KNBC Channel 4 - Ending of NewsCenter4 - Early Edition with Paul Moyer & Kelly Lange and Editorial Reply (1977)

Not from Chicago, but one which, "even then," had overtaken Chicago as the "Second City" in population: a clip of the ending minutes of the early edition of NewsCenter4 with anchors Paul Moyer and Kelly Lange on KNBC Channel 4 in Los Angeles. Also features Paul Dandridge, John Marshall and Boyd Matson. This was on the tail end of a 3/4" Umatic tape where something was recorded over most of this. (A side note: The weather at this point in time was handled by a young chap named Pat Sajak, not seen on this clip; this was a few years before he became famous for hosting the long-running game show Wheel of Fortune.)

As the tape comes in, Paul Dandridge is concluding the "Business Today" report with a story on prices and supplies of Honda Accords in car dealers' showrooms, then signals for a commercial break by announcing Paul and Kelly will continue with the newscast afterwards.

Sponsor billboard for Merrill Lynch (voiceover by Don Stanley)

Commercial: Merrill Lynch, with questions for Los Angelenos about who spends how much on securities research and other such services - with Bernard Barrow - "There's Only One Merrill Lynch" (Copyright 1977 Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith Inc.)

Back to the studio, where Paul Moyer leads in with the next story:

- Two suspects in eight grisly murders, Patrick Kearney and David Hill, turn themselves in to police in Riverside County - as John Marshall reports, the suspects entered the complaint desk of the police station advising of their pictures on the wall and were promptly arrested; Sheriff Ben Clark speaks about the circumstances leading to their arrest, including contacts with family members of the suspects and publicity about the search for them

- Kelly Lange introduces the final story, a report by Boyd Matson from Malibu on a religious meditation pilgrimage by two Buddhist monks who have vowed to spend a year and a half walking the Pacific Coast Highway in a search for inward peace; they had begun their journey at the Gold Wheel temple in Pasadena on May 7th and intend to walk a full 500 miles to a city with 10,000 Buddhists in Ukiah, bowing down every three steps along the way; one of the monks, Heng Chau, is heard explaining his motivation for this prayer and meditation pilgrimage, with quotes from various Buddhist passages and what he has encountered along the way; they say they have no thought of turning back from their mission; Boyd mentions they usually cover 2 miles a day

Kelly and Paul then sign off the early edition, and advise viewers to stay tuned for the 11pm edition with John Schubeck (who briefly had a Chicago connection, working at WGN Channel 9 in the middle 1960's, prior to his first association with KNBC which lasted from 1965 to 1967; this particular stint of Schubeck's ran from 1974 to 1983), and going on about what to do for the July 4th weekend.

With instrumental guitar music as the background (more specifically, a piece called "Nightly News," written by Donald Craig, arranged by Del Kacher and performed by Chris Delton with The Electric Modes, first heard as the ending music for KNBC's newscasts around spring 1973 and in regular use for the next decade or more), the credits roll:

Executive Producer - Irwin Safchik
Producers - Steve Friedman, Terry Gill
Directed By Erwin J. Rosen, Julian Finkelstein, John W. Mitchell
Associate Directors - Robert Villar, Sol Avellino, Will Ray, Gloria Hillard, Tony Singletary
Special Projects - Helen Johnson, Alan Kaul
Newswriters - Angus Campbell, Charles Amundson, Stan Rosenthal, Stan Kawakami, Jack Worth, Charlotte Perry, Mike McCormick, Wendy Harris, Dorothy Kupcha, Ed Thomas
Assignment Editors - Warren Cereghino, Beth Polson, Phil Clapick, John Flynn, Bill Whitley, Estella Claggs, Linda Friedman, Robin Lloyd
Research - Donald Craig
Technical Directors - Gordon James, Karl Messerschmidt, O. Tamburri, Jerry Weiss, Richard Lombardo
(NOTE: Messerschmidt and Tamburri were involved in this capacity on many NBC Burbank productions over the years, including Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, The Dean Martin Show, and Sanford and Son, among others)
Newsfilm Cameramen - Duane Anderly, Dick Hutchings, Marshall Lockman, John Milek, John Parsons, Carl Yost
Newsfilm Soundmen - Roger Andrews, Gene Coffey, Jim Coughey, Robert Leon, John McLaughlin, Bill Stokes
Minicams - Ernie Chacon, Herman Conant, Lou Cywinski, Bruce Gray, Bill Lewis, Tony Neece, Jim Nickless, Bill Petlowany, Dick Smith, Stan Spring, Diana Upton, George Zanuzoski
Supervising Film Editor - George Bonnell
Film Editors - Bart Cannistra, Jim Hollander, Peter Klusman, George Kramer, Larry Levin, Phil O'Bryant, Bill Powell, Hal Sutter, Bill Woodley
Video Tape Editors - John Kirby, Lou Gabriele, Dennis Hargrove, Donn Hoyer, Nina Jackson, Ron Malvin, Peggy Parker, Steve Schoenberg, Mike Shugrue, Chip Wallace, Mike Welch
Film Librarian - Mildred Ramseyer
Audio Mixer - Al Parsons
Senior Video - Charles Schmidt
Lighting Directors - Steve Cunningham, John Nance
Graphic Arts - Vizmo Productions
Editorial Assistants - Richard Ruedas, David Lewis, Jim Maria, Dan Wolf, Nga Dang, Diana Davis, Joe Rodriguez, Louise Fong, Harold Medina
Art Directors - Fred Harpman, Robert Keene
(Harpman was the set designer for the original NewsCenter4 set at sister station WNBC Channel 4 in New York City; this set was a smaller equivalent, and yet another NBC-owned station - WRC Channel 4 in Washington, DC - also had a set along the lines of KNBC's)
Closing Theme - Donald Craig

Station ID with promo for In Search Of . . . with Leonard Nimoy (searching for Atlantis), Saturday at 7:30pm (voiceover by Don Stanley)

KNBC Editorial Reply disagreeing with plan to build the Century Freeway (opening voiceover by Don Stanley)

Brent Rushforth, attorney for Center for Law in the Public Interest, argues that adding $1.5 billion to the already over-budget project (17 miles at over $40 million per mile) would be "pouring good money after bad," and make it the most expensive ever built; he advises to walk away from it, maintaining its only possible purpose would bring Orange County residents to Los Angeles International Airport - a function that, he says, the Artesia (a.k.a. 91) and San Diego freeways and Imperial Highway, already do, and suggests that the private property already acquired to make way for the Century be sold to private developers for other public purposes (the tape cuts out before his reply finishes; Rushforth mentions Governor Jerry Brown's previous recognition of the futility of further freeway building in the Los Angeles basin at that point)

" . . . There's an old Buddhist saying, it says: Bitter work, sweet mind, and to walk along the beaches would be very easy, and there'd be no accomplishment from that."

This aired on local Los Angeles TV on Friday, July 1st 1977.

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