Classic Video Thread (pre-2008)

[Breaking News 829]

KSTP 5 Eyewitness News Open in the 80s with the famous morse code part of the theme. The last video is a full broadcast of the 10pm news back in 1985.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T_rjjfIBCc

 

 

 

 

Ron Magers at KSTP back in 1979.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=uvl4AQIkAts;list=PL1HrHQCEjWBPjKB2umb1wPEAVnbxsH-mi

[Samantha 2895]

An excerpt of WVIT news from 1987. There is also a close from this era, with the "typewriter" Connecticut News theme:

 

[Samantha 2895]

Here's looking at you! WEAU's mid-80s image package surfaces with two videos from the station itself:

 

 

 

The melody matches the news theme from this era which was just added to the NMSA.

[Samantha 2895]

<3_<3

 

The first video has two KPNX opens (10pm and 5pm) from what I'm going to call the "Indian Girl" series. This was the first series of opens using News Station and the only one with talent opens. Only a morning open had shown up prior to today. These are seriously impressive and have even more excellent imagery than I knew was in this package.

 

The second two are KSAZ promos from the Fox affiliation switch in 1994. One is a station promo "It's a Whole New Spirit". The other is a very well done set of news promos voiced by John B. Wells.

 

Both are real treats!

 

 

 

[Samantha 2895]

This bundle of ABC and WSAV stuff from February 1985 (from WSAV's three-year stint with ABC) includes a news brief using And You (cued to start with the news brief). This theme was ditched when they went back to NBC that fall:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=OdNzKiC-I7k;t=539

 

A WSAV newscast (partial) from 1991:

 

 

And a WJCL open from 1987:

 

[Samantha 2895]

We're Your Kind of People...again! The video and audio quality are a mess, but this is a WAFF open we did not have before.

 

This is from 1986 and is the "Nightcast" cut which is different from the one found years ago for "First News" and on the NMSA. It is definitely part of the same package.

 

[Samantha 2895]

Another early News Station item - various graphics in this January 1994 KPNX story:

 

[WFTV Channel 9 80]

We're Your Kind of People...again! The video and audio quality are a mess, but this is a WAFF open we did not have before.

 

This is from 1986 and is the "Nightcast" cut which is different from the one found years ago for "First News" and on the NMSA. It is definitely part of the same package.

 

Wow! WAFF is a bit behind using the "Proud N" NBC logo all the way to 1986.

[Samantha 2895]

Wow! WAFF is a bit behind using the "Proud N" NBC logo all the way to 1986.

 

The trapezoid with peacock was still in use through 1986 at the network level, but the "uneven 48" did date to the 70s. It was on its way out and replaced the next year when WAFF's newscasts became known as "The News" (

).

[WFTV Channel 9 80]

The trapezoid with peacock was still in use through 1986 at the network level, but the "uneven 48" did date to the 70s. It was on its way out and replaced the next year when WAFF's newscasts became known as "The News" (

).

D'oh my mistake! The "Proud N" logo WAS the one with the peacock. I was referring to the peacock-less N in the beginning of the video with the uneven 48 logo that way outdated by 1986. Heck, WAFF itself looked a bit 70s-ish in 1986.

[Samantha 2895]

D'oh my mistake! The "Proud N" logo WAS the one with the peacock. I was referring to the peacock-less N in the beginning of the video with the uneven 48 logo that way outdated by 1986. Heck, WAFF itself looked a bit 70s-ish in 1986.

 

For a station that had lost almost everything in a fire and rebuilt *and* was with a number-one network by this point, WAFF was really stuck in a time warp. The opens looked more like 1983 than anything else. They were about to correct that. The "The News" look that launched either late in 86 or in 87 — which also brought with it a much-needed new set — truly was an improvement.

 

———

 

This, though, is not stuck in a time warp:

 

[KnoxvilleTVFan 286]

We take you back to somewhere in the mid to late 1970s where WPVI did a story about Bob Hite, Robert Phillip HIte that is. During a week in the 1970s, Bob Hite took a few days off the anchor desk to attend to the birth of a baby, young Robert Phillip Hite. As you'll see in the clip, the young Bob Hite makes its TV debut. The clip also features an open without voiceover in the beginning and at the end, a portion of a WPVI news close using a different cut of MCTYW.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUUzyTtNaVY

 

Also, we take you back to 1989 where WYFF-TV in Greenville, SC was covering the events of today the day before Hurricane Hugo ravaged the area. This newscast was recorded months before "NewsCenter 4" became "News 4".

 

 

And wait there's more...let's enjoy a rare WHSV newscast from 1991. It features an unknown theme heard in the opening and closing of the newscast.

 

 

Plus, we take you back to 1976 where WYTV 33 in Youngstown was known as "33 Eyewitness News" and is showcased in this YouTube clip. The opening has no music, but voiceover is included.

 

 

During 1979, WPGH-TV 53 in Pittsburgh, PA was an independent station. What you may or may not know was that they had a newscast shown weeknights entitled "Newswatch". Watch at :22 for a theme you may recognize. Here is a hint: WTVR in Richmond, VA used that theme for its "News 90" broadcasts.

