ABC 7 Eyewitness News thread

[24994J 5552]

KABC has a different logo, wordmark, formal verbal news branding, and package color scheme. Even if the theme was 100% the same, they still wouldn't be a carbon copy of WABC.

[GraphicsMan 109]

5 hours ago, 24994J said:

formal verbal news branding

From 1999-2004 both KABC and WABC had the same verbal news branding until WABC went back to “Channel 7 Eyewitness News”. Till this day I wonder why WABC was ABC7 Eyewitness News from 99-04. KABC until 1996 was “Channel 7 Eyewitness News” in clips I've since from back then I never really heard reporters verbally say it at the end of liveshots. I feel like when KABC became ABC7 Eyewitness News that when I saw reporters saying it during the end of liveshots. 

 

WABC from 2000 during “ABC7 Eyewitness News” era does anyone know why they took that brand?

 

 

5 hours ago, 24994J said:

wordmark

WABC has kept that “Eyewitness News” typeface forever now. KABC has changed its font multiple times. 

Edited June 1, 2024 by GraphicsMan

[24994J 5552]

Well-aware of all of that, but okay.

[NYAZSporty 124]

16 hours ago, GraphicsMan said:

From 1999-2004 both KABC and WABC had the same verbal news branding until WABC went back to “Channel 7 Eyewitness News”. Till this day I wonder why WABC was ABC7 Eyewitness News from 99-04. KABC until 1996 was “Channel 7 Eyewitness News” in clips I've since from back then I never really heard reporters verbally say it at the end of liveshots. I feel like when KABC became ABC7 Eyewitness News that when I saw reporters saying it during the end of liveshots. 

 

WABC from 2000 during “ABC7 Eyewitness News” era does anyone know why they took that brand?

I could care less about news branding, but maybe WABC in New York felt more like going back to tradition considering their history & decided against ABC network branding. Not the only ones in NYC doing it as WNBC does it opting for "News 4 New York", sister NBC O&O WRC in Washington, DC does the same with "News4". Also notice the websites for the 2 ABC flagships, you'd think abc7.com would be for their main flagship, but it actually goes to KABC in L.A. while it's abc7ny.com for NYC.

[GraphicsMan 109]

1 hour ago, NYCsporty said:

I could care less about news branding, but maybe WABC in New York felt more like going back to tradition considering their history & decided against ABC network branding. Not the only ones in NYC doing it as WNBC does it opting for "News 4 New York", sister NBC O&O WRC in Washington, DC does the same with "News4". Also notice the websites for the 2 ABC flagships, you'd think abc7.com would be for their main flagship, but it actually goes to KABC in L.A. while it's abc7ny.com for NYC.

I just still am amazed they broke tradition to do that. I just wondered why.

[MediaZone4K 2158]

15 hours ago, NYCsporty said:

I could care less about news branding, but maybe WABC in New York felt more like going back to tradition considering their history & decided against ABC network branding. Not the only ones in NYC doing it as WNBC does it opting for "News 4 New York", sister NBC O&O WRC in Washington, DC does the same with "News4". Also notice the websites for the 2 ABC flagships, you'd think abc7.com would be for their main flagship, but it actually goes to KABC in L.A. while it's abc7ny.com for NYC.

Agreed I suppose they initially wanted to emphasize network branding more, then opted to return to their roots.

 

Instresting observation. The the flagship NYC ABC/NBC and CW stations really don't verbally emphasize network branding. In PIX's case not even the network logo. But NYC has long been like this. Look at WABC, it barely featured the abc logo until the mid 90s. 

 

Desite the current ABC O&O streamlining they're still less identical than the 80s when they all had nearly identical sets.

 

Edited June 2, 2024 by MediaZone4K

[wabceyewitness 818]

On 6/1/2024 at 1:04 AM, GraphicsMan said:

From 1999-2004 both KABC and WABC had the same verbal news branding until WABC went back to “Channel 7 Eyewitness News”. Till this day I wonder why WABC was ABC7 Eyewitness News from 99-04. KABC until 1996 was “Channel 7 Eyewitness News” in clips I've since from back then I never really heard reporters verbally say it at the end of liveshots. I feel like when KABC became ABC7 Eyewitness News that when I saw reporters saying it during the end of liveshots. 

