''Eyewitness News'' is a

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

presentation A presentation conveys information from a speaker to an audience. Presentations are typically demonstrations, introduction, lecture, or speech meant to inform, persuade, inspire, motivate, build goodwill, or present a new idea/product. Presenta ...

that emphasizes visual elements and action videos, instead of the older ,"man-on-camera" style of newscast, and is most prominently featured in the

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...

History

Westinghouse

The earliest known use of the ''Eyewitness News'' name in American television was on April 6, 1959, when KYW-TV (now

WKYC-TV WKYC (channel 3) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. Its studios are located on Tom Beres Way (a section of Lakeside Avenue in Downtown Cleveland named after the station's longt ...

) – at the time, based in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

and owned by

Westinghouse Broadcasting The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndi ...

– launched the nation's first 90-minute local newscast (under the title ''Eyewitness''), which was combined with the then 15-minute national newscast. The name was then adopted for use by Westinghouse's other television stations – KPIX in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

;

WJZ-TV WJZ-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, serving as the market's CBS outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, and maintains studios and offices on Woodberry, B ...

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

;

WBZ-TV WBZ-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, serving as the market's CBS outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent WSBK-TV (channel 38). Bo ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

; and

KDKA-TV KDKA-TV (channel 2), branded CBS Pittsburgh, is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned and operated by the CBS television network through its CBS News and Stations division alongside WPKD-TV (channel 19), a ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

– for their local newscasts. After the

KYW-TV KYW-TV (channel 3), branded as CBS Philadelphia, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned and operated by the CBS television network through its CBS News and Stations division alongside WPSG (channel 57 ...

call letters, management, and some staffers moved from

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

in 1965, the station's then-news director, Al Primo, created the ''Eyewitness News'' format. In this format, a reporter in the field would be the "eyewitness" to a news event to the anchor in the studio and the viewer at home. The anchors became personalities instead of presenters with the introduction of banter, or "happy talk" as it was named by Al Primo. Anchors would often give their own personal comments in between stories. Primo used the cue ''

007 The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

'' from the 1963 film '' From Russia with Love'' as the musical theme. The format quickly became a hit in Philadelphia and allowed KYW-TV to surge past longtime leader

WCAU-TV WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jersey–licensed Tel ...

for first place, a position it kept on and off until the late 1970s. KYW-TV's success inspired rival station WFIL-TV (now

WPVI-TV WPVI-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Owned and operated by the ABC television network through its ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on City Avenue in t ...

) to develop the ''

Action News ''Action News'' is a local television newscast format originating in the United States. First conceived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it is characterized by a tight format with strict time limits on set packages, a focus on surrounding suburbs, ...

'' format to compete with it (after

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

was ordered to re-assume control of its Cleveland broadcasting properties in 1965, the ''Eyewitness News'' name left that city until

WEWS WEWS-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It has been owned by the E. W. Scripps Company since its inception in 1946, making it one of three stations that have been built and signed on ...

adopted it for its newscasts in the 1970s). KYW-TV used the name and format until 1991, and re-adopted it in 1998; the name was dropped altogether in 2023, with station vice president and general manager Kelly Frank saying that "''Eyewitness News'' really was no longer relevant to a modern news and information consumer." All five major stations owned by Westinghouse prior to its 1995 acquisition of CBS have used ''Eyewitness News'' as their newscast title at some point in time.

Expansion to ABC

In 1968, Primo moved to

WABC-TV WABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, WABC-TV maintains studios in the Hudson Square neighborhood ...

and took the ''Eyewitness News'' concept there with him, choosing music from the 1967

Paul Newman Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and activist. He was the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Paul Newman, numerous awards ...

film ''

Cool Hand Luke ''Cool Hand Luke'' is a 1967 American Prison film, prison drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg, starring Paul Newman and featuring George Kennedy in an Academy Awards, Oscar-winning performance. Newman stars in the title role as Luke, a pri ...

'' – the "Tar Sequence" cue (composed by

Lalo Schifrin Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, incorporating jazz and Music of Latin America, Lati ...

) – as the theme. However, he added a new twist at WABC-TV – light, informal-sounding conversation among the anchors between the news stories and segments, which came to be known as " happy talk". Among the newscasters in the first wave of happy talk on WABC-TV was young reporter

Geraldo Rivera Geraldo Rivera (born Gerald Rivera; July 4, 1943) is an American journalist, attorney, author, and political commentator who worked at the Fox News Channel from 2001 to 2023. He hosted the tabloid talk show '' Geraldo'' from 1987 to 1998. He g ...

, a comical and entertaining weatherman in Tex Antoine, and Bill Beutel and Roger Grimsby as anchormen of contrasting yet complementing styles. Primo also criticized the then-standard practice of "three white men" "preaching the news" at viewers and included women and persons of color to reflect the diversity of the viewing audience. WABC-TV has kept the name and format since then, and has been the highest-rated station in New York City for much of that time. The format, as modified by WABC-TV, was copied by many other stations in the United States, with four other stations owned and operated by ABC –

KABC-TV KABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station mai ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

WLS-TV WLS-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's ABC network outlet. It has been owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division since the station's inception. ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

WXYZ-TV WXYZ-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside independent station WMYD (channel 20). The two stations shar ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

and

KGO-TV KGO-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It has been owned and operated by the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network through its ABC Owne ...

