ABC World News Tonight

ABC World News Tonight (often abbreviated as WNT) is the ABC television network's flagship evening news program.

Early years: 1953-1983

ABC first began a nightly newscast in the Fall 1953 with John Charles Daly as anchor of the then 15-minute ABC Evening News. Daly anchored the news until 1960 with multiple hosts and formats succeeding him. Hosts during the early 1960's included John Cameron Swayze, Howard K. Smith, Bill Lawrence, Bill Shadel, Fendal Yerxa, Bill Sheehan and Edward P. Morgan. This lasted until 1962 when Ron Cochran was made full-time anchor until 1964. Then in 1965 a 26-year-old Peter Jennings was named anchor of Peter Jennings with the News. It was also during this time the program expanded from 15 to 30 minutes.

In 1967, Jennings left the anchor chair and was reassigned as an international correspondent for the news program. ABC News was hosted by Bob Young (October 1967 to May 1968), Frank Reynolds (May 1968 to May 1969), and, eventually, Reynolds and Howard K. Smith (May 1969 to December 1970).

Smith and Harry Reasoner, formerly of CBS News and 60 Minutes, co-anchored ABC Evening News beginning in December 1970. In 1975, Reasoner assumed sole anchor responsibilities until his pairing in 1976 with Barbara Walters, the first female network anchor. Ratings for the nightly news broadcast declined shortly thereafter.

Always the perennial third in the national ratings, ABC News president Roone Arledge reformatted the program, relaunching it as World News Tonight on July 10, 1978. Frank Reynolds returned as lead anchor, reporting from Washington D.C. Max Robinson, the first African American network news anchor, anchored national news from Chicago, and, also returning for a second stint, was Jennings, reporting international headlines from London. Occasional contributions included special reports by Barbara Walters and commentary by Howard K. Smith. The program’s distinct and easily identifiable theme was written by Bob Israel.

World News Tonight With Peter Jennings: 1983-2005

In April 1983, Frank Reynolds left the broadcast for health reasons and succumbed to bone cancer on July 20. A rotation of replacement anchors (including Jennings) hosted the program until August 9, 1983 when the program was renamed to reflect the new anchor and senior editor, World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. Robinson left ABC News in 1984, after stints of hosting news briefs and anchoring weekend editions of World News Tonight; he died of AIDS in 1988.

With Jennings as lead anchor, World News Tonight was the most-watched national newscast throughout 1985 - 1997, but since 1997 it has been in second place behind its main rival NBC Nightly News.

In April 2005, Jennings announced that he had lung cancer and, as before, other ABC News anchors, mostly consisting of 20/20 co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas and Good Morning America co-anchor Charles Gibson, filled in for him. Jennings died of lung cancer on August 7, 2005, at his apartment in New York City at the age of 67.

The August 8, 2005 edition of the program was dedicated to Jennings' memory and four-decade career in news. His death ended the era of the three network news anchors of Jennings, Brokaw, and Rather.

During his career, Jennings had reported from every major world capital and war zone, and from all 50 U.S. states, according to the network. The Jennings era was known for his ability to calmly portray events as they were happening. He was known for his covering of many major world events.

World News Tonight With Bob Woodruff and Elizabeth Vargas: January 2006-May 2006

On December 5, 2005, ABC announced Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff would be the new permanent co-anchors starting January 3, 2006, replacing Jennings. People in the news industry looked at the choice of Vargas and Woodruff by ABC News as the start of a new era in network television news.

The broadcast was produced live three times per day: the regular Eastern/Central Time zone live broadcast, plus separate broadcasts for the Mountain and Pacific time zones. In addition, a live webcast, World News Now, with a newsbrief and a preview of that evening's broadcast, was added. It currently airs live 3 p.m. EST on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com and can be viewed throughout the rest of the day after 4 p.m. EST.

On January 29, 2006, Bob Woodruff and his camera-man, Doug Vogt, were injured in a road-side bomb while they rode in an Iraqi military convey in Iraq. Both were operated on at a U.S. military hospital in Balad (50 miles north of Baghdad). It is reported that both men had head injuries even though they were both wearing body armor and helmets. Both men were evacuated to a U.S military hospital in Germany on January 30, 2006. Woodruff and Vogt have since been transferred to Bethesda Naval Hospital in the United States for further treatment and released for outpatient treatment.

On February 10, 2006 ABC announced that Elizabeth Vargas was pregnant and due to give birth in late summer.

For about a month, Good Morning America co-hosts Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer had taken turns co-anchoring the newscast with Elizabeth Vargas. From about March 2006 to May 2006, Elizabeth Vargas had been anchoring the broadcast alone, becoming the first de facto woman evening news solo anchor. At the time, it was unknown what ABC News planned to do until Bob Woodruff returned to the anchor chair, which appeared to be distant, and when Elizabeth started to go on maternity leave. Rumors flew that Diane Sawyer wanted to become the sole anchor of WNT in order to beat Katie Couric's switch to the CBS anchor chair.However, the New York Post's Cindy Adams reported that Charles Gibson would become Bob Woodruff's Temporary Permanent Replacement. [http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/abc/charlie_gibson_wnts_temporary_permanent_replacement_33753.asp.

Starting around March 2006, the West Coast editions of WNT were scaled back due to the fact that Elizabeth Vargas anchored the broadcast on her own at the time. ^*

World News Tonight With Charles Gibson: 2006-present

On May 23, 2006, Elizabeth Vargas announced her resignation from WNT. Charles Gibson was then named sole anchor of the show, effective May 29, 2006, effectively replacing Vargas and her injured co-anchor Bob Woodruff. ^* Vargas cited her doctors' recommendation to cut back her schedule considerably due to her maternity leave, and her wish to spend more time with her new baby. She will return to co-anchor 20/20 and ABC News specials.

Bob Woodruff, still rehabilitating after suffering a major injury in Iraq, is still not scheduled to return as co-anchor of WNT and there is "no timetable for his return." ^* While the 3 p.m. World News Now webcast remains, the West Coast editions have been scrapped. Gibson will continue to update the newscast as warranted for the other time zones, but the entire newscast will not be presented live as was previously the case.

Some media analysts found the reasons for the change to be merely a cover for ABC News' real intentions to bring stability to its flagship news program that had been slipping in the ratings, and to attract some older viewers away from the CBS Evening News with interim anchor Bob Schieffer. Killian documents scandal at CBS and Brian Williams' transition to NBC anchor. [http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/abc/charles_gibson_your_trusted_source_37588.asp" target="_blank" >^* On the job for about a month, Gibson seems to be slowly closing the gap between his broadcast and NBC Nightly News.

Weekends

WNT expanded to 6 nights a week with World News Tonight Sunday (originally christened World News Sunday, until the mid 1990s) on January 28, 1979, and to a full 7 days with the premiere of World News Tonight Saturday (originally World News Saturday until the mid 1990s) on January 5, 1985. However, in recent years both editions have dropped their respective names short to World News Tonight to match up with the weekday editions. Some former anchors of the weekend news include Sam Donaldson from the mid-1970's to 1988, Carole Simpson from 1988-2003, Terry Moran from 2001-2005, and Bob Woodruff from 2003-2005. A new weekend anchor, or anchors, are yet to be officially named for 2006 and beyond, though Jim Avila has been anchoring the Saturday edition and Dan Harris has been anchoring the Sunday edition as of late on a temporary basis.

International Broadcasts

In the UK, the programme is shown at 1:30AM on BBC News 24. BBC News 24 is frequently simulcast by BBC Two at this time, meaning the programme is broadcast terrestrially throughout the UK.

Sources

ABC News themes

External links