NBC Nightly News
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| NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams | |
|---|---|
| Image:Nightlynews.jpg </small> | |
| Genre | News |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Creator(s) | Reuven Frank |
| Starring | Brian Williams (2004–present) Tom Brokaw (1982–2004) Roger Mudd (1982-1983) John Chancellor (1970–1982) David Brinkley (1970, 1976-1979) |
| Country of origin | Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | 1970–present |
| No. of episodes | N/A (airs daily) |
NBC Nightly News is the flagship evening news program for NBC News and broadcasts from Studio 3C at the GE Building, Rockefeller Center in New York City. It has been known by this name since August 3, 1970. Currently, weekday broadcasts are anchored by Brian Williams, and weekend editions of the show are anchored by John Seigenthaler. The news is also offered in free video podcasts.
Contents |
[edit] John Chancellor era
The program succeeded the Huntley-Brinkley Report upon the retirement of Chet Huntley in 1970. At first, a triumvirate of anchors, John Chancellor, Frank McGee, and David Brinkley presented the news on a rotating basis.
McGee left several months after the show began to anchor the morning news program NBC Today Show. Chancellor continued on as sole anchor until June 1976, when the rotating anchor experiment was reinstated, with Chancellor reporting from the NBC News headquarters in New York City with Brinkley reporting from Washington. The anchor rotation was continued until October 1979 with Chancellor and Brinkley; but pressure from the NBC sales department ended it.
By that time, Chancellor was unable to attract the viewers Walter Cronkite was attracting on the CBS Evening News. During his tenure as NBC Nightly News anchor, he never was able to break the grip Cronkite had on the American news viewer, despite NBC's various changes to the show. Chancellor did, however, remain as an editorial commentator on the news for many years.
[edit] Tom Brokaw era
Tom Brokaw became solo anchor of NBC Nightly News on September 5, 1983, after NBC experimented with a dual-anchor program where he was paired with Roger Mudd. His presence attracted viewers, and during the 1990s, NBC Nightly News battled for the viewership lead with ABC World News Tonight, anchored by the urbane Canadian Peter Jennings. The once-dominant CBS Evening News, anchored by Dan Rather and hobbled by corporate cost cutting[citation needed], slid to third place in the viewership wars.
In May 2002, Brokaw announced his retirement as anchor of NBC Nightly News effective shortly after the presidential election of 2004. Brokaw's last presidential election coverage was in 2004, in which the Rockefeller Plaza ice-skating rink was converted into a giant electoral map and cherry-pickers tallied the electoral vote count on the GE Building. His last broadcast was on December 1, 2004.
[edit] Brian Williams era
Brian Williams, a frequent fill-in for Brokaw, succeeded as the newscast's permanent anchor on, December 2, 2004. The program has continued to hold onto its number one spot in the ratings, averaging nearly 8 million viewers weekly according to Nielsen Media research documented in USA Today's website. A blog, The Daily Nightly, has been started to add insight into how the broadcast is put together. In addition, the full weekday broadcast is available to view at the same night after 10 p.m. Eastern time.
Williams was praised for his reporting during and after the 2005 Hurricane season.
Campbell Brown, Ann Curry, or Lester Holt substitute for Williams when he is on holiday or unavailable.
[edit] Weekend Editions
John Seigenthaler, who often substitutes for Williams on the weekday broadcast, currently serves as anchor of the Saturday and Sunday editions of the NBC Nightly News. Lester Holt, Hoda Kotb, and David Gregory are frequent substitutes for Seigenthaler.
The weekend editions of "NBC Nightly News" began January 4, 1969 when "The Huntley-Brinkley Report" was expanded to six nights a week (Monday–Saturday). On August 1, 1970, the news broadcast was extended to include Sunday. Former anchors of the weekend newscasts include Brian Williams, Tom Brokaw, Garrick Utley, John Hart, John Palmer, Connie Chung, Maria Shriver, and Stephen Frazier.
