Jump to content

1980s Set Designers/Fabricators?


RCA TK47

Recommended Posts

Two more of my favorite sets from then, both from ABC News on WNT-- the then-new Washington bureau w/the late Frank Reynolds (here seen on its debut broadcast, Mon. Nov. 2, 1981), and the Chicago bureau w/Max Robinson (one version that started in 1981, from the broadcast of May 23, 1983; and the other from the broadcast of July 13, 1983); also includes a shot of Ted Koppel in Washington on Nightline from 1986...

 

 

 

 

 

abcwashington1981-a.jpg

abcwashington1981-b.jpg

abcwashington1981-c.jpg

abcchicago1983-a.jpg

abcchicago1983-b.jpg

abcwashington1986.jpg

  • Like 4
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
19 hours ago, Info Junkie said:

The 1982 set was NBC trying to copy Gannett... funny because they would buy WKYC 13 years later..

 

It does have a Gannett vibe to it. 

 

At the time, WKYC was an outlier as an O&O.  WJW had beaten them to the punch by launching NewsCenter8 as much as the NBC stations were branded at the time, and had to resort to Action News, years before WOIO even existed.

 

By the late 70s, the News Ticker theme had given way to Classical Gas/Streets Of, and in the Gannett-esque era, You've got a Friend.

 

WKYC was such a farm team of a station back then, with people like Al Roker, Amanda Arnold, Tom Ryther, Wayland Boot, Doreen Gentzler, Dawn Stensland, Steve Browne, Terry Burhans, and later picking up second and third-winders like Doug Adair. Jeff Maynor, Dick Feagler, and Jim Mueller.

 

Even in marketing, they resorted to a Klein& promo to promote themselves in 1979.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is WKYC in 1976, just a few years off of their old TV3 look, with a set much like it's fellow O&Os.

 

Much of the shakeup may have been due to Virgil Dominic, who worked at WKYC up to the 70's, but was recruited down to Atlanta to try and make something out of WQXI/WXIA (which would also become a Gannett station by way of Combined).  He returned to Cleveland to launch NewsCenter8 which vaulted them to the top and along with NBC's waning fortunes sent WKYC in to desperation mode.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Noticed a definite trend of TV stations converting a production studio into a "working newsroom" in the late 1970's. Some stations executed this better than others. WXIA seemed to have the best design out of these I could find. Does anybody know who consulted these stations? I'm sure this was an effort to make the newscast seem more "instant" and often relied heavily on electronic graphics. I know in the case of WLCY (WTSP) it was part of a broader effort to beef up that station's news department. I think the same set designer did the sets for WXIA, WLCY and WTHR.

 

WXIA (1977) WLCY (1977) WCMH (1976) WTHR (1977)

WXIA.jpg

WLCYnewsroom.jpg

WCMH.jpg

WTHR.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

53 minutes ago, KnoxvilleTVFan said:

WLKY in Louisville, Kentucky used a newsroom set during the late 1970s and the first part of the 1980s when the station was owned by Gannett. 

Scroll back to the first page of this thread, and you'll see a picture of this set...it does look very close to the one launched in Atlanta at WXIA.  These moves (and the "Alive" branding) were done under Combined, before their merger with Gannett.

 

Going back to Virgil Dominic and WXIA, it was actually Combined that sent him packing from there (so says the article below).  He had taken WXIA to #1 under his leadership after he was lured away from WKYC.

http://www.clevelandseniors.com/people/virgil-dominic.htm

 

And after he was hired at WJW, his launch of NewsCenter8 set the stage for their dominance in the years to come.   Looking at this set, it does have some undertones to the NBC look that the network and O&O's were using on their newscasts.

WJKW Cleveland ENTIRE newscast Christmas Eve 1977 - YouTube

 

Meanwhile at WKYC, they were begging and pleading for local control as WJKW was now eating their lunch.

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/153863990/
(read the OCR and you can read most of the article text)

Edited by tyrannical bastard
clarification
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/5/2020 at 11:41 PM, tyrannical bastard said:

Scroll back to the first page of this thread, and you'll see a picture of this set...it does look very close to the one launched in Atlanta at WXIA.  These moves (and the "Alive" branding) were done under Combined, before their merger with Gannett.

