WABC-TV 6pm News, August 23, 1979

Weeknight newscast from the ABC O&O in New York. Commercials are included.
Posted for educational and historical purposes only. All material is under the copyright of their original holders. No copyright infringement is intended.

[@slanguage37]

Anyone growing up in NYC back in 1979 know what a gem this broadcast is. Awesome upload, KZbin is priceless.

[@jaminova_1969]

I remember Roxy getting the wheelchair! lol

[@dougadkins7006]

I miss watching Eyewitness News with my dad as a kid.

[@jaminova_1969]

@@dougadkins7006 For me it was my Grandpa. He read like 3 New York papers, listened to WINS, WOR, NBC and CBS and watched WABC CH7 Eyewitness News everyday. At night he would sleep with the radio on 🌛

[@dougfredricks2017]

With family in Brooklyn NY I wholeheartedly agree. I prefer KZbin nostalgic posts over the goat tripe on TV today. 😂

[@dougfredricks2017]

​@@jaminova_1969I surmise the New York Post was in his rotation. 😊

[@nelsonvargas9527]

The commercials included is the icing on the cake .

[@mariohall1179]

My heartfelt “thank you” for this post. When this broadcast first aired, I was 17 and had just migrated to my beloved NYC the previous month. Eyewitness News was my favorite newscast and an essential tool in the learning of my adopted new language.

[@robbie8085]

I was 14 and a news junkie. Love these it’s like traveling back in time!

[@quantumrobin4627]

I was a 7mo old fetus when this was aired, I imagine how scared my 17yr old mom must’ve been at that very moment ❤️

[@vincentkennedy3487]

Brings back memories I was 16

[@vincentkennedy3487]

That must be Ernie Anastos

[@MickTheQuickk]

For decades, every Greek diner or restaurant in the city proudly displayed a picture of Ernie Anastos.

[@TonyL-r4f]

They still do. He got around more than George Washington.

[@jaminova_1969]

I just learned that Frank Fields, (formerly of NBC Channel 4), the father of weatherman Storm Fields passed away Sunday at the age of 100! Our condolences! NY loves you Frank!

[@HardCold-Alquan]

His real name was Felds. I wonder why the change...

[@upstatenewyork]

Frank Fields was great. RIP. God bless him.

[@faustuskrauss6457]

So good to hear the New York Accent. It’s becoming more and more extinct

[@dtbetter2277]

I want to go back to that day and live those years again.

[@styldsteel1]

Thank you for just a wonderful upload and thank you for including the commercials. It's just like watching TV back in 1979.

[@Tonia682]

What a Time Machine! I was 10 living in NJ. I’d watch the 4:30 movie and then the news after school.

[@kevinjogoo8730]

Bank robber: “The guy with the keys was on an acid trip” That’s gotta be one of the wildest things I’ve ever heard

[@jaminova_1969]

That was pretty much the 70's.

[@Billykid514]

😂😂😂only got 12 years

[@troylowe814]

Sounds like a more trippy take on Dog Day Afternoon

[@dannyboy34677]

When Roger Grimsby says: "Here now the news.", you knew you were getting real news from a professional newsman.

[@nando349]

"1979" I was a kid back in queens, ABC news was our family local news favorite, what memories. 1979 was also the best summer I had. How I long for those carefree days

[@nelsonvargas9527]

When the news was worth watching back in the 1970s . Now the news is crap for 2023 .

[@milodad]

When did Kaity Tong join Ernie Anastos at the anchor desk? I loved Roger “too serious to EVER crack a smile” Grimsby (his name was so appropriate! 😏) but this was our family go-to news channel. Occasionally we’d switch to NBC and Sue Simmons and Chuck Scarborough at 11 (usually when Mom let us stay up to watch SNL)…but we were definitely an ABC home.

[@tyrese3745]

I would say around 1982-83, when, I think, Kaity replaced Rose Ann Scamardella.

[@suedamato8080]

Thanks for posting! I was 12 in Yonkers during this time. Quality of news so much better back then.

[@samanthab1923]

I was born in Yonkers. Grew up in NJ but came back to Tarrytown for college.

[@sbloome77]

My grandmother had family in Yonkers

[@HardCold-Alquan]

It was more raw, with practically no censorship.

[@MarkYarton]

When New York was a great city

[@houseof_sirjames2514]

Love this! And I am living for the commercials!

[@darwinblinks]

I worked with Roger Grimsby's daughter at a company in SF

[@pandoragadson9002]

does she look like him?

[@kevinivers]

“A thrill a minute” on that ancient Circle Line commercial always made us giggle as kids

[@samuelgriffin9364]

The Man Called Flintstone will air on tomorrow's WABCS THE 4:30 MOVIE

[@SyncopateTheShot]

Watching this makes one appreciate how much better local journalism was than it is today. And I love the Cool Hand Luke theme music news affiliates across the country used back then!

