NBC Nightly News is
the daily evening news program for NBC News
and broadcasts from 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
Lester Holt. The
program originates from NBC's Studio 3C, which is connected to the
network's central
newsroom. On weeknights,
it is broadcast live over most NBC stations from 6:30pm to 7:00pm
Eastern Time and occasionally updated for
Pacific Time Zone viewers in a "Western
Edition."
Its current theme
music was composed by renowned composer
John Williams.
As of 2009, it has been the highest rated
newscast in America
for over a
decade.
The John Chancellor/David Brinkley era (1970–1982)
NBC Nightly News open,
1972-1976.
NBC Nightly News succeeded the
Huntley-Brinkley
Report in August 1970 upon the retirement of
Chet Huntley. At first,
David Brinkley,
John Chancellor, and
Frank McGee formed a rotating
troika, only two of whom anchored the program on a given night.
Each
evening's program included one anchor in New York
and one in
Washington
. Brinkley's appearances were always from
Washington and McGee's from New York.
Chancellor moved
between New York and Washington
depending on his partner for the evening.
Newscasts on Saturday and Sunday were known as
NBC Saturday
Night News and
NBC Sunday Night News, respectively,
until sometime in the 1970s.
David Brinkley provided commentary
several times per week during the 1970s on
NBC Nightly
News.
With network executives perceiving the instability of this
arrangement as a factor in
Nightly News audience to
CBS
Evening News, NBC discontinued the rotation, and McGee
eventually took over for
Hugh Downs as
host of
The Today Show.
Chancellor became the sole anchor on August 9, 1971, with Brinkley
providing three-minute commentaries from Washington several times a
week under the title
David Brinkley's Journal. On June 7,
1976, NBC returned Brinkley to the anchor desk and tried the
dual-anchor approach once again. Initially, Chancellor and Brinkley
both reported from New York City, but Brinkley later returned to
Washington. Chancellor again became sole anchor on October 10,
1979, and Brinkley provided commentaries again until leaving NBC
for
ABC in 1981, where
he became host of that network's
Sunday morning interview show
This Week. On
November 17, 1980,
Roger Mudd, after CBS
passed him over as successor to
Walter
Cronkite on the
CBS Evening News in favor of
Dan Rather, took over the NBC Washington desk,
co-anchoring with Chancellor.
Despite the various changes, Chancellor was never able to break the
grip Walter Cronkite and the
CBS Evening News had on the
American news viewer. After stepping down from the anchor desk on
April 2, 1982, Chancellor remained as an editorial commentator on
the program until his retirement in 1993.
The Tom Brokaw era (1982–2004)
On April 5, 1982,
Tom Brokaw, who had
been anchor of
The Today
Show since 1976, took over in New York, while
Roger Mudd continued in Washington. He became the
solo anchor of
Nightly News on September 5, 1983, the same
day that his
ABC
competitor,
Peter Jennings, became
sole anchor of
World
News Tonight. Brokaw's presence slowly attracted viewers,
and during the 1990s,
NN battled for the viewership lead
with
ABC World News Tonight. By 1997,
NN had
solidified its first place rating, a spot it would retain solely
for ten years. The once-dominant
CBS Evening News, anchored by
Dan Rather, had lost a substantial portion of the
audience it held during the Cronkite era and slid to third place in
the viewership wars.
In May 2002, Brokaw announced his retirement as anchor of
NN, to take effect shortly after the Presidential election
of 2004. During this last presidential election coverage, NBC
graphic designers created images of a giant electoral map on the
Rockefeller Plaza ice-skating rink, and cherry-pickers tallied the
electoral vote count on the GE Building. Brokaw's final broadcast
took place on December 1, 2004, ending 22 years on the
NN
desk and a 21-year run as the network's chief newsman—a record
tenure in NBC's history. Brokaw was succeeded by Brian Williams the
following day.
