This new election theme package (the “Rally” package) was composed by the CCO and Founder of DreamArtists Studios, Matthew Kajcienski. The package was launched on the evening of November 2nd, 2010 for the election special hosted by ABC anchors Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos. ABC wanted something “big, bold, fresh, urgent, and exciting” for the new election season leading up to 2012.

This 2010 theme is part of a new theme package by ABC’s friends at DreamArtists Studios. The package was commissioned for 20/20′s relaunch in october of 2010. The new theme package reflects the “darker, more dramatic” approach ABC has taken with the popular news program. You might also hear hints of the 2009 theme, also by DreamArtists Studios, that has now become the closing theme to the broadcast.

When George Stephanopolous succeeded Diane Sawyer as anchor of Good Morning America, this theme was launched. This update of the previous theme – also by DreamArtists Studios – is intended to reflect the more newsy direction that GMA has taken. The new theme was accompanied by a new opening format: (1) opening vamp under introductions by the main anchors, (2) main theme under a montage announcing the featured stories, (3) musical build over announcer with visuals of Times Square and (4) bumper into the show. The weekend edition of GMA continues to use the previous theme.

20/20 started using this theme in september 2009. However, the theme was originally used for ABC branding promos starting in 2008. The promo was popular and the network liked the music so much that they asked the composers – DreamArtists Studios – to develop an entire package around it for the ABC news magazine.

Focus Earth is a weekly newscast focussing on environmental and energy issues. It is produced by ABC News but not many people are aware of it. That’s because it airs on Discovery’s “Planet Green” channel, which is not available in all parts of the country. The theme is composed by DreamArtists Studios.

This very classy theme debuted in 2007. It’s composed by DreamArtists Studios, which is a New York-based music production house specialized in film and television music. This theme features the ABC News signature. In 2007 Good Morning America expanded to three hours, as NBC’s Today expanded to four. Unlike Today, however, the last hour is not seen on broadcast television, but pnly on the digital news channel ABC News Now.

The webcast was launched in 2006 as part of a larger effort by ABC News to provide more frequent newscasts. When Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff started anchoring, they anchored 3 live broadcasts for 3 different timezones. And in the afternoon at 3 p.m. EST, one of them also did the daily webcast. In the beginning it was called World News Now, but the name was changed to avoid confusion with the ABC’s overnight newscast. When Charlie Gibson took over as anchor, he continued the webcast but only appeared on it a couple of times a week. When Diane Sawyer took over World News in 2009, the webcast was cancelled.

Primetime Live in its heyday during the 90′s was a successful hard-hitting and investigative live news magazine. When the program was known as Primetime Thursday, it wasn’t as strong, likely due to the lack of time anchors Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson could afford to spend on the show considering their duties as anchors of Good Morning America. To fix things, in 2004 ABC appointed a prominent producer, renamed the show and added a whole bunch of anchors. Gibson was dropped as anchor (though he still contributed occasionally) while Sawyer continued to anchor on a rotating basis with Chris Cuomo, David Muir, Cynthia McFadden and John Quiñones. A new theme along with a totally new graphics package was introduced. A year later in 2005 the program dropped the “Live” off of its name, simply being called Primtime. Ultimately the changes failed to revive the news magazine. Starting with the 2006-07 season, Primetime stopped airing as a stand alone program. It now airs in special formats (such as Primetime: Crime or Primetime: What Would You Do?).

From 2001 to 2005 GMA used the popular though not commercially released song “Good Things are Happening” by Bill Deasy as their music in promos for the program. In 2005 they switched to an equally cheerful song, “Good to Go”. The song is sung by country singer Julie Roberts and, by means of warning, it gets stuck in your head very easily.

After the retirement of its longtime anchor in 2005, Nightline underwent drastic changes that ultimately made the program a ratings winner. Instead of focussing on interviews related to the news of the day – a role that cable news had undertaken – it became more of a news magazine. Ted Koppel was replaced by three people. Terry Moran, Cynthia McFadden and Martin Bashir (who was later replaced by Bill Weir) anchor from studios in Washington and New York. The program went into a totally different direction with the theme music. It is composed by VideoHelper. I like this theme a lot. We knew Nightline featured hart hitting journalism. Now with so much percussion in the theme, it is hard hitting in the most literal sense of the word!

This is the 2004 open to Good Morning America by VideoHelper, originally composed in 2000 as the theme to World News Tonight. When the theme started being used for GMA, the program had regained much of its momentum that it lost in the late 90′s. Though Charles Gibson left in 2006 to anchor World News, he was not replaced on GMA. A year before he left Robin Roberts was added as co-anchor so the program simply went back to having two anchors. Male personalities were added to the mix when Chris Cuomo and Sam Champion were appointed news anchor and weatherman respectively. GMA, however, is now the first network morning show to have two female primary anchors.

As one of the first veteran anchors, Barbara Walters chose to semi-retire in 2004. While she continued to host The View, file occasional reports and host her various annual specials, she stepped down as anchor of 20/20. ABC’s rising star at the time, Elizabeth Vargas, was promoted to the position. With a new anchor, they also debuted a new theme. It is composed by the L.A.-based music production team Transcenders. That company, which by the way also composed the theme to Friends-spin off Joey, produced an entire music library for use during broadcasts of 20/20.

Despite a rough start for George Stephanopolous, a few years into his stint as moderator of This Week he started finding his ways (and an audience). The graphics and theme for This Week have a distinctly fresh appearance, especially compared to its rival programs. The theme has the ABC News signature.

This is the variation of the ABC News Special Report theme that was occasionally used for ABC’s coverage of the war with Iraq. ABC made a couple of major blunders. On March 19th, the day President Bush’s deadline for Saddam expired, Peter Jennings was AWOL when the war began. He was reportedly at a dinner party. ABC News broke into regular programming later than the competition (some ABC affiliates broke in before the network), first with Chris Wallace anchoring and then a few embarrassing minutes later, Peter Jennings. But the network had told affiliates that their coverage would continue through the 11 pm hour; thus, the late local news would be scrapped. Many stations sent their crews home. A few minutes before 11 pm, however, ABC News decided to wrap up their coverage. They, however, failed to tell affiliates. So when Peter Jennings signed off for the night, affiliates were caught completely off guard. Many were left were with minutes of dead air only to put together a badly produced newscast. That does not happen often!

In 1998 both Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw came out with books that reflected on the century that was about to end. Dan Rather published his book a year later. The books were a success and were followed up. Peter Jennings, in 2002, co-authored In Search of America. That book was adapted to a five part TV series. To accompany the TV program Stephen Arnold, composed this piece of theme music.