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 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.

This is the piece of music that is currently used after each ABC News program to remind us that more and more people are watching ABC News. A fifteen-second version of this wonderful piece of music is used in alternation with this one to promote the “50 States, One Nation, One Year” campaign. What’s that? Essentially that is World News Tonight and Good Morning America going on the road to broadcast from a particular state and do a feature report about that state. The music is composed by VideoHelper.

To celebrate the start of a new era, ABC News sent reporters to notable places in every time zone to cover New Years celebrations. It was a huge operation, with Peter Jennings anchoring for 25 straight hours, and was critically acclaimed. They did not attempt to do this again on New Year’s Eve in 2000, but created a smaller and more budget-friendly version of this program on New Year’s Eve 2002. This theme was used for that program, as well as for many other important events in the year 2000, such as the elections.

This theme was originally not composed for ABC-TV but for Disney World in Orlando Florida. The Epcot attraction uses it for their presentation called “IllumiNations 2000: Reflections of Earth”. Of course Epcot and ABC-TV are owned by the same company, Walt Disney, which often share resources. This theme is composed by Gavin Greenaway, who won an Emmy for it.

“More and more Americans get their news from ABC News, than from any other source,” according to the slogan of ABC News. NBC News, interestingly enough, claims more Americans watch NBC News than any other news organization “in the world”. Two very similar slogans that seemingly can’t be both correct. So who’s right? Perhaps both. NBC has the top rated network broadcasts and a cable news outlet which ABC does not have. This means a lot of people on a daily basis will see an NBC News broadcast. However, ABC claims more people get their news from ABC. And you can get your news by other means than television. As it so happens, ABC owns a lot of radio stations and has an extensive network of affiliated stations all airing the ABC Radio News. Add those numbers to the TV ratings and website visits and that number will likely be higher than the amount of people getting their news from NBC on TV, radio and the web combined.

“This is an ABC News Special Report.” This very dramatic piece of music is used whenever major news breaks. This is a great piece of music because it does not scream hype and sensationalism, while not downplaying the potential importance of the story. The music during a major news story of course plays only a secondary role. But based on the music, the audience will–rightfully–make assumptions about the coverage. This music gives a calm impression, which goes along well with the reporting styles of Peter Jennings and Charles Gibson.

Day One did not do too well in the ratings. Before they cancelled the program, ABC made one last attempt to save the program. They brought on board star anchor Diane Sawyer. When she debuted on the program, this theme, an update of the first theme, started being used. These slight changes could, however, not increase the ratings. Day One was soon afterward cancelled.

Turning Point was an ABC newsmagazine that would feature one topic, such as a historical event of significance. It was anchored by alternating stars: Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer or Forrest Sawyer. The program ran from 1994 to 1997. After 1997 it would continue on in the form of irregular specials, but for all intents and purposes, it pretty much disappeared. This theme is composed by Bill Conti, who also composed the Prime Time Live theme.

Newsmagazines are like fashion items: one day they are hot; the next they aren’t. And when they are hot, there is no escaping them. They are all over the network schedules. Each network will stretch its news staff to the limits to create new “newsmags”. Life expectancy is short for most of them. Day One, which is such a failed newsmagazine, was created to fill a whole in the ABC schedule. True to tradition, the newsmagazine promised to be different. In this case, it was to feature softer content compared to the investigations and hard news on 20/20 and Prime Time Live. ABC News President Roone Arledge reveals in his book, Roone, that he thought Connie Chung would be a perfect fit as anchor. But that did not work out. Instead the low key but capable Forrest Sawyer served as sole anchor of the program.

ABC News (and Sports as well) has become famous for consistency with regard to its themes. It rarely replaces themes, except with a newly recorded (and usually slightly updated) version. This is also the case with this theme, which is a remake of the classic Viewpoint theme.

“When we remember a time, we remember moments. A kaleidoscope of the sights, sounds and emotions of the way we were. Our World. It’s about time.” That’s how every episode of Our World started. It was a critically acclaimed series that in each episode examined a period of American history. The ratings unfortunately were not good. Our World only lasted for 26 episodes shown during the 1986-87 season. The show focussed mostly on events after World War II because of the availability of archival footage and eyewitnesses. Linda Ellerbee and Ray Gandolf hosted. The theme is composed by Bill Conti.

This is the theme used for a few years on the long running ABC News documentary series titled Closeup. The first documentary that ran under the Closeup moniker aired in 1973.

You are listening to the full World News This Morning theme. This program has had a variety of anchors since its debut in 1982, including Steve Bell, Anderson Cooper and Paula Zahn. This theme was used on the first broadcast and on the last broadcast of World News This Morning. However, for about a year they used the World News Now theme. In 1992, after World News Now debuted, production of the two newscasts was merged. World News This Morning was anchored by the same people in the same laid back style. However, the network wanted to differentiate the two. So World News This Morning started using their old theme again and anchors adressed their audience in a more formal way. Without a doubt the theme is a wonderful variation on the classic ABC News theme. In 2006 it was replaced with America This Morning which uses a different theme.

This program was, as are most other ABC News programs, created by Roone Arledge. It utilized the town hall format with a panel of people being asked questions by an audience consisting of regular people. It’s the job of the moderator to keep order and the discussion lively. Many ABC News personalities, including Peter Jennings and Geraldo Rivera, have been moderators at one time or another. The program always aired in the form of a special and never had a regular timeslot.