Back in the regional level, this is how the BBC’s local news for Yorkshire looked like in the late 1990s. Interesting choice of a pink and purple color palette!
France 3 signing off for the night 30 years ago, in January 1994. Includes promos and a closedown clip with snippets of some of the shows aired by the channel, like Les Minikeums, Benny Hill and The Simpsons.
Phillippine TV news is anything unlike you find in other East Asia countries. And in part this is due to the success of ABS-CBN’s TV Patrol.
Launched in 1987 after ABS-CBN returned to the air after the overthrow of the Marcos regime (People Power Revolution), TV Patrol was anything unlike what was seen beforehand on Philippine TV news. Before the arrival of TV Patrol, newscasts had a “broadsheet” style where anchors served as strict newsreaders and coverage focused more on world affairs. Newscasts could be spoken on English or Tagalog, or even interchangeably (often known popularly as Taglish).
TV Patrol, however, distinguished itself initially from its competitors (including ABS-CBN’s fellow news programmes at the time, the Filipino-spoken Balita Ngayon, and the English-spoken The World Tonight). Unlike these newscasts, TV Patrol modelled itself on DZMM’s tabloid news show, Radyo Patrol, and the then-booming industry of Tagalog-written tabloid newspapers, led by the Pilipino Star Ngayon. As a result, coverage focused on crime news and sensationalistic reporting (including broadcasting graphic imagery with little to no censorship), as well as entertainment news (including pioneering the use of a young, attractive actress to deliver these stories), news-you-can-use features for the community, and human-interest stories. The show also pioneered the use of telephone surveys on daily hot topics.
From the outset, and also marking distance from its competitors, the show used vernacular Tagalog during the entire broadcast, and anchors were allowed to, in a deliberately dramatic and aggressive tone of voice, comment and editorialise on stories, and also do happy talk segments. This also became a factor for the show’s high audiences, with viewers particularly welcoming the chemistry between original anchors, “Kabayan” Noli de Castro, Mel Tiangco and Robert Arevalo. The newscasts also became a bridge to the community, particularly when natural disasters affect the country, initially by covering the situation wall-to-wall with live on-site reporting, and followed with “public service” reporting which include anchors helping out on the recovery situation.
The programme and its populist agenda quickly became a success in the ratings, with the show quickly going number one almost from the outset; however, that success was not without its criticism: media critics criticised its dependence on its tabloid format and reporting, plus the deliberate showing of graphic imagery; in 1989, Filipino poet and literary critic Virgilio S. Almario pointed out that the use of vernacular Tagalog led to the misuse of “siyokoy” words, formed through the mix of English terms and misunderstanding of Spanish grammar (vernacular Tagalog often relies on loaned English and Spanish words), although he celebrated the broadcaster’s brave decision to use Filipino for the newscast in a time many of the networks were using stilted English and Tagalog for its content.
The success of TV Patrol led to other channels copying the format: in 1995, arch-rival GMA Network launched a late night newscast, Saksi (Witness), which imitated the tabloid TV Patrol format in a very watered-down style; it was soon followed by replacing the evening news broadcast with another TV Patrol imitation, 24 Oras, from 2004; both featuring former anchor Mel Tiangco (who transferred to GMA after a controversy surrounding her appearance in a TV commercial for a washing powder in violation of her ABS-CBN contract).
24 Oras was a more direct imitation of TV Patrol, both in its style and in its formatting, down to the emphasis on crime, controversial issues and gossip (even having a scantily clad presenter to lead the entertainment segment). The network even hired Neocolours’ Jimmy Antiporda to compose an aggressive theme music (the cut heard in the previous post) in the style of his high-energy, fast-paced remixes of the TV Patrol theme, Frank Gari’s Alllegro. ABS-CBN’s reaction was almost immediate: now suffering the appearance of a direct imitation, TV Patrol made sweeping changes later in 2004: dropping De Castro’s successor Korina Sanchez in favour of a three anchor team of holdover Julius Babao and newcomers Karen Davila and Ted Failon, both rising stars at the network; additionally, a small name change was made to TV Patrol World, reflecting its global broadcast on the network’s international service TFC (The Filipino Channel).
Soon, a third TV channel joined in the tabloid gang: TV5, just bought by former monopolist PLDT, wanted to revive the fortunes of the struggling network and do away with the alternative programming schedule (which had become a synonym of the network since its revival in 1992) in favor of a broad audience (or “masa”) remit.
