Editing WABC-TV (section)

=====The ''Eyewitness News'' era=====
In early 1968, Beutel left the station to become the London bureau chief for [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] and was replaced by [[Roger Grimsby]], who was transferred by ABC from San Francisco sister station [[KGO-TV]]. In a complete revamp, Grimsby was joined by [[Tex Antoine]] doing weather, celebrity gossip columnist [[Rona Barrett]], ''[[New York Daily News]]'' columnist [[Jimmy Breslin]] with political commentary and reviews by [[Martin Bookspan]] and Allan Jeffries, while Cosell continued doing sports. Known as ''Roger Grimsby and the Noisemakers'', this format didn't help the ratings, which plunged to an all-time low.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tvweek.com/in-depth/2003/05/giving-witness-to-eyewitness-n/|title=Giving Witness to Eyewitness News|last=Primo|first=Al|date=May 19, 2003|work=TVWeek.com|access-date=August 15, 2018|archive-date=August 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180815091139/https://www.tvweek.com/in-depth/2003/05/giving-witness-to-eyewitness-n/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Later that year, newly hired news director [[Al Primo]] brought to WABC-TV the ''[[Eyewitness News]]'' format and branding, in which reporters present their stories directly to the viewers. Having experienced great success introducing the format during his time at [[KYW-TV]] in Philadelphia, Primo this time added a twist – a degree of conversational chatter among the anchors, known as "happy talk". The "Tar Sequence" cue from the musical score of the [[1967 film]] ''[[Cool Hand Luke]]'', composed by [[Lalo Schifrin]], was introduced as the theme music. The score included a telegraphic-style melody appropriate for a newscast. The ''Eyewitness News'' format and theme music were quickly adopted by ABC's other four owned-and-operated stations at the time: KGO-TV, WLS-TV in Chicago, WXYZ-TV in Detroit and [[KABC-TV]] in Los Angeles (though KGO-TV and WXYZ-TV did not use the ''Eyewitness News'' title for their programs). The format quickly rejuvenated a station that had long been an also-ran to WCBS-TV and WNBC-TV. Within a year, Channel 7 had shot to first place in the ratings for the first time in its history, displacing longtime leader WCBS-TV. It spent most of the decade going back and forth with WCBS-TV for first place. For a time in the 1980s, it fell into last place among the network-owned stations, but still fought with WNBC-TV for second place.

Retaining only Grimsby, Cosell, and Antoine from the earlier ''Noisemakers'' format, Primo also hired [[Tom Dunn (journalist)|Tom Dunn]] away from WCBS-TV to serve as Grimsby's co-anchor. After Dunn departed for [[WOR-TV]] in 1970, Bill Beutel returned to the station as his replacement and for the next 16 years, Grimsby and Beutel were the faces of ''Eyewitness News''.

The Grimsby-Beutel team were split up for several months in 1975 after ABC had reassigned Beutel to its new morning show, ''[[AM America]]'' that January. The station brought in WXYZ-TV's [[Bill Bonds]] and veteran [[Boston]] anchor [[Tom Ellis (journalist)|Tom Ellis]] to help replace Beutel, with Grimsby teaming with Ellis at 6&nbsp;p.m. and Bonds at 11&nbsp;pm.<ref>{{cite news |last=Gardella |first=Kay |date=August 20, 1975 |title=TV's local news front undergoes some changes |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/395918532/ |work=Daily News |location=New York, NY |access-date=April 30, 2019 }}{{subscription required}}</ref> When ''AM America'' was canceled and replaced with ''Good Morning America'' in November 1975, Beutel was re-teamed with Grimsby at 6&nbsp;p.m, with Ellis joining Bonds at 11&nbsp;pm. Bonds returned to Detroit in June 1976<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Bonds quits at Ch. 7 news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/488479458/ |work=Daily News |location=New York, NY |date=June 19, 1976 |access-date=April 30, 2019 }}{{subscription required}}</ref> and was replaced by [[Larry Kane]],<ref>{{cite news |last=Adams |first=Val |date=June 25, 1976 |title=WABC juggles news staff |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/488439881/ |work=Daily News |location=New York, NY |access-date=April 30, 2019 }}{{subscription required}}</ref> who lasted only one year as the sole 11&nbsp;p.m. anchor before returning to his home market of Philadelphia. Ellis remained until May 1977<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Ch. 7 weighs Ellis' anchor |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/482814854/ |work=Daily News |location=New York, NY |date=May 14, 1977 |access-date=April 30, 2019 }}{{subscription required}}</ref> and Kane's successor, [[Ernie Anastos]], began his New York career at the station; he co-anchored at 11&nbsp;p.m. with [[Rose Ann Scamardella]] and later [[Kaity Tong]] for most of his tenure there.

On November 30, 1981, the station became the second in the city to expand its late afternoon/evening newscasts by adding of a 5&nbsp;p.m. edition. The broadcast was initially anchored by weather forecaster [[Storm Field]] along with Scamardella; Anastos, and later Tong, would replace them. [[Tom Snyder]], who joined WABC after his late night talk show, ''[[The Tomorrow Show|Tomorrow]]'', was canceled, would take Anastos' place in 1982 and would remain at the station until 1984; WABC attempted an early afternoon, feature-driven newscast shortly thereafter with Anastos and Beutel anchoring ''Eyewitness Extra'', but the program was short lived and was canceled in early 1983.

In 1985, the station lured WLS-TV's news director, Bill Applegate, from Chicago to New York City. Applegate claimed credit for taking WLS-TV from last to first in only two years and ABC hoped he could work the same magic at the flagship station. In the wake of declining ratings, Grimsby was fired on April 16, 1986, a move for which Applegate drew considerable ire and Grimsby was quickly hired by rival WNBC-TV. In 1987, Channel 7 surged back into first place. It has been the ratings leader in New York City since then, and has grown to become the most-watched broadcast television station in the United States.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Nielsen Sweep|work=FOX Business|url=http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/channel---tv-station-new-york-nation--nielsen-sweep/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212112032/http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/channel---tv-station-new-york-nation--nielsen-sweep/|archive-date=February 12, 2009}}</ref> Beutel stepped down from the anchor desk in 2001, which concluded the longest tenure for a main anchor in New York City television history at that time. His record has since been surpassed by WNBC's Chuck Scarborough and [[WXTV]]'s Rafael Pineda. Scarborough's uninterrupted run behind the desk is the longest in New York television (since 1974). Pineda is second, having started with WXTV in 1972, retiring in 2013 after 41 years.