This is the current version of the World News theme by Edd Kalehoff that was used in a period during which the broadcast underwent significant changes. Longtime anchor Peter Jennings died and one of his replacements, Bob Woodruff, was severely injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Eventually the other replacement for Jennings, Elizabeth Vargas, who was in effect sole anchor as Woodruff was out of the running, was replaced by Charles Gibson. He retired after three years as anchor of the program and was succeeded by Diane Sawyer. This theme is fifteen seconds shorter than the previous versions of the theme. This is because in 2000 ABC wanted a slightly different open. Kalehoff then compressed the front part giving it a more urgent sound.

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 is composed by Edd Kalehoff and used during the early 1990s. Dan Rather was always thought to be the first network evening news anchor to also anchor a newsmagazine. However, David Brinkley hosted a monthly newsmagazine while also anchoring the Huntley-Brinkley report.

This 1989 program replaced West 57th and was anchored by Connie Chung. Like West 57th it tried to set itself apart from other newsmagazines by doing things differently. How? In order to enhance the story telling, they used actors to recreate actual events. Critics charged that this blurred the line between news and fiction. The program, at any rate, was not very successful and only had a short run.

In 1988 CBS News started a new kind of newsmagazine. Unlike others, 48 Hours focused on a single topic. Initially, all the shooting was done in two days and presented in raw chunks with little narration. The aim was to let viewers experience the story themselves. 48 Hours got its name from the successful CBS News documentary special 48 Hours on Crack street. It was hosted, usually on location, by CBS Newsman Dan Rather.

This slick newsmagazine was started in 1985 as a 60 Minutes for a younger generation and named after the address of the CBS Broadcast Center in New York. It was fast paced, visually flashy and anchored by Meredith Vieira. The newsmagazine lasted for four years. In 1989 West 57th died because of a lack of resources and Vieira moved to 60 Minutes.