This led to the launch, in April 2010, of a new line-up directly taking on ABS-CBN and GMA, including a new newscast, Aksyon, which also directly imitated TV Patrol, but in a much more aggressive way, focusing more on “public service” issues (including a midday show which was completely centered on spot live shots with audience complaints on the scene), the implementation of new technological advancements and a focus on community reporting, including the appearance of sign language interpreters during the newscasts, a groundbreaking situation at the time. Therefore, ABS-CBN reacted by rebranding TV Patrol, dropping the “World” from its name and bringing back Noli de Castro and Korina Sanchez as presenters.
During the process of implementing Akyson, TV5 hired long-tenured ABS-CBN investigative journalist Luchi Cruz-Valdes to head the newly named news division, News5. Under Cruz-Valdes and PLDT’s support, Akyson expanded to have a 24/7 news and sports channel (with emphasis on visual radio), AkysonTV, after signing an operating agreement with the Nation Broadcasting Corporation for its TV and FM services in the Metro Manila region, whilst also leasing prime time slots on government-owned IBC 13 to air sports content the network had rights (under the AKTV moniker); it was cancelled in May 2013 due to low ratings, high leasing costs and impeding rumors of the IBC network being fully privatized by the Aquino III Government (which eventually did not succeed).
By 2014, Akyson was airing four editions (morning, noon, evening and late night), and was airing its main edition 7 days a week; however, a deal between TV5/PLDT and ESPN signed in 2017 led to the news service downing tools, with Akyson being reduced to two weekday editions and most of its news resources being transferred to its own cable network Bloomberg TV Philippines; with that move on board, this same network was rebranded One News in 2018.
Akyson abruptly ended during the COVID-19 pandemic, resorting to sister cable networks One News and One PH during the crisis. The show never returned, as TV5 and the PLDT cable networks (operating under the One and Cignal TV banners) began sharing production resources during that time, and, in October, a new newscast, Frontline Pilipinas, went on air, with a middle-market format mixing the tabloid format (heavily watered-down) with increased reporting of political and world news, plus religious affairs and expanded special reports, interviews and sports coverage (particularly as TV5 now has nearly exclusive coverage of NBA and Phillippine basketball).
As for TV Patrol, the show watered the forced closure of ABS-CBN due to the licence revocation order by the National Telecommunications Commission in May 2020. The show was quickly moved to the ABS-CBN News Channel whilst continued simulcasting on the group’s satellite channel TFC. When the Kapamilya Channel (a cable channel which took over most of ABS-CBN’s schedule) launched in June 15, it was expected to also air TV Patrol, although the move was delayed due to its high audience on social media and on ANC; it would eventually be launched on the network on July 27, whilst also expanding its live streaming to encompass a global audience thanks to Kapamilya Online Live, a global streaming channel available in two feeds (a service focusing entirely on original ABS-CBN productions, available in the Phillipines, most of Asia, and EMEA; an a feed currently dedicated to the Filipino diaspora in the Americas, mixing many of the contemporary original productions available on the “domestic” feed, with selected content from TFC, plus programming from their own cable channels, including classic shows).
Another great post, Medianext.MX!
By the way, this wasn’t the first incarnation of TV Patrol (or simply Patrol as it was originally called) and its hyperlocal, crime-heavy, news-you-can-use style. Here’s British journalist Timothy Green writing in 1971 about the first, pre-martial law version of the newscast and it huge popularity:
“In the early evening ABS-CBN run a two-hour programme called Patrol which is really just a public noticeboard for the city of Manila. All kinds of local titbits turn up. Insurance agents are advised that their exams have been postponed. Boy scouts are told where to report to a jamboree. Payment is offered for 500 cc of a rare type of blood urgently required to help a fourteen-year-old boy suffering from bone cancer; anyone who can offer a transfusion is asked to phone the studio immediately. Even photographs and descriptions of several children missing from home in the slums of Manila are given. Patrol calls itself ‘the public service programme that makes a city move’ and it outranks the imported Bonanza in the ratings.”
