WABC 1980 - Bruce King Gets Pinned

This was the first night for Bruce King on Eyewitness News, and to welcome him to the team Ernie Anastos officially "pins" him - applying the ubiquitous circle 7 logo pin to his blazer. Then, a few minutes later, Ernie and Rose Ann chide Storm Field for being out of uniform - he forgot to wear the pin that night.

Through the 1970s and 1980s, the male anchors on WABC (and on all of ABC's channel 7s) had to wear a circle 7 pin as a subtle way of reinforcing the brand. This is probably one of the few times I've seen it mentioned on the air. I'm not sure when the practice stopped.

Ernie, Rose Ann, and Storm are all New York broadcasting legends - but Bruce King isn't. Bruce was the guy who replaced Warner Wolf when the latter accepted a lucrative offer to go over to WCBS-2. I don't think he lasted more than a year... and 7 went through a bunch of sportscasters until Scott Clark came on in the late 80s. (For a period they had Spencer Christian - yes, that Spencer Christian - on sports. That just was weird.)

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• WABC
• 1980
• Bruce
• King
• Rose
• Ann
• Scamardella
• Ernie
• Anastos
• Circle

[mbhfromla]

Actually Bruce is a legend..maybe not in New York with his short WABC stint...but for many years before and after his WABC gig, he was the sports anchor at KOMO in Seattle alongside Dan Lewis, Kathi Goertzen and Steve Pool..among the longest tenured news teams in the country. He retired in 1999.

[HulkieD]

Ahhh. Okay. I did an info search on him and didn't know how long he lasted, or why he left. I completely forgot to do the whole "search for him in other markets" thing.

Another key guy WABC was using at the time was Mike Barry, and I know he had a long run over at KGO...

[jerseyfla]

In your info section, you are right about WABC going through many sports anchors before finally having nice longevity from Scott Clark. I think Corey McPherrin had a nice run, I believe was with WABC for at least 6 years.

[HulkieD]

Yeah, MCPHERRIN!!!(as he will be forever known to me from that infamous BBM open) had a good run here as well but he seems more like a "Chicago" guy.

Actually, there are a few reporters around this time - 1985/86 - that eventually resurfaced in Chicago: McPherrin, Mike Parker, and Larry Mendte all turned up at WBBM... I think because that's where Applegate wound up...?

[abwvu1]

HOLY CRAP! Ernie is ROCKIN that fro!

[tkaye2]

Even better is Rose Ann's whispered comments at 0:56 about the three-shot leading up to the weathercast: "What kind of crap shot is that?!"

[Zickcermacity]

@sherri419 Heard of that SNL character, did not know who she was based on. Good 2 know!

[sherri419]

@Zickcermacity Gilda Radner's Roseanne Roseannadanna on SNL was based on her (or at least her last name was).

[sherri419]

@pnull I think she was pregnant (or between pregnancies,

she was pregnant several times during her run on the news, seemed like she was always pregnant).

[Imawsome611]

Go mets

[Zickcermacity]

And Rose Ann with the long last name - scamerdella or scamradella or something along that line!

[recto89]

I noticed that KABC is tthe only ABC O&O that still uses the ABC7 pins

[lianlaspinas]

@recto89 The theme music for City2 Balita (1980-1984) was "Cool Hand Luke"

[recto89]

@HulkieD Holy Crap Roger Grimsby, Spencer Christian, Don Lovett anf Mike Barry I noticed that these guys are legends on KGO and WABC. I noticed that KGO tends to import and people from and to other ABC O&O's like Wayne Freedman, Anna Chavez, Nanette Miranda and Jessica Aguirre from KABC. Leslie Brinkley from KTRK. Linda Yu was exported to WLS after her run at KGO. and Dan Ashley from WTVD.

[pnull]

Yikes.....Rose Ann looks like a frumpy house wife

[wmbrown6]

And as for Spencer Christian, prior to going to sports he also did the weather, mostly on the 11 P.M. edition.