The Newsroom

International News Presentation: Past and Present

(February 2007)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
NY
NYTV
One thing interesting this I've noticed that most people when they refer to a particular station they will all call it Channel xxx. Even though networks mandated the NBC 5 or CBS 2 or ABC 7 monikers. Most people will still say simplly Channel 7 or Channel 2 rather than CBS 2 or ABC 7. Interesting ABC allowed WABC to continue to refer to itself as Channel 7 Eyewitness News unlike Chicago where they were force to adopt ABC 7 Eyewitness News.

About WABC and Eyewitness News, They actually used "ABC 7 Eyewitness News" and "Channel 7 Eyewitness News" interchangeably in the late 90s before sticking with "Channel 7 Eyewitness News" but some have used the "ABC 7.." one before,
WW
WW Update
In memory of former Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne, who died on Friday, here's the 10 p.m. news from WLS in Chicago, 1983, with her as the lead story:



Here's the same station eleven years later, in 1994 -- and a bast of extremely cold weather hitting Chicago is the lead story (BTW, -14 degrees Fahrenheit is -26 degrees Celsius):

CH
Charles
The US focus on the actual broadcast channel number has always struck me as a bit bizarre (particularly as with digital TV the link to the RF channel is often gone and so the number is purely a semi-random branding device). We do have a different heritage - with rotary tuners (which meant you needed to know your RF channel to quickly re-tune) not as dominant for a lengthy period as possibly they were in the US, but it does strike most of us non-US viewers as a bit odd.

I suppose having nationally agreed "logical channel numbers" (as we do in the UK and most - if not all - of Europe) is too difficult to manage.


But then again, the use of RF channel numbers for on-air station identification has always been widespread in Australia, much of Latin America, and parts of Asia -- so it's not just an American practice.


I also think the FCC has a lot to do with it. When television started, it wasn't the networks going around the country starting up stations like in Europe— it was usually legacy radio stations, newspapers, small media companies, or even individual entrepreneurs starting up TV stations. The FCC also limited the number of stations that any company could own (and still does, though there are ways of getting around it now), so the network affiliation was always peripheral to the local station's local brand, callsign, and/or dial position.

Though with that said, in the spirit of this thread, here's KNSD San Diego, 2012. NBC planned to do away with channel numbers on their O&O stations and rebrand all of them with NBC + City Name and blocky graphics. It only made it to air on KNSD, and a lot of people at these stations apparently weren't comfortable with removing the channel number from the brand, so you'll see that there's a 7 tacked on at the end of the logo here (which is actually KNSD's cable number, not their over-the-air number). This rebrand plan was around the same time Comcast was in the process of buying NBC Universal, so it was put on hold before other stations switched to it, and NBC ultimately stuck with a more traditional branding route instead.



And here's KNTV San Jose, 2014. KNTV is on channel 11, but when it switched affiliation and was bought by NBC, it branded very briefly as NBC3 (its cable number) before going with NBC11, then NBC Bay Area since 2008.

BA
bilky asko
Though with that said, in the spirit of this thread, here's KNSD San Diego, 2012. NBC planned to do away with channel numbers on their O&O stations and rebrand all of them with NBC + City Name and blocky graphics. It only made it to air on KNSD, and a lot of people at these stations apparently weren't comfortable with removing the channel number from the brand, so you'll see that there's a 7 tacked on at the end of the logo here (which is actually KNSD's cable number, not their over-the-air number). This rebrand plan was around the same time Comcast was in the process of buying NBC Universal, so it was put on hold before other stations switched to it, and NBC ultimately stuck with a more traditional branding route instead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BadNjiwfxII


It really is tacked on - you can see NBC on its own underneath as it animates if you pause it.
WW
WW Update
A compilation of international news intros from the 1960s:

WW
WW Update
Radio-Canada, 1979:



WCVB, Boston, U.S.A., with a severe winter storm as the lead story, 1982:

http://youtu.be/0SMJqV22zKo?t=51s

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/az2si/wcvb-1982-1a_zpsb1e847d5.png
Last edited by WW Update on 17 November 2014 6:49am
WW
WW Update
ABC's World News Tonight , when it was regularly co-anchored from London, 1980:

Last edited by WW Update on 18 November 2014 7:55pm
LL
London Lite Founding member
TF1 live coverage of the 9/11 attacks.



TF1 20 Heures - 11th September 2001.

EL
elmarko

It really is tacked on - you can see NBC on its own underneath as it animates if you pause it.

I must say, I'm struggling to see that, it looks pretty much the same as the NBC next to it, comes in at the same time etc. You mean the main opening right at the start of the video, yeah?
WW
WW Update

It really is tacked on - you can see NBC on its own underneath as it animates if you pause it.

I must say, I'm struggling to see that, it looks pretty much the same as the NBC next to it, comes in at the same time etc. You mean the main opening right at the start of the video, yeah?


I didn't see it at first either, but I think this freeze frame reveals what Bilky Asko was talking about; if you look really closely, you can see both "NBC" and "NBC 7" when the block of letters begins to turn -- the latter was apparently added later:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/az2si/nbc-nbc7-1a_zps14c84632.png
Last edited by WW Update on 19 November 2014 6:59pm
WW
WW Update
DR2, Denmark; Dagen, 2014:

WW
WW Update
Arte, France/Germany; Arte Journal (German edition), 2014:

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