 

WABC from 2000 during “ABC7 Eyewitness News” era does anyone know why they took that brand?

 

 

WABC has kept that “Eyewitness News” typeface forever now. KABC has changed its font multiple times. 

Because at the time, ABC was a strong network and often finishing #1 in primetime thanks to hits like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and then Desperate Housewives, Lost, etc. a few years later. WABC was also trying to climb back to the top spot in news ratings after falling behind WNBC at 5pm and 6pm for the first time since the 1980s. (WNBC has just picked up Judge Judy from WCBS and Judy on Ch. 4 began beating Oprah on Ch. 7. As a result, WABC’s lost its longtime grip on the 4pm, 5pm and 6pm time slots.) Co-branding with a strong ABC made sense, and Disney/ABC wanted their owned stations branded as ABC. 
 

Eventually, ABC’s prime time hot streak ended after Millionaire was over scheduled and research found that New Yorkers never warmed up to identifying Eyewitness News with “ABC7”… it was and is identified with “Channel 7”.  So, WABC reverted to Channel 7 for news branding and held on to ABC7 for non-news branding, thanks in part to Disney/ABC forcing the ABC co-branding. 
 

21 hours ago, NYCsporty said:

Also notice the websites for the 2 ABC flagships, you'd think abc7.com would be for their main flagship, but it actually goes to KABC in L.A. while it's abc7ny.com for NYC.

 

Because at the time of website launches, KABC was better known as ABC7 by LA area viewers. “ABC7” never existed nor caught on with New York area viewers, hence why WABC launched as 7online.com. 

[GraphicsMan 109]

44 minutes ago, wabceyewitness said:

Because at the time, ABC was a strong network and often finishing #1 in primetime thanks to hits like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and then Desperate Housewives, Lost, etc. a few years later. WABC was also trying to climb back to the top spot in news ratings after falling behind WNBC at 5pm and 6pm for the first time since the 1980s. (WNBC has just picked up Judge Judy from WCBS and Judy on Ch. 4 began beating Oprah on Ch. 7. As a result, WABC’s lost its longtime grip on the 4pm, 5pm and 6pm time slots.) Co-branding with a strong ABC made sense, and Disney/ABC wanted their owned stations branded as ABC. 
 

Eventually, ABC’s prime time hot streak ended after Millionaire was over scheduled and research found that New Yorkers never warmed up to identifying Eyewitness News with “ABC7”… it was and is identified with “Channel 7”.  So, WABC reverted to Channel 7 for news branding and held on to ABC7 for non-news branding, thanks in part to Disney/ABC forcing the ABC co-branding. 
 

 

Because at the time of website launches, KABC was better known as ABC7 by LA area viewers. “ABC7” never existed nor caught on with New York area viewers, hence why WABC launched as 7online.com. 

I remember when WTVD kept ABC 11 but briefly rebranded to “Channel 11 Eyewitness News” in 2005, but the annocuer still called it ABC11 Eyewitness News but it was brief by the end of 2005 reporters stopped saying that and they returned to “ABC 11 Eyewitness News”.  KTRK in 2015 became “ABC 13 Eyewitness News” and after being “13 Eyewitness News” but kept in general ABC13. 

 

 

Here a brief look at “Channel 11 Eyewitness News”.

 

 

Edited June 2, 2024 by GraphicsMan

[abc7 Man 46]

On 6/1/2024 at 5:55 PM, NYCsporty said:

I could care less about news branding, but maybe WABC in New York felt more like going back to tradition considering their history & decided against ABC network branding. Not the only ones in NYC doing it as WNBC does it opting for "News 4 New York", sister NBC O&O WRC in Washington, DC does the same with "News4". Also notice the websites for the 2 ABC flagships, you'd think abc7.com would be for their main flagship, but it actually goes to KABC in L.A. while it's abc7ny.com for NYC.

