Markets that never had an "Eyewitness News"

[mleach]

My co-worker was telling me that the name "Eyewitness News" has been used in every medium/major sized market at one time or another. I say, well no. However the only major market I can come up with where the name "Eyewitness News" has never been used was Denver. Even going back to the KOA-KLZ-KBTV days, I dont think even back then Denver had their own Eyewitness News. For a market that large, that comes as a surprise. Are there any other medium/large markets ( say the top 100 ) where the Eyewitness News was NEVER used.

Not talking about markets like Chicago, DC, Norfolk, Nashville, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, etc..
where the name was used in the past but no longer.

 

[LABreeze]

If my memory serves me correctly, KSLA-TV a CBS affiliate in Shreveport used the Eyewitness News moniker until about 1981. Today they are known as News 12. The East Texas market, however, has two that are not monikered as Eyewitness News. KLTV in Tyler and its sister KTRE in Lufkin stuck with some moniker different in some generic fashion.

 

[genius]

My co-worker was telling me that the name "Eyewitness News" has been used in every medium/major sized market at one time or another. I say, well no. However the only major market I can come up with where the name "Eyewitness News" has never been used was Denver. Even going back to the KOA-KLZ-KBTV days, I dont think even back then Denver had their own Eyewitness News. For a market that large, that comes as a surprise. Are there any other medium/large markets ( say the top 100 ) where the Eyewitness News was NEVER used.

For some reason I really want to say KWGN was branded as Channel 2 Eyewitness News as one point but I'm not going to swear by it! I worked at KCNC from '91 to '95 and one day I had my youngest son come visit me the office. He had some Hot Wheels news helicopter that said 2 Eyewitness News on the side or something the side of it. Well my boss came around and as he was greeting my son, my son then screamed "Look at my channel 2 copter!"...err AWKWARD!!! Since then I think I've have had a false memory in my head...so I presume that you're probably correct.

I know Boise(another market I worked in) didn't have an Eyewitness News branding until earlier this year, and I don't think El Paso ever has(not as long as I've live here in Albuquerque).


((Little Off-subject))Of course here in Abq we still have both Eyewitness News and Action News. KRQE has gone through three different brandings since I've been here: Q13 News, then CBS Southwest News, and currently just simply News 13.

 

[formeraa]

Actually, wikipedia.com has a complete list. Just search for "Eyewitness News". All large and medium markets appear to have had an Eyewitness News at some point over the past 50 years.

 

[Markxxx]

Here's a link to the wikipedia article on stations that HAVE used it. It may eliminate the ones that did. I realize wikipedia isn't the final word but it's a good place to start

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyewitness_news#Stations_that_use_or_have_used_the_Eyewitness_News_format_or_name

 

[formeraa]

Here's a link to the wikipedia article on stations that HAVE used it. It may eliminate the ones that did. I realize wikipedia isn't the final word but it's a good place to start

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyewitness_news#Stations_that_use_or_have_used_the_Eyewitness_News_format_or_name

Of course, wikipedia is not the final answer...

But, it's better than trying to re-create the list over here on radio-info. In fact, the nice thing about wikipedia is that anyone can update it (if you have additional info or need to make a correction).

 

[bk77]

My co-worker was telling me that the name "Eyewitness News" has been used in every medium/major sized market at one time or another. I say, well no. However the only major market I can come up with where the name "Eyewitness News" has never been used was Denver. Even going back to the KOA-KLZ-KBTV days, I dont think even back then Denver had their own Eyewitness News. For a market that large, that comes as a surprise. Are there any other medium/large markets ( say the top 100 ) where the Eyewitness News was NEVER used.

For some reason I really want to say KWGN was branded as Channel 2 Eyewitness News as one point but I'm not going to swear by it! I worked at KCNC from '91 to '95 and one day I had my youngest son come visit me the office. He had some Hot Wheels news helicopter that said 2 Eyewitness News on the side or something the side of it. Well my boss came around and as he was greeting my son, my son then screamed "Look at my channel 2 copter!"...err AWKWARD!!! Since then I think I've have had a false memory in my head...so I presume that you're probably correct.

I know Boise(another market I worked in) didn't have an Eyewitness News branding until earlier this year, and I don't think El Paso ever has(not as long as I've live here in Albuquerque).


((Little Off-subject))Of course here in Abq we still have both Eyewitness News and Action News. KRQE has gone through three different brandings since I've been here: Q13 News, then CBS Southwest News, and currently just simply News 13.

