I just wonder how the viewers of Nightly News will take to the adjustment when Williams moves in.
Who's been at the desk longer? Brokaw? Jennings, or Rather?
Technically, PJ has - he anchored a 15-minute evening network newscast for ABC in the late 60's. In 69 or so, Howard K. Smith took over as solo anchor when ABC's newscast went to 30 minutes. Harry Reasoner joined in about 74 or so, followed by Barbara Walters about a year and a half later.
PJ returned to ABC's evening newscast in 77 (I'm pretty sure that was the year) when WNT premiered with the three-anchor format. Frank Reynolds was the primary anchor in those days. PJ co-anchored from London, and Max Robinson was in Chicago. Reynolds died from cancer in 81 or so, and Robinson went to local anchoring in Chicago before he died of AIDS in the mid 80's.
Rather took the reins of The CBS Evening News from Walter Chronkite in 1981. Before that, he was a reporter and anchor for Evening News as well as for 60 Minutes. CBS tried a two-anchor format in the mid 90's with Rather and Connie Chung. That went over about as well as a lead balloon. Connie and Dan didn't get along at all. The experiment was killed after two or three months.
Brokaw took over NBC Nightly News in 84 or so. Before that, he was the co-anchor of "Today," with Jane Pauley.
The ABC Evening News was the one Walters got paid $1million for, wasn't it? Didn't Smith or Reasoner seriously not get on well with Walters? I do actually have the titles of the ABC Evening News on tape somewhere, they were shown on a programme about Walters on the Biography Channel. Same bloody music.
Matt, I have the titles from NBC Nightly News, yes. Although I've only actually encoded the Election 2000 titles, you get the idea. Their music for Decision 2000 was brilliant. I've never actually heard CBS's Decision 2000 music. The logo always looked very grand and the way it broke apart to reveal the winner was clever but I've never heard any of the music from it. I'll post the Decision 2000 titles for you in a moment.
The ABC Evening News was the one Walters got paid $1million for, wasn't it? Didn't Smith or Reasoner seriously not get on well with Walters?
Yep, that's it. At the time, Walters was co-hosting "Today" with Hugh Downs on NBC. Ironically enough, the two would get paired again on "20/20" on ABC and work together for many years before Downs retired in the mid-90's.
Reasoner did not like Walters at all. He wasn't happy with having to co-anchor with her, he felt he should make more money than her, and he let everyone know it. That feud was part of what led to the creation of "World News Tonight." By the time Walters came along, Howard K. Smith had been relegated to a commentary role, prior to his retirement. Smith died earlier this year.
mhking, how did the original WNT actually work in practice? I mean, a few years ago now BBC Radio tried to do a country wide version of their Today programme, with one presenter (John Humpreys?) in London and another, the late Brian Redhead, in Manchester. Occasionally there were awful delays with sound. The show was probably only done so that Redhead didn't have to commute to London every bloody day. He lived in Cheshire, i.e. North West England (where I live) and travelled every day to London, i.e. South East England. The show became a logistical nightmare and was scrapped after a few years. Surely a trans-Atlantic broadcast in the 70s would've been a pretty complex operation?
What is Chronkite actually doing now? Public speaking, and that sort of thing? He must be at least 90 something, mustn't he? He was on CNNI Q&A a couple of months back. Looked very well.
mhking, how did the original WNT actually work in practice? I mean, a few years ago now BBC Radio tried to do a country wide version of their Today programme, with one presenter (John Humpreys?) in London and another, the late Brian Redhead, in Manchester. Surely a trans-Atlantic broadcast in the 70s would've been a pretty complex operation?
What is Chronkite actually doing now? Public speaking, and that sort of thing? He must be at least 90 something, mustn't he? He was on CNNI Q&A a couple of months back. Looked very well.
Not overly so, the original WNT was setup almost as three programs in one - the program would start in Washington with Frank Reynolds. He would tease international news with PJ in London, and national news with Max Robinson. He would do about five minutes of news, then toss to PJ. PJ would do about five-seven minutes and then go to break. after the break, Max would pick up for about five-seven minutes of national news, and then toss back to Frank for Howard K. Smith's commentary (or whatever special report they had for the evening) and to close.
In practice, it wasn't bad - although they had a fair number of glitches. The biggest reasons that it didn't stick, is that the three anchor format hadn't been perfected, and that CBS was number one, period. Walter Chronkite was voted for many years running the most trusted man in America. He was always there, and as far as many were concerned, he always would be.
More recently, "Uncle Walter" was doing once-per-year specials for Discovery, and showing up on CNN once every blue moon. He was around for some of the ISS coverage when the first modules were put in orbit, and of course, he was around for a few bits during the Millennium coverage a couple of years back.
I wouldn't be surprised if CNN brings him out if/when the conflict on the sub-continent turns into a nuclear war. Other than that, he seems to be enjoying his retirement.