In NY, WABC used 7online.com only until a few years ago when they updated all their social media platforms to be abc7ny. That’s when they changed their URL.

[Vlad 323]

On 6/2/2024 at 3:26 PM, wabceyewitness said:

Because at the time, ABC was a strong network and often finishing #1 in primetime thanks to hits like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and then Desperate Housewives, Lost, etc. a few years later. WABC was also trying to climb back to the top spot in news ratings after falling behind WNBC at 5pm and 6pm for the first time since the 1980s. (WNBC has just picked up Judge Judy from WCBS and Judy on Ch. 4 began beating Oprah on Ch. 7. As a result, WABC’s lost its longtime grip on the 4pm, 5pm and 6pm time slots.) Co-branding with a strong ABC made sense, and Disney/ABC wanted their owned stations branded as ABC. 
 

Eventually, ABC’s prime time hot streak ended after Millionaire was over scheduled and research found that New Yorkers never warmed up to identifying Eyewitness News with “ABC7”… it was and is identified with “Channel 7”.  So, WABC reverted to Channel 7 for news branding and held on to ABC7 for non-news branding, thanks in part to Disney/ABC forcing the ABC co-branding. 
 

 

Because at the time of website launches, KABC was better known as ABC7 by LA area viewers. “ABC7” never existed nor caught on with New York area viewers, hence why WABC launched as 7online.com. 

 

It is basically that. New Yorkers have a lot of colloquialisms and have a relaxed way of referring to things sometimes, and one of those is referring to WABC as "Channel 7", especially for the older generations, they identify ABC 7 as "Channel 7" not sure how much longer people will continue to say "Channel 7" since these days we don't "tune" channels anymore everything is digital so perhaps in the near future, I wouldn't be suprised if they returned back to rebranding their newscast as "ABC 7" Eyewitness News especially since their online presence is now "ABC 7" NY. to me it makes more sense to identify as "ABC 7" again. There is an old thread over in the New York Forum here that discussed the branding switch when it happened in 2004 (20 years ago now, wow does the time fly). Most of us came to the consensus at the time that the switch was made because the average New Yorker identified Channel 7 with the newscast. I don't think they are mandated to say "Channel 7" ocassionally reporters say "ABC 7".

 

Another thing that WABC and the other O&Os abandoned that KABC and KGO in the north retain is the iconic "Circle 7" Pins. Every KABC and KGO on-air staffer wears it, WABC and WLS had that standard for a while, especially in the early days but dropped it I guess in the early 90s.  Personally I like them, and since WABC is the top in the nation, it would be a nice honorary symbol for them. 

Edited June 4, 2024 by Vlad

[sfomspphl 490]

1 hour ago, Vlad said:

 

It is basically that. New Yorkers have a lot of colloquialisms and have a relaxed way of referring to things sometimes, and one of those is referring to WABC as "Channel 7", especially for the older generations, they identify ABC 7 as "Channel 7" not sure how much longer people will continue to say "Channel 7" since these days we don't "tune" channels anymore everything is digital so perhaps in the near future, I wouldn't be suprised if they returned back to rebranding their newscast as "ABC 7" Eyewitness News especially since their online presence is now "ABC 7" NY. to me it makes more sense to identify as "ABC 7" again. There is an old thread over in the New York Forum here that discussed the branding switch when it happened in 2004 (20 years ago now, wow does the time fly). Most of us came to the consensus at the time that the switch was made because the average New Yorker identified Channel 7 with the newscast. I don't think they are mandated to say "Channel 7" ocassionally reporters say "ABC 7".

 

Another thing that WABC and the other O&Os abandoned that KABC and KGO in the north retain is the iconic "Circle 7" Pins. Every KABC and KGO on-air staffer wears it, WABC and WLS had that standard for a while, especially in the early days but dropped it I guess in the early 90s.  Personally I like them, and since WABC is the top in the nation, it would be a nice honorary symbol for them. 

 

I didn't realize NY and Chicago were less formal with the pins. Looks like KABC has kept them going consistently 70s to today. You'd think CA being more laid back would have been more in and out with it than NY / Chicago but you're right - they are the most consistent with it. I think it's a nice touch that adds professionalism and reinforces the brand. 