Never heard of KWGN using the Eyewitness News brand but back in the mid-late 80s I had a friend who at the time worked for KHOW-AM radio on their news staff ( Remember Hal & Charlie's morning show? ). I seem to remember him telling me that not only was KMGH going to launch a "7 Eyewitness News" in 1986/1987 but the station even had the new opening already done. I believe at the time KMGH had some kind of tie in with KHOW and the now defunct KSYY Sunny 95.7 ( now The Party ).

Nonetheless, KMGH of course never did launched their own "Eyewitness News" and my old friend left KHOW soon afterward.
Never did hear from him again.

 

[JeeperOne]

Hi everyone:

My co-worker was telling me that the name "Eyewitness News" has been used in every medium/major sized market at one time or another. I say, well no. However the only major market I can come up with where the name "Eyewitness News" has never been used was Denver.

WRONG!

Back in the mid-70s to early 1980s when Eric Schmidt was anchor, KWGN 2 had the Eyewitness 2 News" name.

Sadly the Wikipedia page doesn't go into that in it's newscast titles page nor does it go earlier than 1984, but I remember that since I grew up here in Denver.

JFYI...

Cheers

 

[bpatrick]

Birmingham, Alabama, although WCFT/33 Tuscaloosa
did when it was a separate market.

When I was a senior in high school (1973) a group of
us took a tour of WBRC/6, followed by a q&a session
with one of the station's employees. By that time,
"Eyewitness News" was being used all over the country,
and I asked why WBRC didn't pick up the name. In effect,
the station person said, why should we? The names we're
using (The Channel 6 Evening News at 5:30 and The Night
News at 10) are just fine. Well, that's Birmingham for you.
"Eyewitness News" has never been used by a Birmingham
station, although "Action News" has (on WVTM and, I believe,
WIAT).

 

[genius]

Back in the mid-70s to early 1980s when Eric Schmidt was anchor, KWGN 2 had the Eyewitness 2 News" name.

Maybe I was sort of right? :

Pat, when exactly did they drop it? And if you read my post, was it really a fasle memory I'm having, or something else?

 

[bk77]

Here's a link to the wikipedia article on stations that HAVE used it. It may eliminate the ones that did. I realize wikipedia isn't the final word but it's a good place to start

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyewitness_news#Stations_that_use_or_have_used_the_Eyewitness_News_format_or_name

Interesting that in a few markets like Memphis, Norfolk, Cincinatti and Milwaukee, looks like Eyewitness News changed channels after being dumped by the original station.

In the case with Norfolk, WAVY for years had Eyewitness News but dumped it around 1981 in favor of The Daily News.
However by the early 90s, The Daily News was losing ratings I heard ( WTKR was tops at this time mainly thanks to the late Ed Hughes as their anchor ). WAVY from what I understand was going to bring back Eyewitness News to channel 10 but somewhow WTKR I assume heard about it and they picked up the name instead so WAVY went with "WAVY News 10".

Alas, WTKR only kept the Eyewitness News brand for two years tops then went with the "NewsChannel 3" name. And the name "Eyewitness News" hasn't been used in Norfolk or anywhere in Virginia every since since Richmond's WXEX/WRIC and Roanoke's WSLS have long since dropped theirs.

 

[bpatrick]

I'm afraid I'm carrying this beyond the original
intent of the topic, but WTVD/11 Raleigh/Durham
used "Eyewitness News" in the '70s and '80s,
dropped it in the '90s, and began using it again
in the 2000s, as "ABC11 Eyewitness News."

"Eyewitness News" has a checkered history
in Atlanta as well. WXIA/11 used it for three
years (1969-72) before a g.m. from Amarillo
named John Tyler gave it the name he'd been
using on KVII: "Pro News." "Eyewitness News"
was anathema to WSB and WAGA until the '80s,
when WAGA picked up the name. After they
became a Fox o&o they became "FOX5 News,"
so "Eyewitness News" again lies dormant in Atlanta.

 

[JeeperOne]

Hi everyone:

Back in the mid-70s to early 1980s when Eric Schmidt was anchor, KWGN 2 had the Eyewitness 2 News" name.

Maybe I was sort of right? :

Pat, when exactly did they drop it? And if you read my post, was it really a fasle memory I'm having, or something else?

Not exactly sure, but I'm tempted to think it was somewhere around 1984 when they switched anchor teams, slogans, etc. That would make sense as it would correspond to about the time which Ernie Bjorkman arrived in town to suceed Eric Schmidt.

BTW....From what I heard, it was also around the same time Eric Schmidt took his act to Portland, OR after his stint at KWGN, but I can't confirm that with all certainty though....

Cheers