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Interesting Newscast Titles


KnoxvilleTVFan

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In recent years, I've heard of stations that have had interesting newscast titles.

In Columbus, Georgia, the CBS affiliate WRBL had a 7pm newscast in the 1980s and titled their newscasts "More Eyewitness News." The anchor team for WRBL's 7pm news was Al Fleming (former WYEA-TV 38 news anchor) and Michelle Harvey (later of WTKR Norfolk). And in Los Angeles, California, independent station KTTV (now FOX) had a parody newscast in the late 1970s known as "MetroNews, MetroNews" or "MN2."

As I share these two interesting titles, what are some interesting newscasts titles you've heard of? If this is in the wrong posting area, please move it somewhere else.

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14 minutes ago, Ntropolis said:

A pair of morning newscasts from Louisiana adopt local flavor for interesting titles.

 

KLFY/Lafayette's Passe Partout

 

 

 

...and KALB/Alexandria's Jambalaya

 

 

 

While you’re talking about interesting Louisiana newscast titles, don’t forget 2une In, the morning newscast on WBRZ Channel 2 in Baton Rouge. 

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12 minutes ago, Greggo said:

While you’re talking about interesting Louisiana newscast titles, don’t forget 2une In, the morning newscast on WBRZ Channel 2 in Baton Rouge. 

 

The “2une In” name goes all the way back to the ‘80s.

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I've seen Eyewitness News (This Morning/Daybreak/Sunrise), etc... but not the Eyewitness Morning News. Welcome WWL-TV into the picture for that.

 

May I also put WMAZ and WDBJ in there since they use Mornin' . It doesn't spell it all the way, just... Mornin'

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11 hours ago, Georgie56 said:

 

The “2une In” name goes all the way back to the ‘80s.

 

Actually, it was August of 1978 (almost a year after WBRZ switched from NBC to ABC) that "2une In" began (this is according to an old Baton Rouge Morning Advocate story I came across a year or so ago). It started as a half-hour, went to one hour sometime in the early '80s, then eventually went to 90 minutes, and now it's a 2-hour broadcast on WBRZ.

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12 hours ago, Ntropolis said:

A pair of morning newscasts from Louisiana adopt local flavor for interesting titles.

 

KLFY/Lafayette's Passe Partout

 

 

 

...and KALB/Alexandria's Jambalaya

 

 

 

I had to look up what Passe Partout means, turns out it's French for "Pass-key." Apparently, there was a French-language children's show in Canada by that title, too.

 

Also, "MetroNews" (one utterance) was also used by WRBT/WVLA as its news title in the 1980s, during the tenure of its original news department. My guess, given that the KTTV program was a parody, they were probably going for a Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman thing for the title.

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1 hour ago, J1975am said:

 

Actually, it was August of 1978 (almost a year after WBRZ switched from NBC to ABC) that "2une In" began (this is according to an old Baton Rouge Morning Advocate story I came across a year or so ago). It started as a half-hour, went to one hour sometime in the early '80s, then eventually went to 90 minutes, and now it's a 2-hour broadcast on WBRZ.

 

With an extra two on WBRZ Plus.

 

Honestly, its hard to figure out how to put that name together with WBRZ's news branding. Like, do you go with WBRZ News 2une In or WBRZ News 2 - 2uneIn?

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35 minutes ago, TheRolyPoly said:

 

With an extra two on WBRZ Plus.

 

Honestly, its hard to figure out how to put that name together with WBRZ's news branding. Like, do you go with WBRZ News 2une In or WBRZ News 2 - 2uneIn?

 

The announcement at the beginning of the broadcast goes like this, "Now, from WBRZ News 2, this is 2une In." Whereas for all other newscasts it's, "Now, WBRZ News 2 at (insert time)." For Sunday Journal, their long-running magazine/interview show that airs on Sunday mornings, it's, "Now, WBRZ's Sunday Journal." 

 

So, for on-air purposes, 2une In and WBRZ News 2 at (insert time) are separate names, and the announcement at the beginning of the broadcasts make it clear.....

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2 hours ago, rkolsen said:

This is starting to become a list thread.  Discuss them, what makes them different and your opinion.  If not 🔒

 

As you command.

 

16 hours ago, Ntropolis said:

A pair of morning newscasts from Louisiana adopt local flavor for interesting titles.

 

KLFY/Lafayette's Passe Partout

 

 

 

...and KALB/Alexandria's Jambalaya

 

 

 

 

Both of these are unique for the simple reason of Louisiana's extensive French cultural influence. While the name is lost on a non-Frencher like me, it might make sense to the locals as there is surely some rudimentary French in casual conversation throughout the state. While the translation of KLFY's sounds...odd...I'd be satisfied with it if the region or some other element is referred to colloquially as the "pass-key" region or something.

 

KALB's "Jambalaya" makes literally zero sense for an apparent hard-news show. Cooking or a lifestyle show? Perfect. But hard news and weather? Ehhhh.

 

15 hours ago, Georgie56 said:

 

The “2une In” name goes all the way back to the ‘80s.

 

This would be brilliant as a general station slogan and not a specific newscast. It's limiting confining it to a newscast and not the entire brand. "2une In to 2," or "2une In To WBRZ." It's arguably a better play on than channel 4 stations that use "Working Fo(u)r You." Heck, "2une In To 2" has the added bonus of saying the word "to/two/tu(ne)" three times in 4 words, hammering home the point that they are channel 2. TUne in TO TWO. It'd be even better if they were channel 22: "TUne in TO-TWO" (Tune in 2-2).

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4 hours ago, MidwestTV said:

 

This would be brilliant as a general station slogan and not a specific newscast. It's limiting confining it to a newscast and not the entire brand. "2une In to 2," or "2une In To WBRZ." It's arguably a better play on than channel 4 stations that use "Working Fo(u)r You." Heck, "2une In To 2" has the added bonus of saying the word "to/two/tu(ne)" three times in 4 words, hammering home the point that they are channel 2. TUne in TO TWO. It'd be even better if they were channel 22: "TUne in TO-TWO" (Tune in 2-2).

 

Like WPEC’s “The 1-2 Turn To: TV-12”... Of course, you’ll never guess what news themes and identity package they were using...

 

J

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There's WSM(V)'s The Scene which lasted from the 70s until sometime the early 2000s

(It's like they slowly phased out the name since Dan Miller's return until all newscasts were Channel 4 News at X).

 

Interestingly enough, the name stayed even with Dan Miller leaving in the 80s to work with Pat Sajak's late night effort and returning in the 1990s, all while Bill Hall and Demetria Kalodimos were still part of the main newscasts and remained afterwards until Bill Hall began working his way to retirement.

 

The last incarnation during the "This Is Your News" era had it merely as a sub-title and was gone when they relaunched with 615's "Seize The Day".

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22 hours ago, rkolsen said:

This is starting to become a list thread.  Discuss them, what makes them different and your opinion.  If not 🔒

RK, l personally don't hate the list posts. It's better than the "what f-ed thing (put big media company name here) post. I would say it expose me to more info that I would not know.

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KLFY in Lafayette, as well as WAFB in Baton Rouge and WGN in Chicago, were one of many stations in the early '80s to use the name Newscope for one of their newscasts. Below is a picture of both the set KLFY used for Newscope & some of the station's personalities at the time; at the 3:55 mark of the video posted below is the Newscope open for WGN (it aired at noon on the station):

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGzGIO5eO-Y

 

I was also surprised to find out that Newscope was a syndicated "magazine-style" format for local stations, where each station that carried it used one of their anchor teams (a la PM Magazine, which also used local hosts); apparently, it was a joint venture between Gannett and Telepictures. This format did not last long, as it only lasted one year (c. 1983-84). Here are a few Broadcasting stories on Newscope, as well as an ad for the format:

 

https://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/82-OCR/1982-08-23-BC-OCR-Page-0049.pdf#search=%22newscope%22

https://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/84-OCR/BC-1984-06-11-OCR-Page-0079.pdf#search=%22newscope%22

https://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/83-OCR/BC-1983-09-19-OCR-Page-0058.pdf#search=%22newscope%22

https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1983/BC-1983-09-19.pdf (the Newscope ad is on pages 2 & 3)

 

 

newscope.jpg

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We can't forget Eyewitness NewsCenter 13 that ultimate newscast to revolutionize all newscasts on WTHR with Paul Udell.

 

Surprised on wikipedia it says that one lasted three years.

 

Anyone else use Channel X Reports like KCRA?

 

Always sounded more straight laced than other titles.

 

 

 

 

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55 minutes ago, sfomspphl said:

We can't forget Eyewitness NewsCenter 13 that ultimate newscast to revolutionize all newscasts on WTHR with Paul Udell.

 

Surprised on wikipedia it says that one lasted three years.

 

Anyone else use Channel X Reports like KCRA?

 

Always sounded more straight laced than other titles.

 

 

 

 

 

I really loved that title. Whenever you heard the anchors do the tease, at the end... Channel 3 Reports Next.

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Cleveland has dabbled in interesting news titles over the years....

 

Way back in the infancy of television when sponsors ruled the titles, WJW had the Sohio News Reporter, notable since the anchor, Warren Guthrie was able to read an entire script from memory, without cue cards or a script!

This led into City Camera News, which started with the extensive use of Polaroid pictures of news events, since film took longer to develop and video cameras weren't quite ready for ENG use for about another decade. 

(Hence why the term Film at 11 came about!)

City Camera lasted into the WJKW era, morphing into NewsCenter 8 and fully relaunching as such in the fall of 1977.

 

During the relaunch, where Virgil Dominic was lured back to Cleveland to run WJKW, a major (and largely forgotten) part was a show called Noontime...see below in this WJKW sales piece...

https://youtu.be/te_f7STNgc0?t=509

I don't recall how long it lasted, but it likely gave way to the traditional noon newscast they've had ever since.

 

Flash forward to 1993(ish) and you'll have another part of Cleveland TV history many don't recall, when WJW relaunched their 6am news as The Morning Show.

All I remember is that it was about the time Dale Solly came back from Washington DC to WJW,  and it was a much lighter show, even having the co-hosts reading through various front pages of newspapers...

It didn't last and that spring, NewsCenter8 was back in the morning (this was all right before the FOX switch)

 

Then in 1999, WJW relaunched their 5pm news as Five O'Clock Fox...complete with a theme song composed and sung by Cleveland's own Michael Stanley.  It didn't last long either, and it was soon replaced by it's predecessor.

 

Over on WEWS....

 

Live on Five, which evolved from an afternoon version of the venerable Morning Exchange, slowly morphed into a newscast by the mid-80s.  There may have been a time when it dropped the title, but it's largely kept it over the years.  WEWS is one of the few that does the "on" as opposed to the more common Live at Five.

 

In 1998, WEWS went from Good Morning Cleveland to NewsChannel 5 This Morning...and for a time Your Day Ahead.

The GMC title has largely remained over the years.

 

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