Opening clip from Aug 17, 1972 newscast

[Ebo9508]

Beam me up, Scotty, it's News Trek!!

[DuckRadioLccc]

And of course, Carl Stokes was previously the mayor of Cleveland, Ohio prior to joining WNBC-TV.

[wmbrown6]

The funny thing - while Stokes, prior to joining WNBC, had no journalism or anchoring experience to speak of, it was Udell who didn't last the full 12 months.

[MelanieLouM]

The reporter looks like Ted Danson from Cheers!! ^_^

[rayjr62]

@MelanieLouM Paul Udell. . . one of the most (if not THE most) arrogant prick to ever sit in an anchor chair. He worked at the NBC affiliate in S.F. back in the early 1980s. . he alienated himself from just about everyone at the station, including his own co-anchors. No one could stand him. He lasted there only 1 year.

[markofly76]

@rayjr62 No kidding! That's why we watched KPIX! We started watching KRON weeknights when Paymar took over! What a big sigh of Relief! Udell Sucks!

[vintagehawaiitv]

I own the original 3/4 inch tape from which this clip came from, it is indeed summer 1972.

[heine71]

What was WARNACO like?

[wmbrown6]

Warnaco (which is still around) is a fashion corporation which today owns such brands as Warner's, Anne Cole, and part of Calvin Klein.

[wmbrown6]

P.S. That logo is still in use today.

[wmbrown6]

This clip is also an example of the extent to which the national NBC News directly controlled WNBC's local news department in those days (as they did, from what I've read, with all their stations at one point), with international news leading off the newscast. (Another aircheck I've seen, with Jim Hartz from Sept. 21, 1972, opened with a report on letter bombs sent to Israeli embassies.)

[wmbrown6]

Are you sure this was Feb. 7, 1972, or was it July 2, 1972? "The Bobby Darin Amusement Company" ran from July to September of 1972 as a summer-replacement for "The Dean Martin Show." And finally, could it have been John Clarke V/O'ing the station I.D. before Howard Reig's opening of the "Eleventh Hour News"?

[wmbrown6]

Actually, I have some other dates during the period of "The Bobby Darin Amusement Company": July 6, 13, 20 and 27, 1972; Aug. 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31, 1972; and Sept. 7, 1972.

[joebradio]

what is it about Paul Udell and funky news sets.. there's another clip floating around from Indianapolis which shows him walking around cameras and desks in a makeshift "newsroom" at WTHR ...

[wmbrown6]

Paul Udell had the misfortune of working at WNBC at the lowest point in its history - when he and Carl Stokes co-anchored the "Sixth Hour News," they had a ZERO rating, clobbered by both leader WABC's "Eyewitness News" and second-place WCBS's "Six O'Clock Report" with Jim Jensen. Even WNEW, WPIX and WOR - presumably WNET as well - likely had higher ratings than WNBC at the 6 to 7 P.M. time slot in 1972. It was this lowest of the low that ultimately led to the creation of "NewsCenter4."

[joebradio]

thanks for the history lesson .. I guess more people are seeing this clip now then when it originally aired in 1972 .. I'm only barely old enough to remember that Jim Hartz was brought over from Channel 4 to host the Today Show with Barbara Walters

[wmbrown6]

From what I could tell, actually more people may've seen this on the night of Aug. 17, 1972, but not enough to measure them in the Nielsens or Arbitrons. One thing's for sure, though: In 1972, WNBC's newscasts were in "deep doo-doo," ratings-wise.

[tapthatt2012]

always great to see these clips.

[johnnyafairbanks]

WNBC was in deep doo-doo in 1972; they're in deep doo-doo again in 2009.

[wmbrown6]

Oddly enough, however, WNBC's 11 P.M. ratings in 1972 were halfway decent, on par with WABC; it was WCBS that was struggling at 11 P.M. (with the anchor duo of Jim Jensen and Ralph Penza), and this was what led to them, in 1973, switching the origin of those late newscasts to their newsroom and having Rolland Smith and Dave Marash (the latter with his shirtsleeves) anchor them.

[amnewsboy]

The set and very VERY dry opening certainly don't help. There's a big difference between somber/demure and flat-out boring.

[wmbrown6]

Again, NBC News directly controlled WNBC's news department in those days, and the way it was operated pretty much screamed "control freak." But again, WNBC's 11 P.M. news was the only place where they actually won the ratings race vs. WABC and WCBS. (The latter of which newscasts, then anchored by Jim Jensen and Ralph Penza, were the ones in the ratings basement.)