The Brian Williams era (2004–present)
Former
NBC Nightly News title
card, used from November 2004-March 2007
Brian Williams, a frequent substitute
anchor for Brokaw, became the newscast's permanent anchor on
December 2, 2004. The program held onto the number 1 ratings spot
from Williams' start in December 2004, averaging about 10 Million
viewers weekly, until February 2007, when it slipped behind its
closest competitor,
World News with Charles
Gibson. However, after a few months,
NN regained
its lead. Since,
NN is the only evening newscast to
increase its audience, and has now been America's most watched
evening newscast for over a decade. According to
Nielsen Media Research,
NN
currently averages a weekly audience of 8.5 Million viewers.
A blog,
The Daily
Nightly, has been started to add insight into how the
broadcast is put together. In addition, each full weekday broadcast
is available for viewing that same night after 9 p.m. Eastern time.
Because Brian Williams introduced to the audience the daily blog
"The Daily Nightly", he also announced the arrival of a
vodcast of
NN.
Williams rose to new levels of popularity for his live spot
reporting during and after the
2005 Hurricane season.
Ann Curry or
Lester
Holt often substitute for Williams when he is on vacation or on
assignment. Other substitute anchors include
David Gregory Hoda Kotb and
Amy
Robach.
On December 4, 2006,
NN was presented with "limited
commercial interruptions" by
Philips. This
marked the first time in its 36-year history that the newscast has
experimented with reduced advertising.
With the transition to Williams, the show recognized its past in
its opening seconds, with small photos of past anchors and sets and
the voices of
John Cameron
Swayze, Huntley, Brinkley, Chancellor, and Brokaw, as well as
an orchestral version of the "G-E-C"
NBC
Chimes, before going into the opening headlines read by
Williams. This montage was discontinued beginning with the
September 17, 2007 edition.
The
NN set, in use since January 27, 1992 (
Studio 3C), was retired
on the broadcast of May 4, 2007. The broadcast's temporary
location, Studio 8G, featured the same set used for
Sunday Night Football broadcasts
by
NBC Sports. It was where NBC's 2006
congressional election coverage originated. The newly inaugurated
Nightly News studio (3C) was reopened on October 22, 2007,
after months of construction.along with a cable network
MSNBC at Studio 3A.
Nielsen ratings for March 2009 showed
NN finishing third in the New York City market, behind ABC
World News and the CBS
Evening News.
Weekend editions
NBC first offered a Saturday evening newscast in 1961, with
Sander Vanocur anchoring the
NBC
Saturday Night Report. Four years later, NBC correspondents
Ray Scherer and
Robert MacNeil were
partnered at the anchor desk on
The Scherer-MacNeil Report
on Saturdays and continued until 1967. At that time, the network
replaced it with a second weekend airing of
The Frank McGee
Report, which had been airing on Sundays for several years by
that point. The Saturday edition of the
Report ran for
about a year and a half.
On January 4, 1969, the
Huntley-Brinkley Report was
expanded to Saturday evening, with the main anchors working solo on
alternating weeks. When lower-than-expected ratings occurred, the
network pulled the pair off Saturdays and assigned others such as
McGee and Vanocur; the broadcast was renamed
NBC Saturday Night
News. On August 2, 1970, two days after the weekday
Huntley-Brinkley ended, the network expanded newscasts to
Sunday evenings, named
NBC Sunday NIght News; this
replaced the Sunday broadcast of
The Frank McGee Report.
For the first year after the Sunday night report began, NBC had
Chancellor, Brinkley, and McGee rotate in the same manner as on
weeknights; there were no separate weekend anchors.
When John Chancellor became sole anchor of the weeknight editions
in August 1971,
Garrick Utley anchored
both weekend broadcasts until he was assigned to London two years
later. He later returned as anchor of the Sunday broadcast. Former
anchors in addition to Utley (Saturdays and Sundays, 1971-1973;
Sundays, 1984-1986 & 1987-1989) include
Tom Brokaw (Saturdays, 1973-1976),
Floyd Kalber (Sundays, 1973-1975),
Tom Snyder (Sundays, 1975-1976),
Cassie Mackin (Sundays, 1976-1977),
John Hart (Saturdays, 1976-1977;
Sundays, 1977-1980),
Jessica Savitch
(Saturdays, 1977-1983),
Jane Pauley
(Sundays, 1980-1982),
Connie Chung
(Saturdays, 1983-1984),
Chris
Wallace (Sundays, 1982-1984, 1986-1987),
Bob Jamieson (Saturdays, 1984-1987),
John Palmer (Saturdays,
1987-1990),
Maria Shriver (Sundays,
1987-1993),
Mary Alice Williams
(Saturdays, 1990-1993),
Brian
Williams (Saturdays, 1993-1999), and
John Seigenthaler (Weekends,
1999-2007).
