Report to New York (1959)

Under the aegis of VP/GM Joseph Stamler, 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 11:00 p.m. By January 1961, channel 7 expanded "Report to New York" with a 15-minute early edition at 6:15 p.m. on weeknights, and on Saturday and Sunday evenings. On October 22, 1962, WABC-TV expanded its weeknight news to 45-minutes, and re-titled it "The Big News". Newcomers Bill Beutel and Jim Burnes were the news anchors, with Cosell continuing on sports and Rosemary Haley as "weather girl". In early 1968, Beutel left the station to become the London bureau chief for 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. Later in 1968, 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 (see "Eyewitness News" for more information and cast).