WTVD: "Eyewitness News" (March 5, 1979)

The complete 6 p.m. newscast from WTVD/Durham, as aired March 5, 1979. A fire badly damaged the station the previous evening. The newscast is presented from the station's conference room. Bob Hughes and Beverly Burke anchor. Cheryl Toney has weather and Don Shea reports on sports.

[@MichaelJohnson-by1tv]

All of this old footage is quite fantastic to see again. Many names that will be missed, in part because they were mainstays of local dependable reporting, names you could count on to deliver the best quality news and weather information every day of the week. But now after all of the years have passed and the decades have gone by, with a few of them having made their final sign off to the viewers that they served, they are also considered as old friends that people have always been happy to see and comforted in the knowledge that they would be there for them. And they have been there, every night at six and eleven. They are the local legends whose voices many viewers heard every night and many of these viewers grew up while watching these journalists only growing a little older as the years went by. Where does all of this footage come from? How was it all acquired? Was it purchased from the station or just acquired and rebroadcast? Wow, seeing the Southern Sportsman again was something else too. It was like childhood all over again. That guy could cook fish a thousand different ways and knew what sides to serve with bear meat. Thanks for the memories.

[@LogoMan7777]

Pretty sad when the top story involves a fire in your own station.

[@edmund184]

Don't you know the journalist is always the center of attention?

[@sillygoose635]

@@edmund184 except it's not.

[@jasonbertalotto2355]

It is, the damage is so bad that it had to be mentioned

[@robertpatrick5188]

bhayes question 1: Cheryl Toney was not substituting for Skip Carpenter; she was doing the weather at least by 1978. She later went to WNEP, the ABC affiliate in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Sadly, she passed away in 1998, just a few days before her 43rd birthday.

[@gsnman]

The station for "Soul Train," and "The Price is Right" back then :-) I loved channel 11, and still do to this day!

[@a420guySC]

I miss Beverly Burke. I understand now she's news director at a radio station in Washington, D.C. after leaving TV news.

[@popweaverhdtv]

Interesting to see Larry Stogner as a reporter and not a news anchor for the evening newscast.

[@RickinBaltimore]

That 1979 NCAA Tournament was wild. Penn ended up going to the Final Four, and that of course was the famous first matchup of Magic Johnson versus Larry Bird

[@rayssonation]

Ervin Hester was also one of the reporters at WTVD who also became the host of several television shows that he produced for the station including one called "Prime Time Sunday". He was also given the weekend news anchor position for Eyewitness News too

[@AuburnTowers]

@bhayes06 I don't know about question 1. The earliest WTVD newscast is the one from 1963 I posted a few years ago. This is the next earliest. I'm told most of the older tapes were lost in the fire. The earliest WRAL newscast I have is the 1977 one that I have posted.

[@marvelousmattdj]

we'll be right back with your tornado warning after these messages. wow.

[@rayssonation]

WOW.....Greg Barnes is now the longest running reporter at WTVD not to mention has been around Channel 11 for years right alongside Larry Stogner and Beverly Burke. Well, Larry Stogner recently retired for the station and Beverly Burke left WTVD for a news director at a popular radio station in Washington,D.C. And as of this week we truly lost one of the great sportscasters in the area...the great Don Shea....will be surely missed.

[@sillygoose635]

And we've lost one of the great news anchors in the area.. the also great Larry Stogner... he'll be missed too.

[@dontabaltimore1974]

Beverly Burke worked in Baltimore replacing Oprah at WJZ in 1983 after this

[@tkaye2]

@AuburnTowers I'm curious what they were using for cameras in the makeshift studio. Were they ENG cameras or did they manage to round up some studio cameras somewhere that weren't damaged? I'm very impressed how they managed to deliver a comprehensive newscast so quickly... of course, they were lucky in that a lot of their facilities were unscathed.

[@keithclingan6689]

I'm sure this could not happen now. I'm sure that all television stations are required by insurance companies to put in sprinklers.

[@kj1832001]

They just said...."naw that tape on the floor is ok" This newsroom looks like its in the back of the local library

[@dianeadkins-diorio1783]

17:15 That Brendle's store in Chapel Hill is now Lowe's, which moved there from a smaller Lowe's store that became today's Staples...

[@rayssonation]

The complete 6 p.m. telecast of Eyewitness News from WTVD-Channel 11/Durham from March 5,1979. This was when WTVD moved into its state of the art studio in Durham on Liberty Street(right next door to the Durham Public Library) from its old location on Broad Street in North Durham and when Channel 11 was back then a full time affiliate of the CBS Television Network.

[@bhayes06]

@popweaverhdtv It's true. He had come to WTVD from WRAL as a main anchor in '76, but was soon replaced by Bob Hughes and reassigned to the Raleigh bureau. He later returned around late '82 or early '83, succeeding Steve Leeolou.

[@TheMediaHoarder]

Love the commercial at 16:59 which uses the best track from the Saturday Night Fever album!

[@jessecoffey4737]

Casey Kasem is the announcer for the Century 21 ad.

[@newstarcadefan]

Wow...imagine if this happened to a TV studion now since they have tens of millions of dollars worth equipment. That is...it'd been devistating espcially for smaller station chains like New Vision.

[@JJVernig]

I do think that it's easier and cheaper now. One camera costed $200k, unadjusted for inflation...

[@AuburnTowers]

@worm082 Yes, they had to move into the station's conference room. I'm not sure how long they were there before they rebuilt. Anybody?