Lester Holt is the current
NN weekend anchor.
Announcer
In the early years of
NN,
Bill
Hanrahan handled the announcing duties for the newscast, as he
had done for the previous
Huntley-Brinkley Report.
Following Hanrahan's
retirement in 1983,
the announcer for the program was long-time
NBC
staff announcer
Howard Reig. He retired
to Florida in 2005, but a recording he made before his retirement
was used until December 14, 2007.
When the show was on the road or a new
substitute anchor was used, Reig recorded a new introduction in a
Miami
studio. Since Holt took over as anchor, the
weekend editions have been voiced by
Les Marshak, who
had also worked occasionally on special weekday editions when Reig
was unavailable. On December 17, 2007,
NN debuted a new
announcer:
Academy Award winning
actor/producer
Michael Douglas.
Sample announcer intros
- When Brian Williams is anchoring in New York...
- "From NBC News World Headquarters in New York, this is NBC
Nightly News, with Brian Williams." -Michael Douglas
- "From NBC News World Headquarters in New York, this is NBC
Nightly News, with Lester Holt." -Les Marshak
- When anchoring in Washington...
- "This is NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, reporting
tonight from Washington" -Michael Douglas
- When anchoring in Los Angeles...
- "This is NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, reporting
tonight from Los Angeles" -Michael Douglas
- When anchoring from elsewhere:
- "This is NBC Nightly News, with Brian Williams;" -Michael
Douglas; Brian Williams then greets viewers, mentioning where he is
("Good evening from London...")
- When the broadcast has a substitute anchor (on
weekdays)...
- "From NBC News World Headquarters in New York, this is NBC
Nightly News, with Brian Williams." -Michael Douglas; the
substitute anchor then introduces himself/herself (Example: "Good
evening, I'm Lester Holt, in tonight for Brian Williams.")
On the weekdays since June 2009 and on weekends, a substitute
anchor is named in the announcer intro: Weekday Subsitute: "This is
NBC Nightly News, with Brian Williams. Substituting tonight, David
Gregory." Weekend Subsitute: "This NBC Nightly News, with Lester
Holt. Subsituting tonight, Ann Curry."
Theme music
- "Huntley-Brinkley Report/NBC Nightly News Ticker" (August 3,
1970–November 10, 1972); the theme had been used since 1962, when
the program was still known as The Huntley-Brinkley
Report)
- "NBC News Ticker" (November 13, 1972–April 22, 1977)
- "NBC TV-Radio Newspulse," by Fred Weinberg Productions (April
25-September 5, 1977)
- "NBC Nightly News," by Henry
Mancini (September 6, 1977–April 2, 1982)
- "NBC News," by Joseph Paul Sicurella, Tony Smythe, and Bob
Christianson (1979–1982 as a bumper; April 5, 1982–September 6, 1985 as
the main theme)
- "The Mission," by
John Williams (September 9, 1985–
)
Correspondents
National correspondents
International correspondents
- Dawna Friesen (London)
- Stephanie Gosk (London)
- Jim Maceda (London)
- Ian Williams (Bangkok)
Specialist correspondents for NBC Nightly
News
- Robert Bazell (Chief Science
Correspondent)
- Tom Brokaw
- Lisa Myers ( Senior Investigative
Correspondent)
- Dr. Nancy Snyderman (Chief Medical Editor and
the host of MSNBC's Dr. Nancy)
- Anne Thompson (Chief Environmental Affairs
Correspondent)
- Pete Williams (Chief Justice
Correspondent)
Political correspondents
- Andrea Mitchell (Chief Foreign
Affairs Correspondent/host of MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell
Reports)
- Chuck Todd (Chief White House
Correspondent, Political Director, NBC News)
- Pete Williams (Justice
Correspondent)
Weekend anchor
- Lester Holt (Nightly News
Weekend Edition/Today Weekend Edition)
Guest anchors
Nightly News in HD
Previous
NBC Nightly News
title card, used from March 2007-October 2007 during the broadcast
in HD.
