Questions about "World News Tonight" 1978

[bmasters1 378]

I'd like to know a couple of things about the then-new "World News Tonight" of the late-'70's (the 3-anchor format):

 

1. Why was it that the Windy City (Chicago) was chosen as the place where the national (domestic) desk would be located? I can understand why Washington and London were chosen for Frank and Peter respectively (politics and international news), but for Max Robinson's national beat to come from America's Second City (or as one 1979 promo put it, "the heartland of America")-- I don't understand that.

 

2. I know that such a format exists for "Nightline," but could the 3-anchor format of the past also work in the future for "WNT"? (If it did, how would it work? Would it be, say, Charles Gibson in NYC, Elizabeth Vargas in L.A., and Bob Woodruff as a third anchor in who knows where?)

[WXmanTim 88]

I'd like to know a couple of things about the then-new "World News Tonight" of the late-'70's (the 3-anchor format):

 

1. Why was it that the Windy City (Chicago) was chosen as the place where the national (domestic) desk would be located? I can understand why Washington and London were chosen for Frank and Peter respectively (politics and international news), but for Max Robinson's national beat to come from America's Second City (or as one 1979 promo put it, "the heartland of America")-- I don't understand that.

 

If you really want to a good read on the history of ABCNews from the mid 70s until the early-to-mid 90s, I highly recommend Marc Gunther's 1994 book "The House That Roone Built: The Inside Story of ABCNews" (Gunther also penned another ABC/Roone Arledge bio, "Monday Night Mayhem" about the creation of "Monday Night Football"). From "House" I will answer your question.

 

In 1976, ABC hired Barbara Walters away from NBC (where was she was co-host of "Today") to co-anchor the ABC "Evening News" with Harry Reasoner. That experiment was a failure from the start as Reasoner displayed no respect, on-air or off, for his new co-anchor. Because of the failure, ABC fired then-news division president Bill Sheehan, bringing in the successful Roone Arledge, who - as president of ABC Sports - had transformed the division from an also-ran into the crown jewel of the network.

 

When Walters was hired, a clause in her contract gauranteed her the New York anchor spot for five years. Arledge briefly considered re-naming the role as "deskman" to get around this contract stipulation, but Walters ("to her everlasting credit," according to Arledge) chose not to hold ABC to the clause. However, to keep from rubbing it in her face and further embarrassing her, the decision was made to base the third anchor from somewhere other than New York - Chicago being the logical choice for coverage of "domestic" issues.

 

That was not without internal controversy, though. There's video of a

rant just prior to the start of "World News Tonight" after he found out that Washington-based anchor Frank Reynolds would intro the lead story on the crash that day of an American Airlines DC-10 at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Robinson, I think rightly, felt (and stated in so many words) that this was his story and that he should lead the broadcast. However, according to "House," Reynolds was designated "first among equals" and would always open the broadcast.

 

There is far more to the development of "World News Tonight's" first format, so if you have more interest, I highly suggest reading Gunther's book.

 

{Note: All information for this came from "The House that Roone Built: The Inside Story of ABCNews" by Marc Gunther, pages 30 - 80.}

 

2. I know that such a format exists for "Nightline," but could the 3-anchor format of the past also work in the future for "WNT"? (If it did, how would it work? Would it be, say, Charles Gibson in NYC, Elizabeth Vargas in L.A., and Bob Woodruff as a third anchor in who knows where?)

 

I really don't think so. Even a two-anchor format hasn't worked that well on the network newscasts, aside from the "Huntley/Brinkley Report" on NBC.

 

Both the Reasoner-Walters and Dan Rather-Connie Chung experiments are roundly considered failures. I think the most recent attempt at the two-anchor format, ABC's pairing of Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff, would have been eventually scrapped had Woodruff not been severely injured in Iraq first. Either one - or more likely both - would have been re-assigned or dumped completely.

 

22 minutes, while it seems like a long time, really goes by rather quickly and trying to give both anchors a voice or an equal amount of time to introduce stories is nearly impossible. I realize the two-anchor format works in local news and on the cable level, but for some reason that I can't quite explain, doesn't lend itself well to the network newscast. And even local news has tried, at times, to do a tri-anchor format. I believe WMAR-Baltimore attempted it, among others. And some of the Chicago folks can go into more detail on whether there is a true tri-anchor format and if it works or not at ABC-7.

 

 

A magazine format is a little different in that there isn't an attempt to squeeze as much information into that program as in a traditional newscast. Two or three long-form reports with a 30 to 45 second intro by each anchor works. Trying to juggle double or triple that many stories by two or more anchors during the evening newscast just doesn't come across well.

 

As Gunter says in "House": "...World News Tonight" was nevertheless an interesting journalistic experience - a gamble only a third-place network would take. And, I think, best left in that era.

[bmasters1 378]

If you really want to a good read on the history of ABCNews from the mid 70s until the early-to-mid 90s, I highly recommend Marc Gunther's 1994 book "The House That Roone Built: The Inside Story of ABCNews" (Gunther also penned another ABC/Roone Arledge bio, "Monday Night Mayhem" about the creation of "Monday Night Football"). From "House" I will answer your question.

 

In 1976, ABC hired Barbara Walters away from NBC (where was she was co-host of "Today") to co-anchor the ABC "Evening News" with Harry Reasoner. That experiment was a failure from the start as Reasoner displayed no respect, on-air or off, for his new co-anchor. Because of the failure, ABC fired then-news division president Bill Sheehan, bringing in the successful Roone Arledge, who - as president of ABC Sports - had transformed the division from an also-ran into the crown jewel of the network.

