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The worst news opens

T

TheRob

This topic was started on another message board, but I figured everyone here would like to list the worst news "opens" they've seen. There are no restrictions on market size or year.

Check out WVII/Bangor from 1992. It's the cops rushing into the house that made me laugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxm8ZqpRPyY


Although I don't have taped proof, I would also nominate KIEM/Eureka, CA, from 2005. That station's entire look was on par with the local high school A/V club.
 
in the 70's WTAE-TV4 in Pittsburgh would run a clip of their news team in a HOT AIR BALLOON!
They were ascending over Pittsburgh on a beautiful morning, to the strains of the Mason
Williams, hit, CLASSICAL GAS!

(can you believe it????)
 
Toss-up:

1) WBMG-42 (CBS; now WIAT) Birmingham, Ala. Birmingham's red-headed stepchild of TV news ...... for a time in the '70s they used the opening notes from the Styx hit "Lorelei" as their theme. In the late '70s, their closing was a thing of beauty: the credits would come up on their ancient CG character by character, accompanied by a teletype sound effect; like the graphics the early "People's Court" used to flash the names of the litigants onscreen, only 42's was much worse.

2) WDHN-18 (ABC) - Dothan, Ala. Early '90s -- Remember that "voice of God" guy who used to do all the rock concert promos in the '80s? The announcer who did the intro for WDHN's newscast sounded like a guy who was trying (poorly) to imitate that voice. "This ... is Newswatch EIGHT-TEEEEEEEEN!!!!!"

Production values for WDHN were terrible. Terrible. The student newscast put on by Troy State University an hour away was a far better product.

18's competitor, WTVY-4 (CBS), at the time was little better. Both were laughable stations when I was living in the area.

I've said it before, and it bears repeating: Dothan, Alabama was bad TV capital of the world. It made WBMG-42 above look like its dominant VHF competitors.

--Russell
 
This was probably not the most amateurish - but it was the hokiest news opening I can remember...in the 70s, KABC-TV's Eywitness News opened with a high (camera on a boom, I presume) shot of the empty news set. To the sound of the ubiquitous theme music (from the prison gang on the highway scene in the Cool Hand Luke soundtrack), the news anchors then come rushing out of the wings in a fast walk from different directions, and sit rapidly in their seats. I assume the idea was that Eyewitness News is SO live and up-to-the-minute, that they were just now preparing it, and barely had time to rush onto the set. Nevermind that they had just come out of make-up and had been standing on their pre-set marks for 30 seconds or more waiting for the cue. I'm sure this opening was used in markets all over the country. The movie China Syndrome had a scene that made fun of this bit, a couple of years later.
 
One station somewhere in the hinterlands used the anchor walk (run) on opening but changed to a new scheme after one of the anchors tripped over the set riser and fell flat on his face.
 
FreddyE1977 said:
in the 70's WTAE-TV4 in Pittsburgh would run a clip of their news team in a HOT AIR BALLOON!
They were ascending over Pittsburgh on a beautiful morning, to the strains of the Mason
Williams, hit, CLASSICAL GAS!

(can you believe it????)
Click to expand...

Lots of stations used Classical Gas as their news theme in those days, mostly in small and midsize markets.

WTAE Pittsburgh was probably one of the largest stations to do so. I think one of the Green Bay stations (WFRV?) did as well.
 
KeithE4 said:
Lots of stations used Classical Gas as their news theme in those days, mostly in small and midsize markets.

WTAE Pittsburgh was probably one of the largest stations to do so. I think one of the Green Bay stations (WFRV?) did as well.
Click to expand...

WFRV never did - although they DID use the theme from "Shaft" (the fanfare part, not the bad mother... part) as big letters flew in atop each other:
EYE
WITNESS
NEWS

But I do remember Classical Gas as a theme for WNDU-South Bend in 81-82 and WISN in Milwaukee at about the same time, complete with the one-name-per-frame listing of all the small towns in the market.

And although I don't have video, my all-time fave opening was at WLUK in the late 70s - after the "Whatever tonight on TV-11" station ID, cut to:

Black screen, with chryroned date and TV-11 NEWS in big letters.
An electronic version of the Westminster chimes (dum-dum-DUM-dum, dum-dum DUM dum) as the wide shot of the news set faded in and the anchor saying "It's 6 (10) o'clock and time for TV-11 news..."

(they switched to theme music after a few months)
 
Wasn't the KABC opening standard on all ABC o&os? I
remember reading in Ron Powers' book "The Newscasters"
that on WLS Chicago the anchors and sports guy would
rush onto the set, but weathercaster John Coleman would
sort of amble in leisurely.
 
I would have to go with WPVI's Action News. Their opens are fine, provided the year is 1976.
 
In answer to the above question about the ABC O&Os using the "walk-on" news opening - during this time, I moved to San Francisco. KGO-TV never used this opening - just the regular opening shot of the anchors already seated at the anchor desk. This struck me as odd, because "Channel 7 NewsScene" as it was called (SF's CBS affiliate had already snagged the "Eyewitness News" brand), was otherwise the hokiest newscast I had ever seen - they were credited with pioneering the happy-talk format, they used sensationalistic teasers and comic-book style graphics. And it worked - Van Amburg and his team owned the news ratings in the supposedly sophisticated Bay Area for about a decade.
 
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