(Individual Local TV stations, 1965 - Present)
["Eyewitness News" was a concept that grew out of a title.
In the late 1950's several Westinghouse-owned TV stations had
used "Eyewitness" as the name of their local news program.
In 1965, a News Director named Al Primo at Westinghouse affiliate
KYW-TV began reshaping the format -- some might say "jazzing it up",
with flashier opening graphics, using the "007" track from the 1963
James Bond film "Doctor No" and later films as a musical intro. And
with snappier pace between the news anchor and the field reporter
(who acted as an "eyewitness" to the news), the sense of the
news being more immediate and impactful to the viewer clicked,
and the ratings proved the idea to be a hit.
Three years later in 1968, Al Primo parlayed his success in
Philadelphia to a move to the ABC affiliate in New York City --
WABC-TV, the network flagship station. For the WABC local news,
Primo created a makeover, not only with the "Eyewitness News"
concepts that he originated in Philadelphia, but with the
addition of what became known as "happy talk" between the
anchors to build a pseudo-family, with which TV viewers could
relate (and hopefully become hooked on watching.)
For the 1968 New York news theme, another film cue was selected --
this time from the 1967 Southern drama, "Cool Hand Luke" (with
Paul Newman in the title role.) The cue, written by film composer
Boris ("Lalo") Schifrin, was known as the "Tar Sequence." Using
nervous rhythms, staccato punctuations and suspended brass chords,
Schifrin combined traditional orchestral studio instruments with
a harmonica, a banjo and a bass guitar. The effect was appropriate
for the odd visual sequence in which a prison road crew lays down
fresh asphalt on a road in record time to spite their handlers.
Who knew it would become the quintessential local news theme for
the hyped-up 1970s?
After the ABC flagship station showed the concept was working,
the title and format was adopted by several ABC owned and operated
affiliates as well as many other stations during the 1970's. And
most stations adapted that same "Cool Hand Luke" cue for their
news theme, usually editing parts of the rhythmic music out of
sequence to score the animation of the news opening.
Later jingle composer-arranger Frank Gari adapted the Schifrin
cue to provide a new recording with the more logical sequence
of musical phrases needed for a news opening and closing.]
[aka: "Zero Zero Seven";
aka: "Double-Oh Seven";
aka: "The James Bond Theme"]
[The familiar James Bond logo theme was adapted for the
first crude effort to jazz up the local "Eyewitness" news in
Philadelphia with a more contemporary flavor, and add a bit of
excitement to the opening.
Although it was catchy and familiar, probably no one confused the
TV news anchors with Sean Connery. So it must have seemed a bit
"over the top" and pretentious.
Although Monty Norman was credited with the original "007" melody
on bass guitar and other low-pitched instruments for "Doctor No",
it is the John Barry adaptation (with muted trumpets) used first
on "From Russia With Love" that most people remember, and was
apparently the version used for the local TV news theme.]
Composers: Monty Norman (British PRS/ASCAP) and
John Barry (British PRS/BMI)
1978 Publisher:
2007 Publishers: Eon Productions, Ltd. (PRS)
of London, England;
CBS Catalogue Partnership, (ASCAP)
div. of C B S, Inc.; and
EMI Unart Catalog, Inc. (BMI)
c/o EMI Music Publishing
of New York, NY;
Composition Date: 1963
Copyright Date: Oct. 24, 1963; EFO 28 645.
Renewal Date: Nov. 1, 1991; RE 578 406.
Recording:
[The familiar quintessential "Eyewitness News" THEME was edited
from a particular cue in the film which occurs about an
hour into the film. In this sequence, the prison chain gang
(including Paul Newman and George Kennedy) decide to confound
the guards who thought they were assigning particularly hard
labor to the crew. Newman gets an idea (and the others follow)
to speed up their work shoveling sand on a road following a tar
truck which is spraying a new surface on the road. Newman's
strategy is to not only "shove it in the faces" of the guards,
but because they got done so quickly, it turns out there is
then a little free time for relaxation later where the prisoners
can savor their little gambit.
Their frantic efforts to shovel sand as fast as the truck can
spray tar becomes a kind of grass-roots mutiny, which provides
a means for them to create a short-lived but very sweet moral
victory.
Schifrin scored the "Tar Sequence" as a classic man-against-the
machine dramatic sequence. He wrote a nervous violin and
xylophone ostinato figure behind a broader melody. This melody
is played by the violas, cellos and horn, with a syncopated
counterpoint from the brass and woodwind sections. This cue
suggests urgency, in the context of the mechanical process,
with an overtone of danger. There is also an element of triumph
as the rebellion grows and succeeds.
Somehow this Argentinian composer's semi-jazz semi-traditional
scoring of this nervous moment of mutiny set on a Southern
asphalt road, with all its diverse elements described above, hit
just the right emotional note to introduce a nightime big-city
news report. (Who would have thought?? :-)
This THEME was heard on most of ABC's major market stations
news broadcasts every night beginning in 1968, sometimes
for as long as 20 years.
The "Tar Sequence" was edited out of order and some of its
figures were repeated, in order to form a dramatic News Open.
This THEME proved so popular with the ABC Owned and Operated
affiliated stations and their "Eyewitness News" concept,
that Frank Gari Productions was contracted to expand upon
the basic cue, and build an entire News Music package
around it (see Theme 4 below.)
In the 1994 book "Overtones and Undertones" by Royal S. Brown,
Schifrin explains that the name "Lalo" is a common nickname for
Claudio which was his second name; and after he came to the U. S.,
he legally changed his name from Boris to Lalo]
Composer: Lalo Schifrin (BMI)
[professional name of Boris Claudio Schifrin]
1978 Publisher: Warner-SevArts Music (BMI)
2001 Publisher: Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. (BMI)
c/o Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
of Los Angeles, CA
Composition Date: 1967
Copyright Date: Feb. 16, 1968; Eu 36 856.
Renewal Date: Jan. 3, 1996; RE-720-200.
Recording:
[aka: "Closing Theme No. 3"]
[This is from a custom news music package which was used
on a few of the ABC Owned and Operated local TV stations
after they tired of the edited "Tar Sequence" cue.
Unfortunately, this package was short-lived in some cases
when audience demand in several markets resulted in
a return back to Schifrin's "Cool Hand Luke" cue, which
was adaptated by Frank Gari Productions into a full News
Music package (see below).]
Composer: Frank William Becker (ASCAP)
2001 Publisher: Frank Becker Music (ASCAP),
of Hidden Hills, CA
Copyright Date:
Renewal Date:
Recording:
["News Series 2000" is the name of a News Music Package from
Frank Gari Productions which adapted Schifrin's basic motifs
from the "Tar Sequence" of "Cool Hand Luke" (see above). Gari
and Baker created several cuts specifically for News Themes
in various edited "pull-out" versions of various lengths. But
the origin of Schifrin's original cue is obvious throughout.]
Adapters/Arrangers: Danny Baker (BMI), and
Frank Daniel Gari (BMI)
2001 Publisher: Dingletown Music (BMI),
of Westlake Village, CA
Copyright Date:
Renewal Date:
Recording:
[As the concept of "Eyewitness News" spread, other music houses
created custom news packages with Openings and Closings for
local stations which wanted their own original THEME with the
same excitement and style of Schifrin's "Tar Sequence."
This is one from "Network Production Music" affiliated with
the jingle company, "Tuesday Productions" of San Diego...]
Composer: Craig Everett Palmer (BMI)
2001 Publisher: Network Production Music Publishing (BMI),
of San Diego, CA
Copyright Date:
Renewal Date:
Recording: