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The End of Action News and Eyewitness News


rkolsen

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But I’m all prepared for Armageddon when WFTV drops Eyewitness News.

 

Do you think it'll be the same way if KABC and WABC do it (which I don't think they will, that title having been ingrained into the consciousness of L.A. and NYC for ages)?

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Do you think it'll be the same way if KABC and WABC do it (which I don't think they will, that title having been ingrained into the consciousness of L.A. and NYC for ages)?

The common society of the people who have access to LA Stations, really only call our stations, “Channel #” or just the network name. So if anything, it actually faded itself out already.

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Didn’t mean for this to be a lost thread. But thanks for the responses. It was just something I noticed that you don’t see it launched anymore.

 

I have my own local monikers for the stations...

 

Those Morons....

 

Those freakin Bozo's...

 

The brain surgeons...

 

and...

 

Those idiots at KGTV.

 

Did I miss anyone?

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I have my own local monikers for the stations...

 

Those Morons....

 

Those freakin Bozo's...

 

The brain surgeons...

 

and...

 

Those idiots at KGTV.

 

Did I miss anyone?

 

Whose whom?

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I work in the industry and honestly couldn't tell you the difference between the two genres. Both monikers are extremely outdated like many of the managers who think it's a good idea to continue to use them at their stations. To my knowledge the station I work for never at any point used either genre in the title any of their newscasts.

 

The station I formerly worked for, WRDW, hasn’t had success with either Eyewitness News nor Action News and they used both. They used Action News briefly in the 1970s, and 12 Eyewitness News for a period in the 1980s. Other brands included but not limited to and in no particular order (because the history of when these brands were used is fuzzy) TV12 News, 12 Country News (with the funky Al Ham ‘Home Country’ news theme), Channel 12 News, and WRDW 12 News. Since about 1998, the station has branded as News 12, other than a brief period between 2016-2017 when the corporate parent acquired the market’s NBC station and went by two or three names, “News 12 and NBC 26” followed by the shortened “News 12 NBC 26” which is what it continues to go by on social media but has largely been done away with on-air. Reporters sig out from their packages as “On Your Side” and that’s still a thing even though the station has largely phased back in the “News 12” name and stopped co-branding. Honestly, the 20 year use of “News 12” is the only stable brand the station ever really had.

 

Comparatively, the station went up against WJBF who used maybe three brands in their entire history including “Channel 6 News”, “NewsWatch 6”, and the present day “NewsChannel 6” which has been around since about 1993.

 

WAGT when it was a standalone operation brought back the Action News name as was probably the only successful station to use it in this market because they used the name for several years. Their news department was launched in 1995 and over time went through major brand overhauls, including “26 News”, “26 Action News”, “WAGT News”, “NBC 26 News”, “NBC Augusta News”, “NBC Augusta 26 News”, and then back to “NBC 26 News”. The exclusive 4pm and 7pm newscasts the station has are still branded “NBC 26 News”.

 

WFXG hasn’t been around long enough as a news department and has only been known as “FOX 54 News at Ten” and the current “FOX 54 News Now.”

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WFSB still uses Eyewitness News and has since 1974. This was during their Post-Newsweek (owners of WJXT in J'ville and WDIV in Detroit) days.

 

Before WTNH became News 8 and even NewsChannel 8, they used the "Action News" name. This was prior to the sale to Lin Television from Cook-Inlet Television Partners.

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WNBC used to use the NewsChannel moniker for several years in the 90s and early 2000s until they dropped it.

 

1995-2008 exactly. News 4 New York before then starting in 1980 and News 4 New York now since 2008.

 

Don't forget, WPIX used Action News in the 70s.

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WNBC used to use the NewsChannel moniker for several years in the 90s and early 2000s until they dropped it.

 

Oh gawd!

You mean when all that NBC stuff was being funneled thru Charlston or wherever "newschannel" was based back then?

 

How... and in what year did NBC finally drop that dog idea?

 

Don't tell me Newschannel" is still based there...is it?

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Oh gawd!

You mean when all that NBC stuff was being funneled thru Charlston or wherever "newschannel" was based back then?

 

How... and in what year did NBC finally drop that dog idea?

