[arbeiter]

One of my favorite but more unusual interests is television continuity, or basically, the art of on-air presentation. My favorite things are logos, idents, junctions, station breaks, self-promotion, newscast jingles, all of that. Of course, these days, they seem too glossy and repetitive, but there was a time when many of us could remember how local TV really shaped itself as a gigantic cheerleader/representative of the city itself.

I thought it would be interesting to share past Youtube clips or photos or whatnot of old promotional campaigns, TV news, etc. which really stood out. It could be an intro to a newscast that features the city prominently, it could be a campaign that has a whole city-focused approach, or it could simply be just a remarkable or stylish logo/ident that seemed to capture the city well.

Of all the many that I have seen, I think Philadelphia had the best campaign with "DIRECT CONNECTION" in 1979 for KYW. It is an amazing piece of work, I would even say art. It is hip, ambiguous, yet direct, dramatic and totally playful and odd. It makes Philadelphia seem like the most amazing place, and has a top-notch electro disco soundtrack to boot. It was so successful on me that I already feel like I know Trudy Haynes and Bill Currie.

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Another one of my favorites was "Iola!" dedicated to Dallas' first black newsanchorwoman Iola Johnson, on WFAA.

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Here's a good KING5 morning news intro from Seattle. I was 3 months old! I think KING 5's strongest suit was its letter K with a crown, still their signature.

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The most "avant-garde" TV news intro was for CBC's the National, which isn't a city-based or local news programme, but it's still worth watching. Look at those funky Computer-barcode letters and listen to lovely the quasi-synthpop quasi-calypso musical intro.

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Cleveland's "Catch 5" was the promo that started all promos, although it does not really have anything Cleveland-specific about it, other than the ancient and lovely Dorothy Fuldheim:

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anyway, find some from your hometown, or share your favorite stuff!

[Strange Meat]

http://conservativedialysis.com/~mnick/wp/images/anchorman.jpg
http://conservativedialysis.com/~mnick/wp/images/anchorman.jpg

[futuresooner]

IMO, the news graphics and image can help the image somewhat. I actualyl enjoy watching them from various markets and stations on Youtube.

OMG, did I just admit that?

[Brandon716]

^^Peter Mansbridge only a correspondent?! You don't say! LOL

Interesting vids. I grew up in Nashville thus here is some of the old, old news coverage I really can't remember. Ch. 5 used to have this 'new south' theme they wanted to push, and for most of my childhood it wasn't just a TV theme but a community theme in the mid state.

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And the new GM Saturn plant was all the rage when built in the 80's. This was big, big, big back in the day and I remember my dad took me to see the plant when I was a wee little kid.

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..now its future fate is undecided

BTW, WTVF Ch. 5 is the local Nashville station that Oprah Winfrey got her start in the 70's, then she moved to Chicago and made it big.

Oh, and for a more modern clip, Nashville was completely crazy for Ron Paul back when he ran:

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[PhillyRising]

Gee Matt...I was 12 years old in 1979 and I don't remember those commercials for Channel 3. It was pretty cool and hip...considering back in those days Philadelphia was a pretty dowdy place.

In those days and as it still remains today...everyone in Philadelphia was watching Action News on Channel 6 with their iconic opening.

From 1981

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From 2007

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This opening for Action News on WTAE in Pittsburgh for 1983 was very cool. It the opening I remember as a college student at IUP. I like how the 4 is used for the three rivers and the city animation was pretty high tech for 1983The announcer sounds like the guy that did all the voice promos for the movies. The only thing bad is Sally Wiggins hair.

BTW....it was a bitterly cold Christmas in Pittsburgh!

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[Evergrey]

my god, Sally Wiggin looked old 26 years ago!

[theWatusi]

In those days and as it still remains today...everyone in Philadelphia was watching Action News on Channel 6 with their iconic opening.


I don't know how many thousands of times I heard the Action News song growing up. I very rarely watch the news, but when I do and hear that song it takes me back to childhood.


This spoof of it is pretty funny:

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[arbeiter]

Gee Matt...I was 12 years old in 1979 and I don't remember those commercials for Channel 3. It was pretty cool and hip...considering back in those days Philadelphia was a pretty dowdy place.

In those days and as it still remains today...everyone in Philadelphia was watching Action News on Channel 6 with their iconic opening.