 

[KnoxvilleTVFan 286]

I may have shared this one earlier, but if not, I am sharing this one for the first time. From 1977, here is the opening to WBIR-TV's "NewsCenter 10" utilizing the music from CBS's promo campaign of that year, "There's Something In The Air".

 

 

We now take you to Yakima where KNDO opens its news from April 6, 1992 (24 years ago this month).

 

 

With the recent finding of a WAFF Nightcast open using "We're Your Kind of People", here is a video from 1982 that focuses on the efforts to bring back WAFF 48 just days after fire burned their station's facilities. At 23:26 into the video, a video montage of happenings in the Tennessee Valley is shown and is done to the tune of "We're Your Kind of People".

 

Interesting fact: They had written a special song for the Tennessee Valley and WAFF just days before the fire. After the station signed back on the air, they had it redone.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t89ky5_yWyY

 

Forty years ago this month, WAGA, WXIA and WSB-TV were Atlanta's stations covering local news and the events shaping Atlanta and the world These days, they still cover the local news and events shaping Atlanta and the world. What better way to mention this is by sharing a video containing all three news opens from April 1976. Here is what themes they used during that year:

 

WSB-TV: "Move Closer To Your World" (Mayoham Music)

WAGA: "Home Country" (Mayoham Music)

WXIA: "A Clockwork Orange: Timesteps" (Walter Carlos)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bmzYb9NWdU

[KnoxvilleTVFan 286]

This bundle of ABC and WSAV stuff from February 1985 (from WSAV's three-year stint with ABC) includes a news brief using And You (cued to start with the news brief). This theme was ditched when they went back to NBC that fall:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=OdNzKiC-I7k;t=539

 

It is good that you posted this, because I do recognize the WSAV sports anchor sitting next to the anchorman. That has to be Rick Russo who currently works for WVLT-TV 8 in Knoxville. Rick has been working at WVLT since the mid to late 1980s when the station was an NBC afffiliate on channel 26 as WTVK.

[Samantha 2895]

That might actually have been the first time We're Your Kind of People ever aired.

[Samantha 2895]

Items from KUTV in 1987 and KTVX in 1995. Does anyone recognize the KTVX theme?

 

[Samantha 2895]

A partial WCBD open from 1992 reveals Pride Inside:

 

[RetroCirq 148]

Direct rip from yours truly, a WNBC Open from 1995

 

[Samantha 2895]

FOX SIX! WITI in 1997:

 

 

EDIT: The open showed up!

 

[KnoxvilleTVFan 286]

In a recent reply, I shared a video containing three Atlanta TV news opens from 1976 (WSB, WAGA and WXIA). Now, there is another video to be shared. We take you back to April 22, 1984 where WSB-TV opened its newscast. The news team at the time were John McKnight and Jill Becker on news, Ernie Johnson on sports and Dan Atkinson with weather. The theme they used was Gari's "Newschannel" theme package.

 

 

But wait, there's more. We take you to 1994 where we view both WGPR (now WWJ-TV, CBS) and WJBK (now FOX). Watch at 6:22 where you can view a portion of a Steve Antoniotti editorial aired on WJBK that details the station's FOX affiliation plans which included FOX's national favorites and more news.

 

[Samantha 2895]

That WGPR-CBS promo with the solar eclipse is similar to

.

 

The irony is rich... "CBS is bigger than ever" on a high channel number and it's going "where no network has gone before". When I wrote a New World at 20 piece titled "62's a Pretty Big Number", I didn't know that promo existed!

 

WGPR was about to undergo arguably the biggest metamorphosis of all the new network affiliates. What a strange lineup they had to have had at this time with these local shows and the CBS network programming!

 

The WJBK switch promo is pretty cool and is similar in tone (not entirely) to the one KSAZ did.

[TexasTVNews 1377]

Found one clip of WITI from 1996.

[Samantha 2895]

That's interesting too because it shows the original "SIX IS NEWS" logo set. In 1997, as occurred at many of the New World stations, Fox branding was made more prominent. At a few, like WITI and WAGA, the original brand was simply modified and lasted one more year.

[KnoxvilleTVFan 286]

Here is a very rare look at how WPCQ done local news in 1982. In this video, you'll notice that WPCQ used the "Q36" logo in their mic flag as well as the Group W "36" logo on the TV screen during the closing. The video features a report on a local high school marching band that participated in the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville. The newscasts on WPCQ in 1982 were known as "Action News" and was affiliated with NBC. Watch at the end of the video, because it features WPCQ's news team on the set.

 

 

"11 Action News at Noon. Setting The Standard". From 1986, here is a noon news open for KTHV's "11 Action News".

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUVyOWXTKfQ

 

From the KLMO-TV Channel 4 YouTube page, here is a KRON "NewsCenter 4" open from 1984. The opening graphics for KRON's news looked very solid and clean. Roz Abrams and Jim Paymar were the anchor team on KRON at the time.

 

[WAVY 10 Fan 233]

From radioman1968's channel; a video tribute of sorts to late Atlanta anchor Chuck Moore featuring clips from his time at WAGA