ABC, which is short for American Broadcasting Company, is a company known for their TV shows and news channels. ABC is actually a division of the Disney Company and is based in New York City. Their news outlets include Channel 7 Eyewitness News and Good Morning America. They also have weekend versions of both news outlets.
The ABC network started off as Blue Network after NBC sold them in 1943 to Edward J. Noble. Noble temporarily renamed it to American Broadcasting System before settling on what it is today, American Broadcasting Company. It wasn’t until their so-called “Golden Era” in the 70s when they hired an executive named Fred Silverman. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, “ABC’s golden era began with the arrival of programming executive Fred Silverman in 1975. Establishing a schedule of audience-pleasing situation comedies…Silverman rapidly elevated ABC to the coveted number one slot.” ABC also earned praise when they hired a pioneer for female journalists, Barbara Walters, who was hired to host and anchor its nightly newscast.
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Even after succeeding to elevate themselves, they didn’t really fully blossom until their shows Nightline and 20/20 were introduced. ABC was sold to Capital Cities Broadcasting in 1986 for $5.5 billion until the Disney Company acquired it for $19 billion in 1995. Today, ABC is still under the Disney Company and continues to grow.
Eyewitness News, which is one of ABC’s news sources, started around 1962 when their first hour-long newscast The Big News aired. During that time Bill Beutel and Jim Barnes were the anchors while Howard Cosell did sports and Rosemary Haley did the weather. After Beutel left the station in 1968, Al Primo brought Eyewitness News. Today, Eyewitness News continues to flourish with different forms of news. They have 20/20 and Nightline which are both a form of investigative journalism and late-night news.
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One of Eyewitness News’ most famous segments is 7-on your side where anchor, Nina Pineda goes undercover to solve the many issues today’s Americans face. If you have an issue with some company and you are not getting your money back, she will investigate and get you the money you need. One of her best segments were after Hurricane Sandy when many displaced residents lost so much money because they would go into deals to get their houses re-built and left stranded when they weren’t getting what they were promised from builders and even the government.
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Throughout the past couple of years, Eyewitness News has been exploring new things to add to their line-up of reporting tools including their news chopper and dash came. Recently, they added a drone to that list calling it DroneCam7. According to their website, “Dronecam7 can fly up to 200 feet above ground level as it was above Jones Beach landmarks. It’s operated by licensed private pilot Kevan Stone who has flown drones for a military contractor.” As you can see, Eyewitness News is keeping up with the technological times that we are in now.
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Good Morning America is more of a conversational news source while also presenting the day’s breaking news. Good Morning America also known, as GMA didn’t start until November of 1975 with hosts David Hartman and Nancy Dussault as his co-host until Sandy Hill replaced her in ‘77. When Hill left in 1980, Joan Lunden replaced her. Unfortunately, the Lunden and Hartman pair ended in 1987 when Hartman retired. That is when Charles Gibson. GMA fell to a rise and fall in ratings. To improve their ratings, in January 1999, Charles Gibson was paired with Diane Sawyer. In 2005, Robin Roberts, who still hosts GMA today, joined Sawyer and Gibson. After many anchors leaving including Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson, the GMA team now is Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, Lara Spencer, Amy Roach, Michael Strahan and Ginger Zee as their weather anchor.
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The team behind GMA is very much into connecting with their viewers through in-person interactions and social-media interactions. They continue to connect to their viewers everyday and are continuing to compete with NBC for the top spot. GMA offers their audience to get free tickets to view their show in person at their headquarters in New York City in Times Square.
Hannah Fakhrzadeh 