Election themes don’t get much better than this. Michael Karp composed this theme which was used for the 2004, 2006 and 2008 elections. Decision 2004 was the last election anchored by Tom Brokaw who retired days later from NBC Nightly News. He anchored from a huge set built on and around Rockefeller Plaza (which was temporarily renamed Democracy Plaza).

For the state funeral of former president Ronald Reagan, NBC chose this solemn piece composed by Michael Karp. It’s a beautiful piece of music. Tom Brokaw anchored, in what was one of his last major broadcasts as NBC’s lead anchor before his retirement.

The 2003 war in Iraq had a long and protracted build up to it. This meant that news organizations had ample time to get ready. And they certainly made use of that time. All networks built special sets, designed special graphics and commissioned special themes. But the real costs of covering war lie in sending reporters to the front lines and making sure they are protected (think of body guards and armored vehicles). This theme, by Michael Karp, was used during the initial days of the war on NBC and MSNBC.

This theme has been used for coverage of the 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2002 elections. Generally the broadcast networks go all out for general elections and special graphics, sets and themes are to be expected. This theme is composed by Non-Stop Music, which had already done some bumpers for Today and themes for MSNBC (as well as many, many other great themes for television).

Later Today was the second installment of the Today franchise that was created in 1999. It aired at 9 a.m. (in most markets), right after the Today Show. It was a talk show focusing on women hosted by Jodi Applegate, Asha Blake and Florence Henderson. Henderson may be best known as Carol Brady, she was actually a “Today-girl” in the late 1950′s. Later Today lasted only one season and was replaced by an extra hour of the real Today Show.

NBC Nightside was NBC’s second overnight newscast. The program started in 1991 and was produced in Charlotte, North Carolina by the NBC News Channel. That, by the way, is not the same as MSNBC. It is the service, comparable to a wire service, that provides customized reports and video of national news to NBC affiliates. Some of Nightside’s many anchors included Antonia Mora and Campbell Brown. While the program was financially profitable and did well in the ratings, it was discontinued in 1999 because NBC wanted to use the overnight timeslot to air repeats of Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien. The theme is composed by Michael Karp.

The program may have been forgotten, the theme certainly is not forgettable. This is Part II of The Mission by John Williams; originally titled as the “Fugue For Changing Times”. Before Hours was a 15-minute business news program that was a joint production of NBC News and the Wall Street Journal. It was anchored by Bob Jamieson, who was a frequent substitute news anchor on the Today Show, and the weather reports were provided by Joe Witte. The program was on the air from March 1987 to September 1988

In 1976 NBC introduced the concept of red states and blue states. To graphically illustrate the election results, they colored a state red if a Democrat won and blue when a Republican did. ABC copied that four years later but switched the colors because red started with an ‘r’ for Republican. Other broadcasters would copy ABC’s color scheme but NBC kept their original color scheme for some time during the 1980′s. So on election night 1984, NBC’s map was almost entirely blue while ABC and CBS’ were almost entirely red. Regardless of the color of the graphics, Ronald Reagan was reelected with a landslide margin. For this election NBC commissioned a hybrid of their classic Salute to the President theme by Henry Mancini and their electronic open to Nightly News. In conjunction with this open, the original Mancini theme was still used as a close.

“You hear something that may be music or may be the sound Donald Duck would make if you held his head underwater a while,” that is how Linda Ellerbee, co-anchor of NBC News Overnight, described this theme once. NBC News Overnight premiered on July 5, 1982 with co-anchors Linda Ellerbee and Lloyd Dobyns. After six months, Bill Schechner replaced Dobyns. ‘Overnight’ was a one hour live overnight news show which pioneered the format of serious news mixed with features and irreverence–a format ABC’s World News Now later adopted. Though the program had many loyal fans, it was never a ratings success and cancelled after only seventeen months.

NBC used this theme by Henry Mancini for a long time, from the election of Jimmy Carter as president to Bill Clinton. It has the patriotic title “Salute to the President”. Mancini is a well regarded composer, having composed instantly recognizable soundtracks to movies such as The Pink Panther. Here you can listen to the long close and an open.

Henry Mancini - Decision '76 open

Henry Mancini - Decision '76 close