“NBC Nightly News” 1979 – 1983 Open & Close

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NBC Nightly News debuted in July of 1970 after Chet Huntley left the Huntley-Brinkley Report. David Brinkley anchored with John Chancellor and Frank McGee as part of an anchor trio that was not as successful as the Huntley-Brinkley pairing. A year later McGee left for Today and Brinkley was relegated to doing commentary. This left John Chancellor as solo anchor of Nightly News. However, he was never able to break Walter Cronkite’s grip on the American public. So Chancellor anchored Nightly News solo until April of 1982 when co-anchors Roger Mudd and Tom Brokaw took over. Brokaw went solo a little more than a year later. This open is a true classic. From 1979 to 1982 it was used as a bumper. Later it was used as the main open. Not just for Nightly News but for all NBC News programs at the time.

Joseph Paul Sicurella, Tony Smythe and Bob Christianson – NBC Nightly News open

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