[edit] Theme music
- "Huntley-Brinkley Report/NBC Nightly News Ticker" (1970–1973); the theme was used since 1962 when the program was still called "The Huntley-Brinkley Report")
- "NBC News Ticker" (1973–1976)
- Untitled theme (1976–1977)
- "NBC Nightly News", by Henry Mancini (1977–1982)
- "NBC News", by Joseph Paul Sicurella, Tony Smythe, and Bob Christianson (1979–1982 as a bumper; 1982–1985 as the main theme)
- "The Mission", by John Williams (1985— )
[edit] Trivia
- Australia's Seven Network has been using variations of "The Mission" news theme on its bulletins since the late 1980s, including a club mix version of the theme used from 1999 to 2004. The Seven Network also called their flagship bulletin Seven Nightly News for several years.
- From 1983 to 1984, the intro featured an animated globe which spun west-to-east instead of east-to-west. It was an attempt to represent the Earth as it is seen by space shuttle astronauts in orbit, but many viewers assumed it was a mistake and wrote in. Tom Brokaw noted the concern on the air, and the spin was reversed in 1984.
- The background shown behind Brian Williams is not the real newsroom or control room. Instead, it is a sixty-second loop of footage shot at around 1AM several years ago in MSNBC's feed room. This was done because a real live shot would be much too busy and distract the viewer. This bit of trickery also makes the set appear much larger on TV than it actually is.
- The announcer for the program is long-time NBC staff announcer Howard Reig. He retired to Florida in 2005 but a recording he made before his retirement continues to be used. When the show is on the road or a new substitute anchor is employed, Reig goes into a Miami studio and records a new introduction.
[edit] Broadcasts outside US
In Europe, NBC Nightly News is shown live on CNBC Europe. NBC News programming is also shown for several hours a day on the 24 hour news network Orbit News in Europe and the Middle East. In the Philippines, NBC Nightly News is shown on ETC 2nd Avenue. In Japan, NBC Nightly News is shown on NTV NEWS 24.
[edit] Weekday credits
- Anchor & Managing Editor: Brian Williams
- Executive Producer: John Reiss
- Senior Broadcast Producer: Bob Epstein
- Director: Brett Holey
- Senior Producers: Gena Fitzgerald, M.L. Flynn, Tracey Lyons, Albert Oetgen, Richard Latour
- Broadcast Producer: Ed Deitch
- Anchor Producer: Subrata De
- Tape Producers: Anne Binford Allen and Robin Skolnick
- New York Producers: Donna Bass, Marisa Buchanan, Clare Duffy, Mario Garcia, Julie Holstein; Joo Lee, Bita Nikravesh, Felicia Patinkin, Charles Schaeffer, Sam Singal, Kelly Venardos, and Robert Windrem
- News Writers: Christine Colvin and Barbara Raab
- Editors: Robert Kaplan, Bob Croce, Jody Henenfeld, Beverly Chase, Maggie Kassner
- Website Producers: Rob Merrill and Constance Parten
- Music by: John Williams
- Graphic Designers: Collin Pisarra and Joe Incorvaia
[edit] Weekend credits
- Anchor: John Seigenthaler
- Executive Producer: Pat Burkey
- Senior Broadcast Producer: Matt Saal
- Director: Patricia Lang
- Producers: Buba Adschiew, Carol Eggers, Tom Dawson, Lydia Lively (Washington), and Maria Alcon
- Graphics: Stew Stoltz
- Tape Producer: Lauren Fairbanks
- News Writers: Barbara Bernhard
- Music by: John Williams
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- NBC Nightly News
- The Daily Nightly: Official Blog of NBC Nightly News
- NBC Nightly News at the Internet Movie Database
- Links for John Williams' Theme
| Anchors of The NBC Nightly News |
|---|
| John Cameron Swayze • Chet Huntley • David Brinkley • Frank McGee • Tom Brokaw • Roger Mudd • Brian Williams |
