rss feedABC Nightline marks 30th anniversary
I suppose three decades can blow by fast.
But I wanted to take a minute to acknowledge one of my favorite broadcast news shows of all time – Nightline on ABC News.
I’m partial to when Ted Koppel’s deep voice and clear pronunciation were the hallmarks of the must-see broadcast for those inside the Beltway and news junkies in the country.
Producers at the show have posted a great interactive timeline, charting key moments in the show’s 30 years.
The show’s three-decade anniversary is March 24, 1980 – following the late show that Koppel hosted, “The Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage.”
That examined the Iranian hostage crisis from 1979.
Nightline staff member Kinga Janik posted this piece on the show’s place in U.S. media history.
Back in the 1980s, the 11:30 p.m. was the timeslot for the last broadcast news of the day.
In the spring of 1989, I was fortunate enough to have a three-month internship at the Washington, D.C. bureau of Nightline – on DeSales Street Northwest.
In terms of 30 years, three months is just a blink.
But, of course, for a college student, it was memorable to be in the newsroom of a network news show that arguably nearly everyone in the country was waiting to see that night.
Koppel, of course, was fair, tough and willing to ask the most difficult questions in a diplomatic way to guests, whether they were famous or not.
The atmosphere in the newsroom was certainly “can do.”
The bookers – Richard Harris and Gil Pimentel – were responsible for contacting potential guests. They amazed me at how they would talk with the producers about which guests to try and book for a show, often with only hours until broadcast.
You know what?
They often came back with the right person and leading figure to sit down and talk with Koppel.
As an intern, I was on the frontlines and helped out when I could.
I answered phones – big tan boxes with clear square lights that lit up when someone was one a call – and photocopied “scripts” – which were the copy that Koppel and the producers used.
I filed and faxed documents.
On a few occasions, I went to Capitol Hill to follow the ethical woes of House Speaker Jim Wright of Texas. I once stood in a media pit outside the Capitol when Wright appeared – and so did a throng of cameras and journalists.
I began taking notes and looked over my shoulder. I saw another journalist jotting down what I had written on my pad.
A friend told me later that I should have remembered the quotes and information in my head but I should have written down incorrect information in my notes for that other journalist who was peering down.
I chatted with Koppel once or twice. He was, of course, a busy person.
He liked the fact that my dad considered naming me “Wolfgang” – so that I’d have the name of “Wolfgang Wong.”
If anything though, just being in that newsroom and watching the show in the Green Room and listening to Koppel’s pacing of words and ideas have helped me tremendously.
The show’s writers, as well as the network correspondents, all had witty way with words.
Needless to say, when I had to write my report about my three months at that show, it was pretty easy – the pacing of my words and ideas matched Koppel and other correspondents.
One of the stories that I remember from my time inside that newsroom was how Koppel had this brilliant memory.
Apparently, as I recall, when he in the field – say, at an airport – someone would take out a dictionary. He’d tell one of his producers to pick, say, 10 words and their definitions at random.
Koppel memorized those words and their definitions pretty fast.
Back then, as I recall, and I know it sounds like the Dark Ages, but wire stories were the only “live” news stories that would appear on our computer screens.
There would be a beep, notifying staff that something had moved.
No Twitter. No Facebook. No RSS feeds. No fast-paced updating of a Web page.
Of course, the television networks and local affiliates could broadcast news when deemed necessary.
On many days, it was the old-fashioned way of collecting information – getting out in the field or making phone calls.
I remember when a producer and correspondent had returned from a Central America trip – only to return right after they walked back into the bureau. News in that region continued to break.
Another time, I remember Scott Sforza, a staff member and the intern coordinator, booked a jet airplane late at night so Koppel and producers could cover a big news event in the Middle East.
On a few times, my task was to get advanced copies of the Washington Post, which at the time, was available around 10:30 p.m. or so.
A producer would hand me money. I’d walk outside on DeSales to the Mayflower Hotel and buy a stack to distribute in the newsroom.
If the Post moved something big, then Koppel or producers could always make a note of it before that nightly broadcast ended.
The chase would continue in the morning – and as I recall, the bureau was staffed around the clock.
Needless to say, the Nightline staff has a rich bag of stories about assignments, Koppel and life inside the newsroom.
Good stuff – all of it, even if I was just an intern.
Two producers, Artis and Greg, always gave me good advice and the opportunity to help out on stories.
As I recall, Greg enjoyed the saying: “Do everything you can to get the story – or at least die trying.”
I’m glad that Nightline is still on the air. It has changed, of course, as everything evolves.
But I’m glad I was inside for those brief few months.
If Nightline was a snoozer of a show, filled with endless and mindless chatter, I wouldn’t be saying this on its 30th anniversary.
Really, in many ways, it rocked the world of journalism.
I think I still have my Nightline press credentials somewhere – probably in a box at my parents’ house.
NOTE: I should say that the skyline used by Nightline and the one that appears in my TofuWatch logo is coincidence.
