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The Definitive ABC 7 Thread


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I remember that “BIO HAZARD 2016” OTS well.

 

I would love to know who comes up with the OTSs seen during sportscasts.

It's between the 3 anchors and the producers, primarily Giangreco's longtime right hand man, Mike Johnson.

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Turns out Mark's "Alternate Olympics" is turning into a real odeal. He wants viewers (and ESPN 1000 listeners) to submit pictures and/or video of their own winter Olympic-style events on Twitter and Facebook. The wackiest, goofiest, and most outrageous will make the 10 o'clock sportscast. He's still figuring out rewards for the top 3.

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If he wasn't living so far away and occasionally filling a similar role at WTMJ, I'd say it's a possibility. The job listing on their website is asking for minimum 5 years experience, versus the usual 3-5, and they're looking for large market experience, so they seemingly want more of a veteran.

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I thought I'd put this here from the Classic Video thread...

The following 1983 WLS newscast is really interesting; it's from the On Your Side era and features extensive coverage of the mayoral election that took place the following day. And because it's an in-studio recording, it includes conversations during commercial breaks:

 

 

I've always liked the On Your Side era, but since it was short-lived and was followed by another anchor reshuffle, I presume WLS experienced declining ratings at the time. Does anyone know more about this time in the station's history? And the timing has always confused me -- the KABC-like set was introduced before Joe Ahern joined the station, right?

Call me crazy, but I liked this set more than anything they'd have for the rest of the century.

 

Ratings had been declining for a few years, and with Frink and Coleman already gone (and Terry Murphy and John Drury also on to other jobs), there were targets on Flynn and Daly's backs. Prior to this era, they experimented with breaking up the two men, each getting a different co-anchor at 4:30 (expanded from 5), and 6. They then rejoined at 4:30 (and the 10 they never left) with new co-anchors at 6. That lasted little more than a year, before rising star Mary Ann Childers was shifted to weeknights with newcomer Paul Udell for the infamous '4:30' newsmagazine in 1981. The timing is a little murky, as I don't think Udell ever fronted the 10, and he lasted less than a year at the station. By 1982, it was Childers and a reassigned Tim Weigel at 4:30 and 10, with Joel and Fahey on the hour-long 6pm newscast (I'm unsure how long it had been 60 minutes, but would be cut down to 30 when Wheel of Fortune and Floyd Kalber came along for his solo run). Even worse were the replacements on weather and sports. Steve Deshler had left for the network job at CBS, and all bridges had been burned with John Coleman, so they installed (foot) Dr. Dave Eiser, kind of a folksy goofball that couldn't compete with Coleman and later Jerry Taft's delivery. Al Lerner was promoted to lead sportscaster, but wasn't the right fit, though he had a long run in sports radio in Chicago.

 

Fahey spent much of 1983 on medical leave, eventually dying that August. With the original anchor team fractured, and falls to last place on the other newscasts, things were dismantled late that year and rebuilt throughout 1984, with the additions of Drury, Kalber, Yu, Deshler, Taft...

, the installations of a new set, graphics, the theme signature that still exists today, and reassignments for Daly and Weigel. Dennis Swanson is largely responsible for the rebuild, though it was Joe Ahern's run in the 1990's that made their run at #1 legendary.

 

They were #1 again by '86, and haven't let go.

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It seems like a solid bet that new graphics are coming, sooner rather than later, too. Helvetica remains the primary font, and the newscast logo receives the updated Circle 7, but I think it's a safe bet that they'll fall in line with the sister stations in debuting a flatter look. This slick new promo started running Wednesday, and based on some social media posts, a version with Cheryl and Larry should be coming soon.

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1166142700088874

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That would be very unfortunate...

 

It seems like a solid bet that new graphics are coming, sooner rather than later, too. Helvetica remains the primary font, and the newscast logo receives the updated Circle 7, but I think it's a safe bet that they'll fall in line with the sister stations in debuting a flatter look. This slick new promo started running Wednesday, and based on some social media posts, a version with Cheryl and Larry should be coming soon.

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1166142700088874

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Which part time meterologist was it that was a teacher was it pete of nbc or mark?

Someone else can answer for Pete (I think he taught, at least at some point), but Mark BISHOP was a professor down at Olivet Nazarene University, leaving for a position elsewhere. I do believe, though, that he's since returned. Mark MCGINNIS has a private consulting business, in addition to his frequent duties at WLS and (less frequently at) WTMJ.

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Okay, I first saw this video months ago, but I don't know how I didn't notice how rare it was til now. It's the 'On Your Side'-era graphics and the new O&O set. That's nothing super crazy, but note that the beginning of the clip includes a few bars of 'The Tar Sequence', which means they went back to the classic theme for a few months, before adopting 'News Series 2000'. I don't know if the new theme wasn't ready or they hadn't yet decided a long-term option (returning to the old to try and recapture some old glory).

 

By the way, this would be from January of '84.

 

[MEDIA=vimeo]231104065[/MEDIA]

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