[@ronaldyarrosh4457]

Local news has become so repetitive. Now money rules. By the way, Metropolitan Hospital is still open. I have a lot of respect for it.

[@chrisneidenberg3509]

The Circle Line commercial looks dated - even for 1979. I remember they ran it for years.

[@a.b.s_productions]

Chris Neidenberg I agree it looks like footage from the 1950’s.

[@jakemadden4308]

They ran that through the 80's

[@danram7167]

@@a.b.s_productions Impossible considering the Twin Towers being featured, which were finished in 1973. Likely from the early '70's.

[@wmbrown6]

@@danram7167 - Pre-1973, definitely.

[@JoeMotionVideos82]

It's really surreal thinking that I started kindergarten that fall. I felt so grown up and excited to be going to school. Then I spent the next 11 years trying to figure out how to get out of going. 😅

[@sirrom5155]

ive been in a coma for over 40 years and i'm just catching up.

[@ronaldreaganrimjobs9327]

Go back to bed. Nothing good is happening

[@billhorton5591]

the day after I turned 11....this brings back so many memories growing up in the New York metro area

[@MCTooTall]

One famous for “I’m Roger Grimsby. Here now the news…”, the other for telling Nick Gregory “Keep f’king that chicken!”

[@lianalonge1984]

The NY tap water sold in stores piece literally made me spit out the water I was drinking. 😂🤣😂

[@Conquerkingfitness]

Ernie is a VAMPIRE HES STILL DOING THIS AND STILL LOOKS GOOD

[@granitesevan6243]

The dialogue in those simulated heists was amazing 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Shame the old New York accent is being bred out of existence

[@gerardrobert8029]

As a holder of a very thick Boston accent I couldn't agree with you more

[@bklynslipnjimmy]

Tap water in a bottle! What a great idea.

[@wmbrown6]

It seemed the protocol during this period, that whenever one of the 6 P.M. anchors was off, the other would be paired with one or another of the 11 P.M. co-anchors. (This is one case. The other, usually, had Bill Beutel paired with Rose Ann Scamardella whenever Mr. Grimsby was off.) But so nice to see some of the old ads - like the one for Circle Line. And WABC Musicradio 77's own Dan Ingram V/O'ing the Jordache ad.

[@milodad]

I always assumed Gilda Radner’s Roseanne Roseannadanna was a takeoff on Roseanne Scamardella’s name. Lol. I was 12 and living in NYC (native NYer) on this date.

[@wmbrown6]

@@milodad - It was. In fact, Ms. Scamardella was among Ms. Radner's biggest fans - and credited her with boosting her own profile at the station.

[@exrodriguez6074]

These are great. Thank you

[@bartondonnelly5293]

4 and a half months later I started my first real job at MHT (Manufacturers Hanover Trust) in the Wall Street area (January 10, 1980). I’ll retiring from my 43 (almost) 44 years of service. I’ve survived merges with Chemical Bank and Chase Manhattan Bank.

[@wecontrolthevideo]

From the early days of ENG (Electronic News Gathering), where stations were using a mixture of film and ENG to cover the news. Nice quality air check, looks like it was from a first generation 3/4 inch video tape recording.

[@JJVernig]

Enjoyed that too, you can really see the difference. But I doubt the tape, I do think there would be a bit more sharpness than 3/4 inch tape. It can also be an Betamax? Did you get Philips N1500 in the US? That was capable of something more sharp than this.

[@philipnasadowski1060]

@@JJVernig Might have been U-Matic. We never got the Philips unit over here. Also, KZbin tends to make old videotape look bad. I don't know why. I've had a few old broadcast guys say so. Even Quad seems to look bad on it. BTW, the one Philips product that DID make it over here, were the PC60 and PC 70 cameras, which ABC bought a large number of, starting in the 60's. I don't know if they ever bought RCA's cameras after that.,

[@adrianlyord5300]

At the 29:52 mark The Isley Brothers are mentioned but only for Not paying taxes... That's a bummer ! Should have been for their great talent instead!

[@RobertoLopezstudyis]

I was 7 years old and living in Astoria Queens in New York City in 1979.

[@jamesearlcash1758]

Funny how it was thought back in 79 that ATM's would deter bank robberies but the bank robbers just wait by the ATM's for bank customers looking to withdraw or deposit their money so they can rob them. Ahahahahahaha

[@PomegranatesWeather]

😂😂😂😂 if only they could 👀 it now lol 😆

[@gogglespisano24]

Joel Siegel predicting Meryl Streep being a huge star.

[@samuelgriffin4167]

Roger Grimsby often serious about his work but he laughed at the last report

[@nelsonvargas9527]

Frank Perdue and Mayor Ed koch look like brothers .

