NBC Nightly News
All you want to know about NBC Nightly News
| NBC Nightly News | |
|---|---|
 The title card for NBC Nightly News, as of October 2007. |
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| Format | News |
| Created by | Reuven Frank |
| Starring | Brian Williams (2004–present) Lester Holt (weekend edition) (2007–present) |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV) |
| Original run | 1970 – present |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
NBC Nightly News is the flagship 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. Its current theme music was composed by renowned composer John Williams.
The John Chancellor era (1970–1982)
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 late 1970s.
In August 1971, McGee left the program in order to replace Hugh Downs on NBC's Today. Chancellor then became the sole anchor, with Brinkley providing three-minute commentaries from Washington several times a week under the title David Brinkley's Journal. In June 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 in October 1979, and Brinkley provided commentaries.
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 in 1982, Chancellor remained as an editorial commentator on the program until his retirement in 1993.
The Tom Brokaw era (1982–2004)
NBC returned to a dual-anchor format in 1982, with Tom Brokaw in New York and Roger Mudd in Washington. Brokaw had already anchored NBC's Today Show. 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 ABC 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)
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 spot in the ratings from Williams' start in December 2004 until February 2, 2007, averaging 10 million viewers weekly, according to Nielsen Media research documented in USA Today's website. NN had slipped to second place behind ABC World News. But, Williams' broadcast had its first one-month victory during the November sweeps period since falling behind WNT. The progress continued through much of the next two months. Currently, the two shows are in a dead heat, trading weekly victories among total household viewers as well as those in the 25-54 demographic.
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 10 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 substitute for Williams when he is on vacation or on assignment.
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 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.
On February 21, 2008, NBC Nightly News celebrated 38 years on the air. The broadcast featured clips and moments from the show's past and the voices and faces of John Cameron Swayze, Chet Huntey, David Brinkley, John Chancellor, and Tom Brokaw. The program hosted by the broadcast's current anchor, Brian Williams.
Weekend editions
NBC made an initial attempt at a Saturday evening newscast in the mid-60s, with Ray Scherer and Robert MacNeil anchoring. 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 Frank McGee and Sander 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. Both the Saturday and Sunday editions replaced the in-depth, documentary-oriented Frank McGee Report.
Lester Holt is the current NN weekend anchor. Former anchors include Garrick Utley (Saturdays, 1970-1973, Sundays 1984-1986 & 1987-1988), Douglas Kiker (Sundays, 1970-1973), 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 & 1984-1987, 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), John Palmer (Saturdays, 1987-1993), Maria Shriver (Sundays, 1988-1995), Brian Williams (Saturdays, 1993-1999) Giselle Fernández (Sundays, 1995-1999), and John Seigenthaler (Weekends, 1999-2007).
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 a different, unidentified announcer who has also worked occasionally on special weekday editions when Reig was unavailable. On December 17, 2007, NN debuted a new announcer: Academy Award winner and actor Michael Douglas.
Theme music
- "Huntley-Brinkley Report/NBC Nightly News Ticker" (1970–1972); the theme had been used since 1962, when the program was still known as The Huntley-Brinkley Report)
- "NBC News Ticker" (1972–1976)
- "NBC TV-Radio Newspulse," by Fred Weinberg Productions (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– )
Correspondents
National Correspondents
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International correspondents
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Specialist correspondents
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Political correspondents
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Weekend anchor
- Lester Holt (Nightly News Weekend Edition/Today Weekend Edition)
Deceased correspondents
- David Bloom - NBC Chief White House Correspondent, Co-Anchor of "Weekend Today" on NBC
- Tim Russert - Washington Bureau Chief, longest-serving moderator of "Meet the Press" on NBC
Nightly News 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 Democratic National Convention.
Broadcasts outside U.S.
In Europe, NBC Nightly News was shown live on CNBC Europe. However due to contractual issues regarding Olympics coverage it has been temporarily taken off-air until the 25th August. 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 at 5.00pm and 11.30pm (local time) on weekdays and 5.00pm on weekends on channel C/S on RPN. 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
| U.S. Network Evening News edit | ||
| Program | Main Anchor | |
| ABC | World News | Charles Gibson |
| CBS | Evening News | Katie Couric |
| NBC | Nightly News | Brian Williams |
| CNN | Situation Room |
Wolf Blitzer |
| MSNBC | Race 08 Hardball |
David Gregory Chris Matthews |
| FNC | Fox Report Special Report |
Shepard Smith Brit Hume |
| BBC | World News America |
Matt Frei |
| HLN | Prime News | Mike Galanos |
| PBS | NewsHour | Jim Lehrer |
| UNI | Noticiero Univision | Jorge Ramos Maria Elena Salinas |
| TEL | Noticiero Telemundo | Pedro Sevcec |
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 examining the package's contents in the opening moments of the broadcast.
Credits
Weekdays
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Anchor & Managing Editor |
Executive Producer |
Senior Broadcast Producer
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Director
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Associate Director
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Senior Producers
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Broadcast Producer
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Anchor Producer
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Tape Producers
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New York Producers
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News Writers
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Editors
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Website Producer
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Music by |
Graphic Designers
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Weekends
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Anchor |
Executive Producer
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Senior Broadcast Producer
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Director (Steve Lucas |
Associate Director
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Producers
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Graphic Designer
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Tape Producer
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News Writer
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Music by |
See also
External links
- NBC Nightly News
- The Daily Nightly: Official Blog of NBC Nightly News
- NBC Nightly News Discussion Club on Newsvine.com
- NBC Nightly News at the Internet Movie Database
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