 

Going back to Virgil Dominic and WXIA, it was actually Combined that sent him packing from there (so says the article below).  He had taken WXIA to #1 under his leadership after he was lured away from WKYC.

http://www.clevelandseniors.com/people/virgil-dominic.htm

 

And after he was hired at WJW, his launch of NewsCenter8 set the stage for their dominance in the years to come.   Looking at this set, it does have some undertones to the NBC look that the network and O&O's were using on their newscasts.

WJKW Cleveland ENTIRE newscast Christmas Eve 1977 - YouTube

 

Meanwhile at WKYC, they were begging and pleading for local control as WJKW was now eating their lunch.

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/153863990/
(read the OCR and you can read most of the article text)

I know this is a thread for sets, but....

 

Geez! Four weather people in the span of two years?! No wonder WKYC wasn’t going anywhere!

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Another standard-issue Scripps set, that existed at WMC and WEWS (until 1981)

I originally thought it was a hand-me-down, but WMC used it back in 1980...while the WEWS version was still in use.

 

Here's WMC using the 70's WEWS-like set all the way in 1985.

 

If my estimations are correct, this set lasted until 1987 and the newer Scripps standard issue set?

 

WEWS had the 1981 set in the middle between the two sets (the blue one with the jagged desk).  Their 1985-ish set lasted a decade, with several paint jobs and a skyline added in 1990 (around the time they changed to NewsChannel 5)

It briefly lasted under the Edd-Kalehoff, slanted "circle 5" revamp, and a new set was built that summer that only lasted until fall of 1998.

 

And we see in the 1980 clip, the "false ceiling" effect.  I know i've shown this before on the site, but here is a "behind-the-scenes" from WEWS showing it in action.

https://youtu.be/BmwAiiDnDjg?t=103

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

55 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Another standard-issue Scripps set, that existed at WMC and WEWS (until 1981)

I originally thought it was a hand-me-down, but WMC used it back in 1980...while the WEWS version was still in use.

 

Here's WMC using the 70's WEWS-like set all the way in 1985.

 

If my estimations are correct, this set lasted until 1987 and the newer Scripps standard issue set?

 

WEWS had the 1981 set in the middle between the two sets (the blue one with the jagged desk).  Their 1985-ish set lasted a decade, with several paint jobs and a skyline added in 1990 (around the time they changed to NewsChannel 5)

It briefly lasted under the Edd-Kalehoff, slanted "circle 5" revamp, and a new set was built that summer that only lasted until fall of 1998.

 

And we see in the 1980 clip, the "false ceiling" effect.  I know i've shown this before on the site, but here is a "behind-the-scenes" from WEWS showing it in action.

https://youtu.be/BmwAiiDnDjg?t=103

 

WMC did the renovation in 1986. It was the last to get the standardized Scripps set:

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/5/2020 at 10:20 AM, 5OnYourSideMan said:

For WJW there are these sets. The one who made these sets is a mystery.

 

WJW Set 1970s.PNG

WJKW Set 1970s.PNG

WJKW Set 1970s2.PNG

WJKW Set 1970s3.PNG

WJKW Set 1981.PNG

The Newscenter 8 set was designed by Hilton Murray, Art Director at WJKW. It was built by a local union shop that made department store displays in Cleveland, Ohio.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Found another station that also used the same set WMC used until 1986 and WEWS used until 1981.  KTVK in Phoenix. 

Back then, it was owned by Ernest McFarland's group (later MAC America Communications), whose family and heirs would run the station until its sale to Belo in 1999.

 

The intro and music is much like the ones used by several of the Outlet stations (WCMH, KSAT) and Storer's WAGA.  I have to now wonder if the set was another designer outside of Scripps and the package used was syndicated at the time.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Did you know that ABC's Chicago bureau on WNT (at least the first version) had more than we originally saw on television then? Here's a shot of an ABC News promo from 1980 talking about what ABC News had on then (this was on a recently-posted clip of the evening edition of WAKR Channel 23 when that was the ABC station of Akron/Canton, OH; it is now WVPX, and is the Ion Television O&O there); you'll see that, like the Washington bureau, there was a second header that had "ABC News Chicago" (in addition to the first one above the national map that we saw behind Max); you can see part of that second header in the top left of this screencap.

 

 

abcchicagomore1980.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using TVNewsTalk you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.