From 1981

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I have seen the Action News opening - it's great. But it's not the only one from 1981 to use the exact same theme music and even the same montage style of "action" footage. 9,000 miles away, Melbourne, Australia did the exact same thing (I was shocked! Replace the Philly woman scraping ice off her windshield with the Melburnian woman doing aerobics and they're pretty much the same - even both intros feature a building with a huge Victorian clock!)

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[arbeiter]

Interesting vids. I grew up in Nashville thus here is some of the old, old news coverage I really can't remember. Ch. 5 used to have this 'new south' theme they wanted to push, and for most of my childhood it wasn't just a TV theme but a community theme in the mid state.

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I love how much of an inferiority complex the South had - we're the New South! New! That clip is right around the breaking point of TV promo jingles - sometime in the late 80's it all just died. That was the "earnest white contralto" era, where the woman always had to step out and "sing like she meant it". Here's another example of that cliche:

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[seaskyfan]

I lived in Philly for a few years - the biggest surprise for me about the Action News theme was that it had words.

I grew up in Boston - the news outfits there were a lot more serious for the most part (except channel 7).

Some samples:

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That is the same guy - Tom Ellis - on channel 5 and channel 7. Natalie got him canned to make room for her (now ex) hubby. Both Tom and the Ex wound up on New England Cable News (NECN) which is also known as "Never Ever Cross Natalie."

[hudkina]

Detroit has had a few of these. One of the more famous ones was created by WXYZ in the 80's with the slogan: "Stand Up and Tell Them You're from Detroit!"

There's a nice bit of irony in the beginning of this video:
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[flar]

^^That song popped into my head even before I watched the video

It wasn't just the local news that contributed to the pop image of cities, I always thought it was neat that so many television shows prominently featured the city they were set in (not just NY and LA).

[Brandon716]

Stations still sometimes do promos though, so they aren't all out of style. Just found one for here in Pittsburgh that ran a few years back. I wasn't living in Pittsburgh when this ran.

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[hudkina]

Apparently the original "promo" to use that jingle was Cleveland's WKYC.

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Not long after Detroit localized it and created the "stand up and tell 'em you're from Detroit", slogan which was then used by many cities around the country.

[Buckeye Native 001]

WLWT Cincinnati...featuring everyone's favorite trash talk show host

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Piss poor video and sound quality.

[Drewcifer]

When I was growing up I got my news from WKTV in Utica. There is not much from WKTV from those days on the internet but I did find this:

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I bet if news today had funky fadeout music like that more people would watch.

[seaskyfan]

Some more from Boston.

"Channel 5 & You" Promos

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"We're 4" Promos

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[blade_bltz]

^^ wow so BU actually had a football team...LOL

Here's a great clip from before my time (well, I was just born). Let's just say the Kenmore Square of today couldn't be further from this one. Some of the dialogue is just classic.

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[seaskyfan]

^^ wow so BU actually had a football team...LOL

Here's a great clip from before my time (well, I was just born). Let's just say the Kenmore Square of today couldn't be further from this one. Some of the dialogue is just classic.

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That's a great clip (or should I say wicked awesome?).

I remember getting into the Rat as a senior in high school and getting at least as drunk as the folks he's interviewing. Looks kind of gross now....

[rockyi]

edit.

[YRB]

I don't know about before, but now it's all trash

[Juelz]

This is Miami's WSVN-7 before it switched affiliation from NBC to FOX and became the sensationalized tabloid icon it remains today. It mantained a real hometown feel during the drug and crime waves Miami went through in the 80's

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__________________________________________________________________________________________



Then after a stint as an independant station and then a FOX affiliation, it changed and went by the philosophy "If it bleeds, it leads". With the focus on crime and flashy graphics it got huge ratings and created tabloid news. This model garnered it national attention and soon influenced how we all got news, its basically how all newscasts go by now across the country. Its was all the brainchild of Joel Cheatwood.


Rick Sanchez is now on CNN.
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This is them today. Flashy graphics and scary headlines galore.
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[KevinFromTexas]

KTBC Channel 7 in Austin. This was before 1995 when the made the move from CBS to Fox.

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[arbeiter]

Kevin, these are all I've really seen of "older" Austin news. Sadly there seem to be almost no 1980's era Austin clips. We should find some and upload them to youtube!