This theme was supposed to debut when World News Tonight premiered its new graphics in 2000. It didn’t. While Peter Jennings, then-executive producer Paul Slavin, and others had cleared it, Senior Management had not. And that was a problem. At the very last minute, they decided that the show already had altered its appearance enough and that it might alienate viewers if it also changed it’s long established theme. That’s very unfortunate because it is a good theme. It’s composed by the people at VideoHelper. The story, however, continues. Good Morning America later adapted this as their opening theme.

“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.

Unknown - ABC News tag A

Unknown - ABC News tag B

Unknown - ABC News tag C

In 1999 Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson were named interim anchors for Good Morning America, filling in until ABC found new permanent anchors for the breakfast program. However, as months became years, their status as interim was dropped. This theme started being used when the program moved into the Times Square Studios. The studios are owned by Disney and besides GMA, a wide array of ABC programs are taped there. The theme is composed by Desmond Child, who is known for composing hit songs for, among others, Ricky Martin, KISS, Aerosmith and Bon Jovi.

“This is an ABC News Special Report.” Whenever breaking news warrants an interruption of regularly scheduled programming, this theme is used. While it is solemn and conveys both importance and urgency, it does not scream hype and sensationalism. It thereby sets the right tone for the coverage that was lead by anchors such as Peter Jennings, Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer.

This theme was used on ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings until September 29, 2000 when they got brand new graphics. The theme was actually used on the weekend editions of World News Tonight until well into 2001 when that program got a graphics update as well. The music is essentially the same as the other versions with the exception that an extra “ta-dum” was added at the end. The primary difference is that this theme sounds louder. This is because the string instruments seem to have largely been replaced with more brass.

Here is the headline cue which is slightly different than the ’89 version. Updates of the World News Tonight theme have, since 1998, been composed by New York-based composer Edd Kalehoff.

For most of the early years, Nightline used the World News Tonight theme to open the broadcast. That changed in 1997 when they started using a theme that they would use through the rest of the Ted Koppel years. He retired in 2005, amidst a flurry of network anchor retirement parties. During the last few months of his run, they experimented slightly with the program. One of the things they tried was doing multiple topics. During their months of experiments, Nightline used cold opens, so this theme was used until a few months before the retirement of Koppel.

This theme embodies the transfer of GMA from the entertainment division to the news division as it contains the ABC News signature. It is the first GMA theme to contain this signature. The theme is composed by Michael Whalen. A version of this theme is commercially released. It’s called ‘Morning Aire’ and is on the ‘The Softest Touch’ album, available on iTunes. Though the theme is excellent, it was used during a disastrous period for Good Morning America. When longtime anchors Lunden and Gibson left, there were no heirs apparent. ABC settled on Lisa McRee and Kevin Newman, but the competitive and lucrative morning slot was no place for two relative unknowns. Within months GMA was in danger of falling behind CBS, the long time bottom-dweller in morning television ratings. So within a year, the partnership ended and Good Morning settled on a new strategy.

Co-moderators Sam Donaldson, who previously was the in-house liberal, and Cokie Roberts, formerly a regular panelist, replaced David Brinkley. Sam and Cokie’s This Week, never really caught on however. After 15 years of Sunday morning dominance, the number one spot was relinquished to NBC’s Meet the Press with Tim Russert. Cokie and Sam were replaced in 2002 after falling behind CBS’ Face the Nation.

For the first time since 1978, ABC News used a different theme for its evening flagship broadcast, World News Tonight. It was not entirely new because this theme is certainly based on the previous theme. It was used for a short period of time in which NBC Nightly News overtook ABC in the ratings. In 1998 they brought back a version of their original theme, but have in later years attempted twice (2000, 2001) to replace the original theme with something different. This short-lived theme was brought back for the coverage of the political conventions of 2000.

Edd Kalehoff - World News Tonight open

Edd Kalehoff - World News Tonight close

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 news magazine 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.

News magazines are like fashion accessories: 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 more news magazines. Life expectancy is short for most of them. Day One, which is such a failed news magazine, was created to fill a whole in the ABC schedule. True to tradition, the news magazine 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.

Polka music to end a newscast. Weird. What’s the story behind it? Since the beginning World News Now plays random pieces of music leading into the weather. One day they played some polka music and anchor Lisa McRee commented on it, saying that she hated it. Offended viewers wrote in their many complaints. As compensation, World News Now asked Barry Mitchell to come on the show and perform a polka. He said he was not only willing to play a polka, but also compose one just for World News Now. The World News Polka was born and you could say that it was an overnight hit! The Polka still airs every last show before the weekend, while the full credits are shown. Over the years there have been many versions of the World News Polka – including one sung by an Elvis-impersonator – below you will find a couple of the most famous versions.

Barry Mitchell - World News Polka (1995)

Barry Mitchell - World News Polka (2000)

After some changes at ABC News, like the departure of Ted Koppel, some lyrics had to be changed. Here’s a more recent version of the polka.

This 20/20 theme is an update of the classic theme composed by Score Productions. When it premiered, ABC decided to name its news magazine 20/20 to drive home the point that it would help viewers see the events that shape their lives, clearly. The first executive producer, Bob Shanks, came up with the name. In optometry 20/20 stands for clearness of vision. It is expressed as a fraction because the two numbers have different meanings. The top number means the distance you stand from the chart from which you are asked to read (usually 20 feet). And the bottom number stands for the distance at which a person with normal eyesight could correctly read the line with the smallest letters.

This theme was used during the latter years of the Lunden-Gibson era and is composed by Non-Stop Music. The early 90′s saw the morning shows travel the country and the world. Shows on the road became as synonymous with morning programs as chatty anchors, funny weathermen and soft news features. It’s hardly done these days.