"Newsbreakers"
If you watched TV news in the New York City area in the 70's or 80's, you watched Jim Jensen on WCBS. You might have clicked over to WNBC or WABC for the sports, but for news it was Jensen.
For a stark illustration of how much local news has changed since then, check out this WCBS promo from 1981. Warning: watching it may result in extreme culture shock for anyone under the age of 20, with words like "bizarre" and "freaky" the likely result.
As the clip shows, the local news back then made today's national versions look Mayberry-ish; on nights when Jensen led with international news, it was ok to skip Cronkite or Rather. And conspicuously missing from the clip is any mention of Mick, Bianca, Andy, etc. Would a news outfit dare run a similar promo today without showing Rosie, Britney, or Paris?
For a stark illustration of how much local news has changed since then, check out this WCBS promo from 1981. Warning: watching it may result in extreme culture shock for anyone under the age of 20, with words like "bizarre" and "freaky" the likely result.
As the clip shows, the local news back then made today's national versions look Mayberry-ish; on nights when Jensen led with international news, it was ok to skip Cronkite or Rather. And conspicuously missing from the clip is any mention of Mick, Bianca, Andy, etc. Would a news outfit dare run a similar promo today without showing Rosie, Britney, or Paris?
posted by The Cunning Realist at Tuesday, May 29, 2007
9 Comments:
All very true, but it's still hard not to also think of Ron Burgundy.
Yes, it was really hard to not think of Ron Burgundy! Especially with the graphics at the beginning. I also thought it amusing to see Meredith Viera in 1981! Ironically, she is now the co-host of a fluffy morning show.
I left the area 7 years after this clip but, this WAS metro NY news to me and, my world view.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
judyo
Was that Borat I saw somewhere in that clip?
What Anonymous said above. I lived in NYC from 70-83, during my late childhood through college years. WE always watched channel 2 news and Jensen was the star. But channel 7 had Roger Grimsby and Bill Beutel, two solid reporters; and channel 4 had Chuck Scarborough, who did a pretty good job himself.
That "Borat" was/is Arnold Diaz. He's still a regular feature of NYC local news.
There's a lot of interesting vintage NY-area clips over there.
This is all erroneous what you are telling.
Oh my god, there is a great deal of helpful data above!
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