NBC Nightly News began broadcasting in
1080i high
definition on March 26, 2007. Most field footage is still shot
in standard definition while the network bureaus complete their own
conversion to HD, set to be completed in 2009. The
CBS Evening News began broadcasting in HD
on July 28, 2008.
ABC began broadcasting
in HD on August 26, 2008, during its coverage of the
2008 Democratic National
Convention.
Broadcasts outside U.S.
In Europe,
NBC Nightly News is shown live on
CNBC Europe at 11.30pm
GMT. 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 Mon. to Sun. at
4:00 PM, 1:30 AM & 8:30 AM local time on
C/S
9. In Japan, NBC Nightly News is shown on NTV NEWS 24.
It is
televised at 7:30 pm Atlantic time on VSB-TV in Bermuda
.Belize
's Tropical Vision Limited carries
NBC Nightly News at 7:30 p.m. CST Mondays-Fridays
and the Saturday edition with Lester Holt at 6:30 p.m. CST. In
Latin America,
NBC Nightly News is broadcast by
CNBC Latin America.
Notable incidents
In September 2001, a letter containing anthrax was addressed to
then
NBC Nightly News anchor
Tom
Brokaw as part of the
2001
anthrax attacks. Brokaw wasn't harmed, but two NBC News
employees were infected.
On April
18, 2007, NBC News received a package
containing a "multimedia
manifesto" from Cho Seung-hui, the
gunman responsible for the Virginia Tech massacre
that occurred two days earlier, the largest
school shooting and spree killing in American history. Upon
the package's discovery, NBC News handed the package over to
federal authorities. The specific details of the package contained
a
DVD disc of Cho reading from a typed manifesto
(also in the package), as well as more than forty pictures of Cho
brandishing weapons, including the two handguns believed to have
been used in the massacre. Some of the packages contents were
shown, albeit copied from the originals and edited for
profanity, on the April 18th edition of
NBC
Nightly News, with anchor Brian Williams and NBC chief justice
correspondent
Pete Williams (no
relation to Brian) examining the package's contents in the opening
moments of the broadcast.
Credits
Weekdays
Anchor & Managing Editor
Executive Producer
Senior Broadcast Producer
Director
Associate Director
- Roberta Spring
- Juith Farrinet (substitute)
Senior Producers
- M.L. Flynn (Foreign)
- Tracey Lyons (Domestic)
- Mike Mosher
- Albert Oetgen
Anchor Producer
Tape Producers
- Anne Binford Allen
- Robin Skolnick
New York Producers
- Maria Eugenia Alcon
- Donna Bass
- Marisa Buchanan
- Clare Duffy
- Mario Garcia
- Joo Lee
- Kelly Venardos
- Robert Windrem
News Writers
- Christine Colvin
- Barbara Raab
Editors
- Rob Kaplan
- Bob Croce
- Jody Henenfeld
- Beverly Chase
- Maggie Kassner
Website Producer
Music by
Graphic Designers
- Joe Incorvaia (Art Director)
- Collin Pisarra (Assistant Art Director)
Weekends
Anchor
Executive Producer
Senior Broadcast Producer
Director
Associate Director
Producers
- Buba Adschiew
- Carol Eggers
- Tom Dawson
- Anthony Galloway
- Mary Beth Toole
Graphic Designer
- William Donovan (Art Director)
Tape Producer
News Writer
Music by
See also
External links
References
-
http://bettereditor.org/news/2009/04/wabc-tv-wins-march-2009-rating-period.html
- Castleman and Podrazik, The TV Schedule Book,
McGraw-Hill Paperbacks, 1984
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