Oh, since I’ve Timothy Green’s 1971 book about television several times in this thread, here are its British and American covers; it’s widely available used, and I think it might be interesting for those who enjoy this thread:
Here’s the channel’s first sign-on/sign-off sequence from 1972, when it first went on the air as ORTF’s third channel. The psychedelic animation, typical of French television at the time, would last until the break-up of ORTF in late 1975:
On 28 January 2002, a curious rebrand took place at RTP’s TV channels (created in-house by local designer Nicolau Tudela). Now the two stations had different logos, but each of them maintained its usual programming style: RTP1 kept its eye on news, entertainment, series and movies, while RTP2 remained a highbrow channel focused on cartoons, culture and the arts. Here are some IDs, promos and other elements:
RTP1
In an interview to the Público newspaper, Tudela said the ‘water’ and ‘ash’ idents were used during daytime and the ‘fire’ and ‘sand’ bumpers were reserved for evening programs.
RTP2
The change (devised by then-Director-General Emidio Rangel) affected RTP1 the most, as it wanted to become more competitive to face the powerful private networks SIC and TVI because the public broadcaster had been struggling financially and in the ratings for years. In fact, RTP1’s new logo partly resembled TVI’s. As part of the revamp, it introduced a controversial debate program called Gregos e Troianos (based on a Spanish format), where guests and the studio audience exchange different points of view on social topics.
This show was lambasted for being too “commercial” for the state-owned service’s standards and was pulled from the schedule, being replaced by the more “serious” Prós e Contras (that lasted until 2020). Rangel, who used to be a SIC executive between 1992 and 2001, resigned at the end of August 2002: his populist ideas didn’t fit well at RTP. On a positive note, one of his biggest contributions was Bom Dia Portugal, a successful morning newscast (which continues to be on the air!).
Behind the scenes at CNN as the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up on liftoff 38 years ago:
(This was shot by a crew who happened to be making a promo in the newsroom at the time.)
A portion of the Brazilian newscast Jornal de Vanguarda in August 1988, presented by Doris Giesse, Fernando Garcia and Rafael Moreno. This late-night program branded itself as an “intelligent” and innovative way of reporting news, focused on analysis and commentary. It also contained a round-up of the day’s top stories at the beginning.
The theme music was part of the soundtrack of the movie 8 1/2, composed by Nino Rota.
Sounds a bit like how the UK’s Channel 4 News was conceived back in 1982, as recounted by media historian Steven Barnett in his The Rise and Fall of Television Journalism:
By the way, here is the first-ever edition of Channel 4 News:
From October 1991, here’s London’s Thames News reporting that, as part of the 1991 Channel 3 franchise battle, Thames would lose its weekday ITV franchise for London on January 1, 1993. (Thames would live on for several years in a much diminished form as a production company):
The history of commercial TV in the UK has always intrigued me, particularly with those old ITV franchise auctions. Seperate weekday and weekend franchises for London was always strange.
Another casualty of this auction was, among others, the end of TVS, the station serving the South and South East of England. It was replaced by Meridian, who offered a more colorful image, opposed to the more traditional TVS. Here are some IDs from the era when the company had its own identity:
In terms of news, Meridian hired several of the familiar faces from TVS’ news department, like Debbie Thrower, Jane Wyatt, Fred Dinenage, Mike Debens, etc. This is how its news branding evolved over the years (until 2004):
In the days of the old ITV Network of separate independent regional companies, a single London franchise would have been too powerful a force in the network.
Before 1968, the North and Midlands ITV regions also had separate weekday and weekend franchises because of their size. ATV, for instance, was effectively a seven-day operator because it broadcast to the Midlands on weekdays and to London on weekends, as you can see it this 1950s ident:
After 1968, ATV became a full-time franchise-holder for the Midlands, while the North region was split geographically–Granada went full-time, but lost a large part of its territory to the newly established Yorkshire Television.
The northern England ITV franchises are the only English and Welsh ones where the original contractors were never replaced: Granada, Border, Tyne Tees, and Yorkshire.
The 1989 logo for ITV Anglia. This went unused due to a mix-up with the colors. Other companies like Granada, TVS, TSW, and Ulster also rejected their version of this logo.
By the way, this is how TVS covered the loss of its license on Coast to Coast, its evening regional news:
The only real legacies Southern Televison (1958-81) has left in memory are the 1978 “The Famous Five” adaption and the childish temper tantrum they pulled after they lost their franchise in the 1980 franchise round.
Here’s an in-depth account of Southern’s undignified exit for those who may not be familiar with it: