The very first WFIL-TV Action News Theme Circa 1970

I've located the WFIL-TV Action News theme 45 RPM record in my collection. This was the one used before the now-familiar "Move Closer To Your World" theme that still runs to this day on Channel 6.

Channel 6 had perennially been the third-ranked newscast in Philly with Gunnar Back as their anchor. To shake things up, they moved a younger anchorman, Larry Kane, into the hot seat, and attempted to move the show along with lots of fast-cut film and quicker stories, along with this new, fast-paced theme.

The response was quick and immediate, and Channel 6 shot to the top of the ratings heap where it's remained for most of the intervening 40 years.

For this video, I've done some processing on the audio, dubbing it into the computer and cleaning it up with software for presentation here. The mono 45 RPM record had a slightly louder left channel, even though there is no "stereo" separation. The recording is monaural. To balance things out, I've compressed the audio to pure mono and eliminated a couple of pops.

The video is just a static view of the record label with rotating color and a film-like quality added.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• WFIL-TV
• WPVI-TV
• Action News
• Jim Gardner
• Gunnar Back
• Jim O'Brien
• Channel 6
• Philadelphia
• Larry Kane
• television

[JokaPlaya]

I think this was used for a news program for KTLA channel 5, in the 70's. I think it was the George Putnam hour.

[bleekblock]

I'm Ron Burgundy