in San Francisco – using both the format and the ''Cool Hand Luke'' theme (in the case of KGO, since KPIX was already using the ''Eyewitness News'' name, KGO titled its newscasts as ''Channel 7 NewsScene'' in 1969 and by 1983 simply ''Channel 7 News'', while WXYZ used the ''Action News'' name since rival WJBK-TV was using the ''Eyewitness News'' name for its newscasts; KABC and WLS were free to use the ''Eyewitness News'' name as did WABC-TV). Ironically, WPVI, which developed the ''Action News'' format, is also now an ABC owned-and-operated station. In addition, U.S. Spanish-language stations also use their own version of ''Eyewitness News'', called ''Noticias de Primera Plana'' (''Headline News'', a concept translation in Spanish of ''Eyewitness News'') on certain owned-and-operated stations of Spanish networks. A separate, but mostly unrelated, ''Eyewitness News'' format was developed by Irv Weinstein in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, for

WKBW-TV WKBW-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Buffalo, New York, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, the station maintains studios at 7 Broadcast Plaza in downtown Buffalo and a transmitter on Center Stree ...

. This format was mostly based not on the original ''Eyewitness News'' (though it used the same logo; in actuality, a slightly modified version of it) but rather on the ''Action News'' format of its sister stations in the

Capital Cities Communications Capital Cities/ABC Inc. was an American media company. It was founded in 1985 when Capital Cities Communications purchased the much larger American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. It was eventually acquired by The Walt Disney Company and re-branded i ...

stable. While based on ''Action News''s brief and numerous reports, Weinstein built his ''Eyewitness News'' newscast around attention-grabbing

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

s and

alliterative Alliteration is the repetition of syllable-initial consonant sounds between nearby words, or of syllable-initial vowels if the syllables in question do not start with a consonant. It is often used as a List of narrative techniques#Style, litera ...

headlines, along with occasional wisecracking or sarcastic one-liners about the day's news stories. This version of ''Eyewitness News'' was used on WKBW as well as other Capital Cities stations including

KTRK-TV KTRK-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States. It is owned and operated by the ABC network via its ABC Owned Television Stations division, and maintains studio facilities on Bissonnet Street in Houston's Upper ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

and WTVD in

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

, where in the case of the latter, the ''Action News'' name was in use by another station. It was also used on a few stations not owned by Capital Cities, including WOKR (now WHAM-TV) in

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

. Despite its familiarity as a format on ABC owned-and-operated stations, it is actually CBS that owns the rights to the ''Eyewitness News'' name, as it originated from KYW-TV. WKBW dropped the Eyewitness News brand in 2022, as its owner, The E. W. Scripps Company, was convinced the brand was outdated.

Outside the United States

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and other

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

n countries during the 1970s and 1980s, some local newscasts also used the ''Eyewitness News'' format, under the names ''Noticias de Primera Plana'' (''Headline News'') and ''Noticias de Acción'' (''

''). The title was used in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, on CTV affiliate CFRN-TV in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

. In

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, Metro TV branded its newscasts as ''iWitness'', and abbreviated as ''Eyewitness''. It has since become one of the featured segments on the

daytime Daytime or day as observed on Earth is the period of the day during which a given location experiences Daylight, natural illumination from direct sunlight. Daytime occurs when the Sun appears above the local horizon, that is, anywhere on the ...

news program ''Wide Shot''. In

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, BTQ-7 in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

adopted the ''Eyewitness News'' branding in the early 1970s. The branding was also employed by

NWS-9 NWS is an Australian Australian television broadcasting, television station based in Adelaide, Australia. It is owned-and-operated station, owned-and-operated by the Nine Network. The station callsign, ''NWS'', is an initialism of The NeWs South ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

for its evening newscast. TEN-10 in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and ATV-0/10 in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, the principal stations of

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...

, adopted the ''Eyewitness News'' branding in the mid-1970s and it was later adopted by other stations in the Network Ten group ( SAS-10 in 1976 and TVQ-0/10 in 1978) as BTQ-7 and NWS-9 later relinquished the brand in their respective cities. Regional affiliates for Network Ten also used the ''Eyewitness News'' name. The Australian version of ''Eyewitness News'' more closely resembled Weinstein's version than the original format, but it became one of the ratings winners in the 1980s due to its one-hour duration unlike other newscasts. Network Ten dropped the use of the ''Eyewitness News'' name in 1988 but later reinstated it in July 1989 for six months, and then again in January 1991 until late 1994. Network Ten reinstated the "Eyewitness News" branding once again on 16 September 2013 until 31 October 2018, when it was retired as part of a network relaunch and replaced with ''10 News First''. In

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, ''Eyewitness News'' is used by ''Eyewitness News'', located in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

and in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

. It is also used by

Talk Radio 702 702 or (Talk Radio 702) is a commercial FM radio station based in Johannesburg, South Africa, broadcasting on FM 92.7 and FM 106 to the greater Gauteng province. The station is also webcast via its website. It claims to be Johannesburg's numb ...

and 94.7 Highveld Stereo in

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

, 567 CapeTalk and 94.5 Kfm in

United States stations that use or have used the ''Eyewitness News'' format or name

* ¹Indicates station was originally owned by Westinghouse Broadcasting and now is owned-and-operated by CBS * ²Indicates station is owned-and-operated by ABC

On-air staff

References

External links

{{portal, Television
TV Newscast Titles
– listings of other stations that have used the Eyewitness News name

– unofficial site documenting the development of Eyewitness News at KYW-TV Franchised television formats Local television news programming in the United States 1950s neologisms