Edited June 4, 2024 by sfomspphl

[24994J 5552]

20 hours ago, sfomspphl said:

I didn't realize NY and Chicago were less formal with the pins. Looks like KABC has kept them going consistently 70s to today. You'd think CA being more laid back would have been more in and out with it than NY / Chicago but you're right - they are the most consistent with it. I think it's a nice touch that adds professionalism and reinforces the brand. 

 

The last 2 people at WLS with the pins have since retired. Traffic anchor Roz Varon would wear it on work anniversaries & special occasions, while anchor Alan Krashesky turned his into cufflinks.

 

Edited June 5, 2024 by 24994J

[GraphicsMan 109]

3 hours ago, 24994J said:

 

The last 2 people at WLS with the pins have since retired. Traffic anchor Roz Varon would wear it on work anniversaries & special occasions, like anchor Alan Krashesky turned his into cufflinks.

 

I think KGO does them too, but I don't see them as much as in LA with the 7 label pins. Ofc KFSN started it a few years ago, though I don't see there anchors wearing it a lot perhaps i'm not looking close enough. I noticed with clips of KGO from the '90s to early 00s to as far up as a few years ago some of the anchors don't wear them. I feel like KGO more laxed then LA becasue KABC must mandate it. 

Edited June 5, 2024 by GraphicsMan

[MediaZone4K 2158]

And despite all the similarities now the sets are sill different.  KABC *tops WABC in that reguard, although their *video wall feed is beginning to look grainy.

Edited June 5, 2024 by MediaZone4K

[GraphicsMan 109]

45 minutes ago, MediaZone4K said:

And despite all the similarities now the sets are sill different.  KABC tips WABC in that reguard, although their Neil wall feed is beginning to look grainy.

KABC still has the best set in the group. 

[Encore 323 23]

Dallas Raines celebrated his 40th anniversary with the station today.

Time sure goes by very quick these days.

[MD TV 253]

The tribute to Dallas on his 40 years:

 

 

[Vlad 323]

Aw what an incredible tribute to Dallas. Really the talent at KABC is such a class act. So cool to see them all on the set. KABC has some top notch talent, to say the least! Dallas is incredible too, hope he stays at least till his 50th anniversary! 10 more years!

[Vlad 323]

By chance right now I'm watching a 7AM stream of KABC ABC 7 Eyewitness News with Leslie Sykes, and I noticed they are using their previous morning NG4 cut again!. Did they switch the music back? Also the open didn't have the WABC cut, was so nice to hear it with the new graphics. . 

 

 

 

Edited June 18, 2024 by Vlad

[MD TV 253]

Congratulations to Brianna Ruffalo, who got engaged to actor Josh Lucas:

 

https://abc7.com/post/abc7-meteorologist-brianna-ruffalo-yellowstone-actor-josh-lucas/15012279/

[Encore 323 23]

Since last Friday, ABC7 has been using different music that sounds unrelated to the Eyewitness News theme for the 11am closing credits and whatever it is they are using has that LA vibe compared to the WABC closing theme they were originally using for the credits.

[24994J 5552]

23 minutes ago, Encore 323 said:

Since last Friday, ABC7 has been using different music that sounds unrelated to the Eyewitness News theme for the 11am closing credits and whatever it is they are using has that LA vibe compared to the WABC closing theme they were originally using for the credits.

 

It's just production music.

[Encore 323 23]

2 hours ago, 24994J said:

 

It's just production music.

Well, it sounds upbeat, fun, and it has a good vibe to it so it’s fine by me.

[Vlad 323]

Yeah they used the old 2012 morning theme for the 7AM stream as well. The only rationale I see behind the WABC music adoption is to keep the West and East largest cities streamlined and sorta unified in a way on their appearance, so if someone from New York tunes in they'll recognize the Eyewitness News theme right away and vice versa. 

Edited July 16, 2024 by Vlad

[MD TV 253]

They're being simulcast on KGO right now due to techincal difficulties over there.