[@XxowendanxX]

In school at this time, us students had to write letters to Mayor Koch. This one girl in my class didn't want to so her letter was I'm only doing this because the teacher is making me, followed by a bunch of insults. Among the insults was, "you look like Frank Perdue".

[@cheap25]

That Guy shot 24 times with the scissors footage should be ready for tonight‘s broadcast

[@georgehenry76]

I was riding my Green-Machine Bigwheel back in 79

[@brianborowski7368]

Is that how we started drinking water from bottles?

[@sherri419]

Looking at the sports report I remembered that Thurman Munson died in August of 1979 so I just looked it up and Thurman died in the plane crash on Aug 02 1979, so he died less than a month before this.

[@bigpat1003]

@14:52… “My mother calls me all the time” Deadpan Roger’s delivery of that line 🤣

[@langelle1]

The 70's was like a different universe: cash registers that the cashier would have to punch the price in and it made the noises of bells and change jingling; no cellphones--you would have to use a payphone that usually wouldn't be difficult to find since they were common; cars that weren't clean and quiet like today--the smell of exhaust from leaded gasoline was ubiquitous; hardly any computers--no internet; different clothes and hairstyles. The list goes on and on.

[@mjoven1975]

The Editoral Reply from the viewer Sam Schwalb is tremendous. A New York version of Floyd R Turbo throwing verbal haymakers 1:00:01

[@jacnel]

You can tell that they're trying to get adjusted with their new broadcast centre. Quite a few technical gaffs.

[@getbackinthekitchen878]

I was twelve days old, my how time flies.

[@carlburton6262]

GetBackIn TheKitchen I was six,correct

[@colossusforbin5484]

I was twelve years old.

[@shavonnestacia2865]

I was 35 days old.....It's interesting to see the news from back then....

[@sunnykiwi0599]

1 day old here ❤

[@metrolifestylemusicandnews1922]

The Cool Hand Luke theme used on ABS-CBN's TV Patrol (1987-1989)

[@GolfhausYT]

9:22 "Well, Ernie despite the bit of greed and larceny that exists in all of us..." Damn, Doug, you got something you wanna talk about?

[@chalklounge]

😂

[@JoeAmato_TV]

objective news coverage, holy cow !! Plus Lou Boda (over from ABC Radio World of Sports)!! vintage stuff

[@gregorygriffin6341]

14:51 "My mother calls me all the time." NY news was so raw and real BITD, I swear! Respect from STL.

[@wmbrown6]

Lou Boda was sportscaster in the first two years of "EWN" on the 11 P.M. edition, before Jim Bouton was hired by WABC in 1970. So one could say this was Boda's homecoming.

[@ScoopNemeth]

WABC probably got the newsroom idea from ABC world news tonight, where anchors broadcast from the newsroom. Peter Jennings anchored from the London newsroom, max Robinson from the Chicago newsroom, and frank Reynolds from the Washington newsroom.

[@kyl416]

This was when they first moved into 7 Lincoln Square, the studio was still under construction at the time.

[@IntelProperty]

@@kyl416 You’re absolutely correct. And broadcasting news from the newsroom was hardly a new concept. Channel 2 did it in the mid-‘70s with Rolland Smith and Dave Marash, and CBS did it going all the way back to the ‘60s on all of its daily newscasts, including the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.

[@georgecherucheril9947]

All newscasts should come from the newsroom.

[@charleswinokoor6023]

Anastos had quite a gaff when he began reading a story about the Roy Rogers chain and immediately switched to the correct story about 16 escaped convicts. And the film footage is from a story about a hospital strike! The other newscaster, Roger, didn’t miss a beat when he then was caught on camera talking on the phone. “My mother calls me all the time,” he said without hesitating. It takes a cool head and quick wit to come up with something like that.

[@wmbrown6]

That bit about Grimsby - doesn't that explain part of why Chevy Chase patterned his “Weekend Update” anchor after him?

[@r3knynussberger882]

What ever happened to chi chi

[@bloqk16]

This is marvelous! I remember Roger Grimsby when he anchored KGO-TV news in San Francisco.

[@FrankM-w7k]

I can hum the theme to the 4.30 movie without missing a note lol. In those fall days when it starts getting dark right about movie time. If you were a teenager home alone.

[@michmasharts8870]

4.30 movie was LIFE! My favorites were when they had Godzilla week and Planet of the Apes week!

[@BrentsBistro]

‘As Mara Wolynski would say - were number one’. 😂😂

[@viralbuthow000]

"Here now the news."

[@jayski8987]

When news was news. Reporters were there to report news with zero opinion and that’s it. Just like they’re supposed to.

[@DonKeecock]

I grew up in north Jersey in the 70s. This is so nostalgic.

[@rlfitz3]

Is that Ray Liotta in a Schweppes commercial?

