Over the North American summer of 1980, Cable News Network (CNN) went on the air offering viewers 24 hours a day news. The network had set up newsrooms in Atlanta, New York, Washinghton D.C, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London and Rome.
The introduction of around the clock news combined with the popular late-night news program, Nightline gave rise to TV new genre - overnight news. It was a new frontier for news programs, showing news at the unconventional time of 2 o'clock in the early early morning and staying on the air until 6:00a.m.
News overnight made its debut in 1982. "We believe we can provide late-night television viewers with an important service by reporting the news of the day and looking ahead to the events of the coming morning," Reuven Frank enthused.
Reuven Frank pioneered TV journalism and was the architect of News Overnight.
Tom Brokaw remembered the advice Reuven once gave him, "You must always be serious, but never afraid to report the news from the ground up. Don't be above the news."
Viewers watching overnight news programs were described as "knowlegeable" and "well-informed" and mostly range in the 35 to 54 age group.
"Retired people don’t have to stay up all night to catch the news," a network spokesperson explained.
Another added, "It's clear some consider us the first news of the day rather than the last news of the day."
In 1987, some 55 million viewers were counted watching Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North appearing at the Congressional hearings into the Iran-contra affair. At the time, his testimony attracted more than quadruple the number of viewers as daytime most popular soap opera, General Hospital.
One network chief declared, "The event is high drama....This is a piece of historic theater that's being played out here. The key word is historic, but it is also theater."
Another added, "This is watching history unfold before your very eyes."
Four years earlier, the 3rd part of the 10-hour TV mini-series, The Thorn Birds, was watched by 60% of all homes with TV on. The Thorn Birds became the subject of overnight news discussion.
Father Andrew Greeley wrote in TV Guide, "Why tell stories about those who fall? The answer is that there is little drama in virtue and much drama in sin and redemption."
He reasoned, "Precisely because Ralph is a priest and later a Bishop and Cardinal, the tale takes on a totally different tone and atmosphere. The love becomes more appealing and more bittersweet, the betrayal more tragic and the deathbed resolution more powerful."
"When we began," Ted Koppel said of the program, Nightline in 1982, "we were something new, and I’m sure a lot of people watched because of that...I don’t know whether the novelty of what we do is going to wear off.”
Nightline was credited with pioneering "new ground for the competition". However it was also pointed out, "Nightline is not as successful when the crises of the world are not on." Hence a number of local stations "feel they can serve their bottom-line interests better by having reruns of M*A*S*H first."
Ted Koppel bade farewell in 2005. He made the comment, "I fully expect some really powerful personalities will emerge. It's just the end of one era and the beginning of another one."
The introduction of around the clock news combined with the popular late-night news program, Nightline gave rise to TV new genre - overnight news. It was a new frontier for news programs, showing news at the unconventional time of 2 o'clock in the early early morning and staying on the air until 6:00a.m.
News overnight made its debut in 1982. "We believe we can provide late-night television viewers with an important service by reporting the news of the day and looking ahead to the events of the coming morning," Reuven Frank enthused.
Reuven Frank pioneered TV journalism and was the architect of News Overnight.
Tom Brokaw remembered the advice Reuven once gave him, "You must always be serious, but never afraid to report the news from the ground up. Don't be above the news."
Viewers watching overnight news programs were described as "knowlegeable" and "well-informed" and mostly range in the 35 to 54 age group.
"Retired people don’t have to stay up all night to catch the news," a network spokesperson explained.
Another added, "It's clear some consider us the first news of the day rather than the last news of the day."
In 1987, some 55 million viewers were counted watching Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North appearing at the Congressional hearings into the Iran-contra affair. At the time, his testimony attracted more than quadruple the number of viewers as daytime most popular soap opera, General Hospital.
One network chief declared, "The event is high drama....This is a piece of historic theater that's being played out here. The key word is historic, but it is also theater."
Another added, "This is watching history unfold before your very eyes."
Four years earlier, the 3rd part of the 10-hour TV mini-series, The Thorn Birds, was watched by 60% of all homes with TV on. The Thorn Birds became the subject of overnight news discussion.
Father Andrew Greeley wrote in TV Guide, "Why tell stories about those who fall? The answer is that there is little drama in virtue and much drama in sin and redemption."
He reasoned, "Precisely because Ralph is a priest and later a Bishop and Cardinal, the tale takes on a totally different tone and atmosphere. The love becomes more appealing and more bittersweet, the betrayal more tragic and the deathbed resolution more powerful."
"When we began," Ted Koppel said of the program, Nightline in 1982, "we were something new, and I’m sure a lot of people watched because of that...I don’t know whether the novelty of what we do is going to wear off.”
Nightline was credited with pioneering "new ground for the competition". However it was also pointed out, "Nightline is not as successful when the crises of the world are not on." Hence a number of local stations "feel they can serve their bottom-line interests better by having reruns of M*A*S*H first."
Ted Koppel bade farewell in 2005. He made the comment, "I fully expect some really powerful personalities will emerge. It's just the end of one era and the beginning of another one."
