WABC - 1980 - Eyewitness News at 6pm pt. 2

Here, now, the news - part one of a full 6pm WABC Eyewitness News broadcast from 1980 featuring the legendary anchor team of Roger Grimsby and Bill Beutel. It might look plain, but its beauty is apparent once you look deeper.

We're in the second block of news now. You might wonder why some of the stories look funny - WABC was using a mixture of tape and film for its reports. Live shots were a rarity. Over the shoulder graphics were handmade. Animated lower thirds? Hell no - yellow text FTW.

Despite, hell, probably because of the lack of these technological advancements, the news product is solid and well-formed. Classic EWN newscasts have this reputation of being sort of a free-for-all, comedic festival; a reputation that is somewhat misplaced. There is fun to be had but it's also a news program first and foremost.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• WABC
• 1980
• Eyewitness
• News
• Roger
• Grimsby
• Bill
• Beutel

[jhshifris1]

This is how the news should be. No flashy graphics, no expensive sets, no annoying sound effects, no animations or anything like that. I love the graphics, though.

[ctwomey]

It's interesting to see how news coverage has changed over the years. In 1980, they lead off with 2 local stories, then segue into the Iranian Hostage crisis. Today, they would have begun with the crisis, interviewing the hostages' family, friends, and pets. Then we would have been reminded for the 20th time who the terrorists were, and subjected to their bios, ad nauseum.

It was refreshing to hear just the un-embellished update.

[Tubewings]

That TWA commercial was funny!

[radiodj1520]

Wow, In This Clip, John Slattery Was Looking Young In 1980, When He Was At WABC-TV, 4 Years Before He Began Working At WCBS-TV.

[StukInBuf]

After the Milkbone ad... the shampoo ad you told me about, WmBrown. Thanks.

[wmbrown6]

Yellow? I thought the text was sunburst orange!

Also . . . it was a few months at that point (1980) since the "EWN" studio had replaced the long-running Norelco PC-70's with Ikegami HK-312C's.