 

Don't tell me Newschannel" is still based there...is it?

 

There were two NBC Newschannel names being used. One was the affiliate segment feeds based out of the NBC affiliate in Charlotte. In several cities like NY, they used the NewsChannel name for some years but it did not include additional feeds or centralized content. Basically News4NY went to NewsChannel4 back to News4NY. Same staff, same anchors, same content. Just a different theme (Ed Kalihoff) and signage on trucks and promos.

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There were two NBC Newschannel names being used. One was the affiliate segment feeds based out of the NBC affiliate in Charlotte. In several cities like NY, they used the NewsChannel name for some years but it did not include additional feeds or centralized content. Basically News4NY went to NewsChannel4 back to News4NY. Same staff, same anchors, same content. Just a different theme (Ed Kalihoff) and signage on trucks and promos.

WCMH and WNBC were AFAIK the only two NBC O&Os that actually used the "NewsChannel 4" brand. (WCMH flipped to "NBC 4 News" in the early 2000s.)

 

The "NBC News Channel" service also produced NBC Nightside back in the 1990s.

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Oh gawd!

You mean when all that NBC stuff was being funneled thru Charlston or wherever "newschannel" was based back then?

 

How... and in what year did NBC finally drop that dog idea?

 

Don't tell me Newschannel" is still based there...is it?

 

Yup and all the remote feeds used in 30 Rock are downlinked at WRC and fibered up to NYC. I wonder if WRC sends an entire transponder worth of data (of their main ones used) or if there are dozens of satellite receivers somewhere in the basement.

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WCMH and WNBC were AFAIK the only two NBC O&Os that actually used the "NewsChannel 4" brand. (WCMH flipped to "NBC 4 News" in the early 2000s.)

 

The "NBC News Channel" service also produced NBC Nightside back in the 1990s.

I'd defer to the experts, but I think WCMH was already branding itself as NewsChannel 4 when it was purchased by GE.

 

And to echo others, yes, NBC News Channel is still headquartered at WCNC in Charlotte...

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Oh gawd!

You mean when all that NBC stuff was being funneled thru Charlston or wherever "newschannel" was based back then?

 

How... and in what year did NBC finally drop that dog idea?

 

Don't tell me Newschannel" is still based there...is it?

 

NBC's wire service is still called News Channel and is still based in Charlotte.

 

I'm not really sure what it was before...now, it's just any other (sub-standard, IMO) network wire service with the most generic name out of all of them.

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I'd defer to the experts, but I think WCMH was already branding itself as NewsChannel 4 when it was purchased by GE.

They used that name since the early 1990s, near the tail end of Outlet ownership. Prior to that the station was branded as "NewsWatch 4" from at least the mid 1970s.

 

The one hitch? WCMH was at first branded as "News 4: THE NewsChannel"; the switch to "NewsChannel 4" clearly came right before or at the takeover by NBC.

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NBC's wire service is still called News Channel and is still based in Charlotte.

 

I'm not really sure what it was before...now, it's just any other (sub-standard, IMO) network wire service with the most generic name out of all of them.

 

I was an "A-News" "Skypath" type...The Charlotte thing just messed with my head. For a wile it was impossible to know what was to be sent where...it was a zoo of confusion.

 

I'm sure it's a bit better now.

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I was an "A-News" "Skypath" type...The Charlotte thing just messed with my head. For a wile it was impossible to know what was to be sent where...it was a zoo of confusion.

 

I'm sure it's a bit better now.

 

Skypath is the name (seems current based on a job posting) to their Ku/C Band distribution system. Supposedly at the turn of the century they designed it so they could do regional ads but I assume never went out. They also have Skycastle a unit of the own stations that’s designed to make marketing campaigns (I think including those outside tv/web).

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They used that name since the early 1990s, near the tail end of Outlet ownership. Prior to that the station was branded as "NewsWatch 4" from at least the mid 1970s.

 

The one hitch? WCMH was at first branded as "News 4: THE NewsChannel"; the switch to "NewsChannel 4" clearly came right before or at the takeover by NBC.

It was after NBC's takeover. They adopted the "NBC 4" branding while still using "News 4".

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=IN7fKCZ7LMc;t=3736

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