Editing WABC-TV (section)

====News department history====
=====Beginning to 1968=====
WABC-TV launched ''Report to New York'', its first regular news program, on October 26, 1959, featuring [[Scott Vincent]] with news, [[Howard Cosell]] with sports, and Lynn Dollar with the weather. ''Report to New York'' aired Monday through Friday at 11&nbsp;pm. By January 1961, channel 7 expanded ''Report to New York'' with a 15-minute early edition at 6:15&nbsp;p.m. on weeknights, and on Saturday and Sunday evenings.

On October 22, 1962, WABC-TV expanded its weeknight news to 45 minutes, and retitled it ''The Big News''. Newcomers [[Bill Beutel]] and Jim Burnes<ref>{{cite news | title =Jim Burnes of A. B. C., 42, Dies; Covered U.S. Urban Disorders | newspaper =The New York Times | location =New York City | pages =41 | date =June 26, 1970 | url =https://www.nytimes.com/1970/06/26/archives/jim-burnes-of-abc-42-dies-covered-us-urban-disorders.html | access-date =August 2, 2020 }}</ref> were the anchors, with Cosell continuing on sports and Rosemary Haley as "weather girl".<ref>{{cite news  | title =Broadcasting magazine advertisement for ''The Big News'' | work =Broadcasting | date =November 19, 1962 |page=45 | url =https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/62-OCR/1962-11-19-BC-OCR-Page-0045.pdf | access-date =August 2, 2020 }}</ref> However, this effort failed to draw viewers from the ratings leader [[WCBS-TV]] and second-place [[WNBC-TV]].

=====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.

=====2000–present=====
WABC-TV's news department is respected for its straightforward presentation (especially during breaking news). For the last decade, it has waged a spirited battle for first place, but for most of the time has held onto the lead, helped in part by lead-ins from the highly rated talk and entertainment shows. For over 24 years (December 1986 to May 2011), the lead-in for the 5&nbsp;p.m. ''Eyewitness News'' broadcast had been ''[[The Oprah Winfrey Show]]'' at 4&nbsp;p.m. and its strong ratings brought viewers along to the 5&nbsp;p.m. newscast.

The newscasts were replayed on one of channel 7's digital subchannels, another which also carried local weather and news channel. WABC-TV's website had a link for live streaming video of "Channel 7 Eyewitness News NOW", which offered live local and national weather updated from AccuWeather alongside local news. The format of "Eyewitness News NOW" is similar to the defunct [[NBC Weather Plus]]. On February 24, 2011, AccuWeather and ABC both replaced ENN as well as similar news channels on WABC-TV's sister stations, KABC-TV in Los Angeles and WLS-TV in Chicago, replacing them in all three cities with a [[standard definition]], [[letterboxed]] simulcast of the Live Well Network, and then on April 15, 2015, these stations were replaced by Laff.

On December 2, 2006, WABC-TV became the second station in the New York City market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in [[High-definition television|high definition]]. On September 7, 2010, WABC-TV expanded its weekday morning newscast, moving its start time to 4:30&nbsp;am. Three days earlier on September 4, 2010, WABC added an hour-long extension of its Saturday morning newscast from 9&nbsp;a.m. to 10&nbsp;am.<ref>{{Cite web|date=August 24, 2010|title=WABC Expands Morning News|url=http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/2010/08/24/44695/wabc-expands-morning-news|website=TVNewsCheck}}</ref> On May 26, 2011, WABC-TV added another hour of local news at 4&nbsp;p.m. to replace ''Oprah'', which aired its last original episode the previous day.

On September 24, 2011, the station began broadcasting its newscasts and public affairs programs from a new street-level window studio at a former [[Disney Store]] location in the ABC building on 66th Street and Columbus Avenue. The space previously used for news broadcasts was used to expand the ''Live with Kelly'' studio.<ref>{{cite news |last=Flamm |first=Matthew |date=February 6, 2011 |url=http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20110206/FREE/302069970# |title=WABC Plans Post-Oprah Era – Station To Add Local News Hour; Regis Exit Delayed Several Months |newspaper=[[Crain Communications|Crain's New York Business]] |access-date=June 24, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Huff |first=Richard |date=February 18, 2011 |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/eyewitness-news-set-major-face-lift-summer-new-studio-timeslot-article-1.136978 |title='Eyewitness News' Set for Major Face-Lift Come Summer with New Studio, Timeslot |newspaper=[[Daily News (New York)|Daily News]]|location=New York |access-date=June 24, 2012}}</ref> In January 2012, the station also expanded its weekend 11&nbsp;p.m. newscasts to an hour. On September 8, 2014, the station expanded its Noon newscast to one full hour from the previous half-hour.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://7online.com/entertainment/afternoons-are-new-on-abc7-ny/256565/ |title=Channel 7's New Afternoon Lineup |date=August 18, 2014 |publisher=WABC-TV |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819091327/http://7online.com/entertainment/afternoons-are-new-on-abc7-ny/256565/ |archive-date=August 19, 2014 }}</ref>

On January 31, 2022, WABC announced they would be launching a streaming channel titled "ABC 7 New York 24/7 Stream". As part of the launch of the service, WABC announced a new 6:30&nbsp;p.m. newscast, available only through the stream.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hill |first=Michael |date=January 31, 2022 |url=https://www.newscaststudio.com/2022/01/31/abc-owned-stations-streams/ |title=ABC owned stations launching local streams |newspaper=Newscast Studio |access-date=February 9, 2022}}</ref>

On September 11, 2023, WABC-TV, along with sister stations WPVI-TV and [[WTVD]] in [[Durham, North Carolina]], launched an additional hour-long newscast at 10 a.m. which took over the time slot previously occupied by ''[[Tamron Hall (talk show)|Tamron Hall]]''. The broadcast delivers news in a traditional format, and also allows more focus to be placed on local newsmakers, and further discussion on topics addressed on ''Good Morning America'' and ''Live with Kelly and Mark''.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.adweek.com/tvspy/wpvi-and-2-other-abc-owned-stations-to-launch-10-am-newscast/250089/|title=WPVI and 2 Other ABC Owned Stations to Launch 10 AM Newscast|date=August 24, 2023|magazine=Adweek}}</ref> WABC delayed its launch by one day, due to coverage of events in the city, marking the anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001.

WABC-TV left its longtime home of Lincoln Square for a [[7 Hudson Square|new Disney campus]], located at [[Hudson Square]] in Lower Manhattan, on February 22, 2025.<ref>{{cite news |last=Mitchell |first=Alex |date=November 13, 2019 |url=https://www.amny.com/real-estate/an-inside-look-at-disneys-anticipated-hudson-square-hq/ |title=An inside look at Disney's anticipated Hudson Square HQ |newspaper=[[AM New York Metro]] |access-date=May 27, 2021}}</ref>