[@rayssonation]

WOW!!!! I fondly remember Bob Hughes, Beverly Burke and the great Don Shea. Not to mention having Larry Stogner reporting from Raleigh's State Capital and becoming a investigative reporter before he was promoted to the evening's new anchor in 1982. Don Shea was the Triangle's top sports anchor at WTVD for 17 years before he left to become host of the Jim Valvano Show. Cheryl Toney replaced Skip Carpenter in the weather department. Beverly Burke stayed with WTVD for years until she was replaced by Miriam Thomas. Whatever happened to Katherine Walters and Bob Hughes????

[@hrtvfan2870]

rayssonation Not 100% sure of where he went after leaving in 1980; but if this was the same guy, Bob Hughes, later would anchor a short-lived CBN News Tonight newscast on CBN Cable (long before that became ABC Family) but has seemingly (again, if this is the same Bob Hughes) dropped off the radar completely. From what I could find so far; Katherine Walters left sometime during the late 1980s.

[@rayssonation]

Larry Stogner replaced him in 1982 as the nightly news anchor at WTVD...the role Stogner held for many years until his sudden retirement in 2014.

[@jasonbertalotto2355]

@@hrtvfan2870 Was Cheryl Toney working for the same station when she passed?

[@hrtvfan2870]

@@jasonbertalotto2355 I haven't seen any later footage of her online, and whatever took place between Cheryl Toney's time at WTVD and her passing away early in 1998 is unclear at the moment

[@jasonbertalotto2355]

@@hrtvfan2870 Wow. Okay, she had a great future ahead of her and it was cut short

[@bartmansan]

RIP Don!

[@kj1832001]

maybe i should have watched it before i started commenting LOLOLOLOL

[@MrRemark21]

When these were aired on this date, it was the first day of for NBC daytime without "Jeopardy!": "Password Plus" with Allen Ludden at 11:00am P/M/C; 12:00noon E, "Hollywood Squares" with Peter Marshall at 11:30am P/M/C; 12:30pm E, "Days of our Lives" (1:00) at 12:00noon P/M/C; 1:00pm E, "Doctors" at 1:00pm P/M/C; 2:00pm E & "Another World" (1:30) at 1:30pm P/M/C; 2:30pm E plus my babysitter night with my solo babysitter Andrea Munns (Guillaume) (age 16).

[@bhayes06]

1. Was Cheryl Toney substituting for Skip Carpenter? He was the main weatherman for WTVD until 1982 shortly before he died. 2. What are the earliest newscast for WRAL and WTVD that you have?

[@sheltonclark9224]

Back to you in the studio Dan

[@georgedickson]

WTVD-TV 11 Together theme by Peters Communications,Inc.

[@DerrickLee2023DLA]

Peters Productions did a number of fantastic news music packages and image promos such as KUTV’s “2 Together” package that came out back in 1977. I wish someone could upload the full WTVD 1979 news theme package for all to listen to.

[@williammay5300]

I remember on Friday night's, I could watch The Dukes of Hazzard and The Incredible Hulk on WTVD or WFMY out of Greensboro off the air!! I live 10 miles west of Chapel Hill and like wise 1 mile east the Orange/Alamance county line!! I grew up watching both triangle and triad tv!!

[@dianeadkins-diorio1783]

yep... back in those days the Raleigh/Durham TV listings also included WFMY (then and now the CBS affiliate out of Greensboro) and WGHP (ABC then, Fox today, based in High Point)

[@mattlawson2669]

Is that Lloyd Bridges doing the Pabst VO?

[@JimGrey]

I remember Bob Hughes on WSBT South Bend in the 70s. This must be where he went after that.

[@joebradio]

I guess if this happened today they would just do everything from the downtown Raleigh studio -- and not bother rebuilding in Durham...

[@sillygoose635]

Nah, Durham is their home base basically. It would be a HUGH blow to the station.

[@dianeadkins-diorio1783]

Today WTVD has studios in downtown Durham, downtown Raleigh, and downtown Fayetteville...

[@NEPatriot]

K-Jee from MFSB I assume?

[@ginostando1347]

Joe Stando fights at boys town in Buffalo the 70''s it on eye witness news

[@saxongreen78]

Katherine Walters started it...on an unauthorised cigatette break!

[@jefferyrobertson7520]

Wtvd-tv Channel 11 Raleigh-Durham Fayetteville North Carolina with CBS era 1970 through 1993 Glory Days before switch to ABC in 1994

[@kmart3697]

Jeffery Robertson 1985 you mean

[@jefferyrobertson7520]

Jean Pierre vargas alvarez Waga-Tv Channel 5 with CBS era 1970 through 1993 Glory Days owned by Storer communications of Atlanta Incorporation before merger with new world communications of Atlanta Incorporation carried NFL on CBS with NFC era Atlanta Falcons game

[@kmart3697]

Jeffery Robertson yeah

[@dianeadkins-diorio1783]

WTVD switched to ABC in 1985 after WTVD's parent company at the time bought ABC; at that same time, WRAL, who had been ABC from 1962-1985, then took up the CBS mantle until 2016 when they switched to NBC while previous NBC affiliate WNCN (who took over the NBC mantle from now-WRDC in September 1995) switched to CBS...

[@shawnfutch9474]

I remember this 34 dead 105 injured general manager dog sent to SPCA

[@jayterry6767]

Next Saturday night on million dollar movie the Juliet love story Aly michalka Patti Deutsch Ricky uilman

[@user-me1ke1vh2k]

Saturday night on the million dollar movie thin line between love and hate Saturday at 11:30pm on 11 together wtvd March 10 Saturday

[@salaamakbar3630]

WORSE WEATHER BOARD I EVER SEEB

[@Mylo12321]

The news made the news. Isn’t it ironic - don’t ya think 🤔

[@tyreeharrellwright8998]

wtvd abc 11 owned by o&o

[@tyreeharrellwright2164]

wtvd abc 11 owned by o&o