[@seand67]

Love this upload…original commercials are a nice bonus 🎉❤

[@PimpLenin]

The day before I was born! Very cool.

[@vmax-cv1ml]

The comercials are great

[@mmchefoneenjoyyourworkhiri1176]

God I miss those days

[@fjrnate]

Amazing. I think I'm more familiar with this world than todays.

[@jaminova_1969]

This means so much to so many of us because of the memories. I'm not going to lie, I was a nerdy news watching kid helping my parents, Mom mostly raise my younger brother and sister! Like 11 going on 51!

[@samuelgriffin4223]

If I could go back in time to 1979 New York City was New York City miss the great memories when watching the afternoon movie program The 4:30 Movie

[@Zeab70]

Plus markets experiment was successful! We call them Costco today.

[@ezHiker35]

More like Aldi, actually.

[@jakemadden4308]

Save a Lot.

[@dorothykilgallenwasmurdere1653]

I’m not even from New York, but I like the old news.

[@PomegranatesWeather]

Grew up watching 👀 Philadelphia [where I grew up) and NYC news ( when visiting my family) always miss this type of news I was 7 in the first grade 😢 💔 miss those years 😂❤

[@josephshulman6666]

430 movie wow does that bring back memories my 2 Favorite weeks were the Martin and Lewis and Monster week . Livid in Irvington NJ . When that was still a decent town !!!!

[@Fhita1962]

Local news without a political slant! Imagine that today. From the "4:30 movie" to all the the commercials, really takes you back to that time. I was 17 in central jersey and this was on our tube every day.

[@lguzmn66lg]

Man I miss those guys.Grew up in Brooklyn back then. One of the best news crew.

[@snapringchronicles3020]

That “Plus” Supermarket was way ahead of its time👀

[@PomegranatesWeather]

Basically a low-budget Costco or Sam's Club

[@MrRJS27]

I remember that Circle Line commercial!

[@jeanniedimarco4268]

Alexander Gudunov reference at 57:30. Karl from Die Hard!!

[@bksson2818]

Wow I was a teen in nyc. We need more of these classics.

[@AnsonBeeker]

They didn't know how to do news in 1979. You are supposed to favor a political party and only report what makes the party look good and the other bad.

[@jeffbengert2863]

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU. ROGER GRIMSBY, LOVE THE MAN.

[@XxowendanxX]

I saw him walking down the street one day. Couple years later, he started drinking at the same bar my dad did. He thought my dad was a goof 😂 and word is that Roger disliked Peter Jennings and a lot of his put downs of Jennings revolved around him being Canadian 😂

[@3l3ments001]

Not bottled tap water. 🤢

[@JosephCassar45]

I was just 2 months shy of 6 years old when this aired. I remember these newscasts like it were yesterday. Thanks for sharing.

[@Helmuesi911]

I was just shy of my 5th birthday, September 11 ... crazy that only 22 years later those big buildings were knocked down. Horrible day to remember.

[@LufifiDruid]

I turned 6 in July of 79. I lived a bit upstate but we got our stations from the city.

[@impalaman9707]

"A Man Called Flintstone"?🤣🤣🤣🤣 Sounds like a movie SCTV would invent!🤣🤣🤣

[@AirJamaica876]

23 days before I was born. Dam!

[@andrewbevan4662]

They need to ban these semi automatic assault scissors

[@Superbird43]

I wonder if the guy from Dallas got his $11,000?

[@giants6025]

I was 3 weeks old when this aired

[@4evagrace789]

Wow look how young Ernie Look i wish I could turn back time

[@christophersmith1475]

7:00 Courses presented by Police on how to stop bank robberies while in progress suspended due to shortage of patrolmen...

[@porkbeans4792]

Day after my birthday. Born in 72.

[@HardCold-Alquan]

Back when they used film. IF they have the original film negatives, they should break them out and remaster then in 4K - for historic news stories. Man, I would pay for the FULL-LENGTH, real life broadcasts of the real events of the Dog Day Afternoon movie! It's a shame that we cannot even watch that on KZbin. Maybe it was too local then.

[@kennymega61]

Brings me back to my youth

[@declanhughes4107]

Imagine the top headline not being able to air as the top headline

I'm an 90s kid My mom's an 70s kid My grandma was in her early 40s back in 1979. My Uncles & Aunts grew up in the 70s

[@RoscoMontana21]

21:33, this is the most NY delivery.

[@Andrew-tq8ij]

I was 5 months old during this broadcast!

[@BananasananaB]

Hearing the accents is interesting.

[@lancelink2812]

a guy shot 24 times for carrying scissors, a girl expelled from school for liking a black man ...seems like yesterday

[@pauljones2745]

Lance Link it must of took some effort to get 24 shots out a six shot revolver, it seem

[@DJCasanovaMusic]

Amazing how people talked to reporters with no fear.