 1996, and it appears to have been replaced later in the year...however, the musical signature is still used to this day, complete with Gari-esque instrumentation.

Like no one saw that coming a mile away...

Geez, for a market that size that's almost pitifully cheap. Nice to finally see WCHS with Tuesday1 though!

I picked up on that hypothesis immediately too, but via a different route. If I'm correct... What KATV, WIXT, and WJXT used is the "original" One & Only, based off of the 1978 iteration of the famous image. I've seen a recording of WTOP using the cut in the WJXT open, there is a recording of a WIXT ID from '78 on YouTube with an identical logo/music to WTOP, and KATV's image song on the NMSA mentions how "we give it all we've got". What WPLG and KSAT used is "Call it Home" jury-rigged to fit "The One & Only" slogan. The general melody to the news theme has the three-note signature, and the promo heard in image sample #1 for WPLG on the NMSA (and seen at the beginning of the reel) even includes the line "The one, the beat, where you can call it home..." There is also this... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=xNKx9woVNjc;m=6;s=17

Surprise surprise, a new theme for WXII: And You! The first 5 minutes of their 6 PM news, August 13, 1987: This was gone by .

NMSA also has him doing KEVN with Overture as Ron Moore, which is equally incorrect. KWWL would be another longer-term client...he did them for at least 10 years. Really, given the volume of work he's done, it's amazing nothing has ever turned up on him, even so much as a name.

It sounds like it's got the VTS style, and I can hear a couple of points in the news theme that sound like they could match with some of the lyrics... I'd say they're a match.

Oh yeah, KTVW 1986 is spot on in instrumentation and signature. Thirded on it being VTS. The question is...if KTVW didn't commission it, then who did? I'm not sure any of the stations we know of would have been the original clients...perhaps there's another one waiting in the weeds somewhere.

I guess we know which SAM package WHAG will be getting when they go independent...

It would be wonderful to see it someday, even if it isn't the cleanest!

TV-8 would be WCHS, then. No wonder the opens seen in those clips seemed pretty dusty for that time... The WBRZ campaign must be tied to the 1985 theme, then. The signature could definitely spell "2's The One To Watch". Would you happen to have a link to the demo reel somewhere? I can't seem to find it.

Speaking of the 80s...KOTA's Newsline, from June 25, 1987. What an odd open...

That KAPP open with Total News looks like a knockoff of KXLY's graphics with the package...wonder why they didn't get the real thing. Though KAPP/KVEW always seemed to be very cheaply run, more so than KXLY... And that KIMA open...wow, how bland can it get?

I'm aware of that, but this particular cut hadn't surfaced before. Compare this and the first sample of KSNW using Great News to see what I mean.

This isn't exactly news-related, but it does have news music in it. This is an ident from CHCH's Movies 11, in the early 90s. At the time they were using Pride Inside...but this is a little different. For one thing, the music here is that combo of Great News & Pride Inside...and for another thing, it's a cut we (or at least I) have never heard, that follows the template of the Hello/Great News combo.

And speaking of speaking of Chattanooga, an unknown doth surface from WDEF - "Looking Out For The Tennessee Valley". This must have been their last refresh before going to Signature and ditching the NewsCenter 12 branding the next year. That makes 4 (that we know of) in 5 years (1986-1991) for them...

Don't think this has been posted before. WDEF 1987 with a rather odd cut of the WNDU 1986 theme: