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Eyewitness News Theme from the late 60's / Early 70's

R

RadioMan203

I've always heard the story that the Frank Gari "Eyewitness News" theme was based on Lalo Schifrin's music featured in the tar sequence of the movie "Cool Hand Luke". I finally got a chance to watch the movie and low and behold, it was funnier than anything to hear it. Mind you, it wasn't in the order that we'd be accustomed to hearing it, but you could hear at least two or three different parts and it was unmistakable.

Just something I thought I'd throw out there for the TV news junkies out there.


Bill
 
Interesting observation. The tar scene music of course became a popular news open at stations everywhere, and many just edited the track and used it straight from the movie soundtrack. I've often wondered if any of the stations ever paid any licensing fees or "needle drop" charges for using the excerpt, and whether there were any copy right infringement actions filed.

The CHL music was high energy and very "up," perfect to cover a wide shot of a news set as the anchors walked (almost trotted) onto the set, ready to deliver a fast few minutes of the latest news.
 
nuzguy said:
Interesting observation. The tar scene music of course became a popular news open at stations everywhere, and many just edited the track and used it straight from the movie soundtrack. I've often wondered if any of the stations ever paid any licensing fees or "needle drop" charges for using the excerpt, and whether there were any copy right infringement actions filed.

The CHL music was high energy and very "up," perfect to cover a wide shot of a news set as the anchors walked (almost trotted) onto the set, ready to deliver a fast few minutes of the latest news.
Click to expand...


Of course, the ABC O & Os were famous for using that 'CHL' theme. In San Francisco, KGO didn't actually show its anchors (notably Van Amburg) 'walking to the desk', but reading the above reminded me that they would show clips of each member of the 'news team', filmed in the newsroom, looking into the camera, and then 'walking' away...seemingly as if in the direction of the studio!
How many other stations actually showed an 'on-camera' sprint for the desk?
 
nuzguy said:
Interesting observation. The tar scene music of course became a popular news open at stations everywhere, and many just edited the track and used it straight from the movie soundtrack. I've often wondered if any of the stations ever paid any licensing fees or "needle drop" charges for using the excerpt, and whether there were any copy right infringement actions filed.
Click to expand...

Great background for the CHL new theme here: http://www.80stvthemes.com/potpourri/en/ There's mention of a rumor about royalties, which may be why stations moved away from this theme.

nuzguy said:
The CHL music was high energy and very "up," perfect to cover a wide shot of a news set as the anchors walked (almost trotted) onto the set, ready to deliver a fast few minutes of the latest news.
Click to expand...

I think I've seen that once, but I don't recall if the ABC O&O in New York (WABC 7) did that as part of their opening.
 
AFAIK, that didn't happen. But one of their opens, seen on TV-Ark, has a WPVI-like feel to it--a montage of people along the streets of New York. It ends with the anchors in the newsroom. This was from 1979.
 
KTBS in Shreveport used CHL to open a new era in news in Fall, 1976, when the station was getting out of rip and read and instead attempting produced newscasts with reporters, packages, the works. The set had a huge weather board about 6 by 9 feet that flipped vertically on side-mounted pinions. As the CHL music rolled, the weather man would turn the weather display (gave new meaning to as the world turns) and anchors would be walking onto the set. It was all rather grandiose and lasted six months or so before a more static, down sized set was built. Former Channel 3 staffers joked that the weather board after its retirement was purchased by the Navy for use as an aircraft carrier.
 
That opening with the anchors trotting onto the news set wasthe subject of an earlier thread at this website, probably in the same "Classic TV" board, but I can't remember when. One person posting said that his local affiliate stopped using this hokey opening when the weather guy tripped over a cable and went sprawling onto his face.

KGO-TV used the Cool Hand Luke there for years, dropped it waround the time Van Amburg was dumped, but then brought it back a year or two later.
 
Lkeller said:
That opening with the anchors trotting onto the news set wasthe subject of an earlier thread at this website, probably in the same "Classic TV" board, but I can't remember when. One person posting said that his local affiliate stopped using this hokey opening when the weather guy tripped over a cable and went sprawling onto his face.

KGO-TV used the Cool Hand Luke there for years, dropped it waround the time Van Amburg was dumped, but then brought it back a year or two later.
Click to expand...
Youtube had at least one 'spoof' of that opening, with a similar ending.

KGO (and presumably the other ABC O and O's) did bring back a modified 'CHL' theme, but I don't think they used the original (from the movie soundtrack) after 1984. I seem to remember they switched themes that summer, when the Olympics and political conventions(all on ABC) were making them juggle their news schedule.
'84 was the first year I heard KGO use a different opening theme for its convention-oriented newscasts, from another western, 'The Outlaw Josey Wales'. They only used this during the weeks of the Democratic (in S.F. that year) and Republican conventions.
 
Given the title of this thread, I feel obligated to be picky and mention that KGO-TV never had "Eyewitness News." I was surprised when I got to the Bay Area in 73 and found that KPIX (the CBS affiliate) had Eyewitness News, which is still their title to this day. I had always assumed it was copyrighted by the ABC O&Os. I believe KGO's broadcast (top rated by far in those days) was "News Scene." They were the first to go back to the now popular generic titles, with "Channel 7 News," about the time they dumped Van Amburg in the early 80s. Trivia question - does anybody else recall the short period that KPIX did NOT use the "Eyewitness" label?
 
Lkeller said:
Given the title of this thread, I feel obligated to be picky and mention that KGO-TV never had "Eyewitness News." I was surprised when I got to the Bay Area in 73 and found that KPIX (the CBS affiliate) had Eyewitness News, which is still their title to this day. I had always assumed it was copyrighted by the ABC O&Os. I believe KGO's broadcast (top rated by far in those days) was "News Scene." They were the first to go back to the now popular generic titles, with "Channel 7 News," about the time they dumped Van Amburg in the early 80s. Trivia question - does anybody else recall the short period that KPIX did NOT use the "Eyewitness" label?
Click to expand...

"Eyewitness News" was used by I believe all of the Westinghouse Stations with exception of Charlotte at one time called their news Eyewitness News and since KPIX was part of Westinghouse they used that name.

KPIX, Baltimore's WJZ and Philly's KYW are former Westinghouse stations of course today still use Eyewtiness News, and in the case with WJZ and KYW, since the 60s. On the other hand former Westinghouse stations Boston's WBZ and Pittsburgh's KDKA have long since dropped the Eyewtiness News name.
 
"KPIX, Baltimore's WJZ and Philly's KYW are former Westinghouse stations of course today still use Eyewtiness News, and in the case with WJZ and KYW, since the 60s. On the other hand former Westinghouse stations Boston's WBZ and Pittsburgh's KDKA have long since dropped the Eyewtiness News name."

Interesting background info - thanks. Since nobody bit on my trivia question - I'll answer it myself. In San Francisco, Westinghouse bought 95.7 FM in the early 90s, and turned it into KPIX radio, the "FM News Station." That was the same time that KPIX-TV tried its experiment with "early prime time," with CBS network shows running between 7 and 10. KTVU (Fox) had huge ratings with their 10 O'Clock News, and KPIX thought they could improve their ratings with late news at 10. To capitalize on the "synergy" (ha, ha) with the radio station, they dropped "Eyewitness News," and re-titled in "KPIX 5 News at 10." (or "...at 6"). It was amusing watching the reporters stumble over that clumsy handle at the end of their live reports. Both experiments (early prime and KPIX radio) were disasters. They didn't make a dent in KTVU's ratings, and KPIX radio was an amateurish farce. I remember being amazed that Westinghouse - one of the originators of All News radio (KFWB in LA, 1010 WINS in NY) couldn't figure out how to run a newsradio station. Early prime was dropped when Westinghouse bought CBS, and "Eyewitness News" was back.
 
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