 

When Walters was hired, a clause in her contract gauranteed her the New York anchor spot for five years. Arledge briefly considered re-naming the role as "deskman" to get around this contract stipulation, but Walters ("to her everlasting credit," according to Arledge) chose not to hold ABC to the clause. However, to keep from rubbing it in her face and further embarrassing her, the decision was made to base the third anchor from somewhere other than New York - Chicago being the logical choice for coverage of "domestic" issues.

 

That was not without internal controversy, though. There's video of a

rant just prior to the start of "World News Tonight" after he found out that Washington-based anchor Frank Reynolds would intro the lead story on the crash that day of an American Airlines DC-10 at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Robinson, I think rightly, felt (and stated in so many words) that this was his story and that he should lead the broadcast. However, according to "House," Reynolds was designated "first among equals" and would always open the broadcast.

 

There is far more to the development of "World News Tonight's" first format, so if you have more interest, I highly suggest reading Gunther's book.

 

{Note: All information for this came from "The House that Roone Built: The Inside Story of ABCNews" by Marc Gunther, pages 30 - 80.}

 

 

 

I really don't think so. Even a two-anchor format hasn't worked that well on the network newscasts, aside from the "Huntley/Brinkley Report" on NBC.

 

Both the Reasoner-Walters and Dan Rather-Connie Chung experiments are roundly considered failures. I think the most recent attempt at the two-anchor format, ABC's pairing of Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff, would have been eventually scrapped had Woodruff not been severely injured in Iraq first. Either one - or more likely both - would have been re-assigned or dumped completely.

 

22 minutes, while it seems like a long time, really goes by rather quickly and trying to give both anchors a voice or an equal amount of time to introduce stories is nearly impossible. I realize the two-anchor format works in local news and on the cable level, but for some reason that I can't quite explain, doesn't lend itself well to the network newscast. And even local news has tried, at times, to do a tri-anchor format. I believe WMAR-Baltimore attempted it, among others. And some of the Chicago folks can go into more detail on whether there is a true tri-anchor format and if it works or not at ABC-7.

 

 

A magazine format is a little different in that there isn't an attempt to squeeze as much information into that program as in a traditional newscast. Two or three long-form reports with a 30 to 45 second intro by each anchor works. Trying to juggle double or triple that many stories by two or more anchors during the evening newscast just doesn't come across well.

 

As Gunter says in "House": "...World News Tonight" was nevertheless an interesting journalistic experience - a gamble only a third-place network would take. And, I think, best left in that era.

 

First, thanks for the responses that you gave. The first one was very well-versed and well-researched, I thought. Now I understand why Chicago was chosen for the national beat. I may still consider purchasing and reading that one book that you suggested (about Roone Arledge and ABC News), but your response really took me inside the workings of what ABC News was like then, and that is very much appreciated. By the way, I saw that "irate newscaster" clip that you mentioned--I saw it several times--and while I didn't quite expect the salty language, I could understand where Max was coming from.

 

Secondly, I wish that "Nightline" had stayed with one anchor from Washington even after Koppel had retired (instead of going to 3), but I think that I can agree with you on the fact that ABC's "gamble" of the late-'70's (as that book put it) wouldn't work today (at least for evening news). I can live with the current single-anchor format of Charles Gibson in NYC, I believe (because Charlie, I think, is pretty good), and (if I read you right) I can understand your opinion-- ABC should keep the 3-anchor format for "Nightline," but keep the single anchor for the evening news (at least, if I'm correct about what you said).

 

Again, thanks for your responses, and I enjoyed reading them.

[Jess 1110]

Just supplementing Tim's excellent answer...

 

The designation of "first among equals" for Frank Reynolds didn't come until a few years into the original three-anchor run, so Max or Peter would - at least in theory - read the first story when needed. Also, in the few clips that have surfaced from the original World News Tonight, Barbara Walters was heavily promoted as a special contributor from New York - possibly because of this contract.

 

I think the true innovation of World News Tonight was in its presentation rather than the three anchor setup... remember, NBC and CBS were very plain in their presentation, while ABC had the dramatic music, the bold graphics, the busy working newsrooms.

 

As far as Nightline goes, I think we're making the wrong comparisons here. Nightline isn't the "three-headed" anchor format used by World News Tonight, where you would see three anchors in the same broadcast. It's more of a "rotating anchor" format based off of BBC's Newsnight in the UK, where three people share one anchor seat. (This is the UK version, which airs nightly - the version BBC America and BBC World get is a "best of" that more or less treats Jeremy Paxman as the main host.)

[bmasters1 378]

I think the true innovation of World News Tonight was in its presentation rather than the three anchor setup... remember, NBC and CBS were very plain in their presentation, while ABC had the dramatic music, the bold graphics, the busy working newsrooms.

 

These newsrooms that you speak of stand to me as some of the best examples of what television news studio design was. I saw that 1978 News Brief that came from Chicago (presented by Max Robinson; the link is under Classic Video), and I liked the area in that newsroom where the national map was placed, among other things; that gave it a strong sense of place, I thought, and served to reinforce the fact that this was the national (a.k.a. "domestic") bureau. I recall saying in my comment on that clip that the newsroom design of the Chicago bureau at that time would have to stand a strong second to only that of the Washington bureau of the '80's, and that the London bureau that Peter came from would also rank high in my opinion-- that's how well these newsrooms were designed, I thought.