00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.250
(upbeat drumming music)

00:00:02.250 --> 00:00:03.210
- [John] A century ago,

00:00:03.210 --> 00:00:07.770
the broadcast signal changed
human connection forever.

00:00:07.770 --> 00:00:10.980
First, radio. Then, television.

00:00:10.980 --> 00:00:15.180
Overnight, our neighbors
went from around the corner

00:00:15.180 --> 00:00:17.310
to across the country.

00:00:17.310 --> 00:00:18.750
- [Reporter] Were founded
on the principles.

00:00:18.750 --> 00:00:21.720
- [John] And for the
first time in real time,

00:00:21.720 --> 00:00:24.300
TV brought America together

00:00:24.300 --> 00:00:28.200
with the news of President
Kennedy's murder.

00:00:28.200 --> 00:00:31.050
That weekend in 1963,

00:00:31.050 --> 00:00:34.920
TV connected the country
in a shared experience

00:00:34.920 --> 00:00:37.323
of emotion and empathy.

00:00:41.300 --> 00:00:44.040
(news introduction music)

00:00:44.040 --> 00:00:48.683
The TV news was slow to
understand its appeal.

00:00:48.683 --> 00:00:51.593
- The town of Vinylon just
inside the border of North Korea.

00:00:51.593 --> 00:00:54.000
- [John] There's nothing more intimate

00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:57.870
than bearing witness to someone's story.

00:00:57.870 --> 00:01:00.570
It's the sounds, the images,

00:01:00.570 --> 00:01:02.760
the firsthand view.

00:01:02.760 --> 00:01:07.170
They put us in the shoes of
people in their most traumatic,

00:01:07.170 --> 00:01:10.260
or most uplifting experiences.

00:01:10.260 --> 00:01:13.830
This is what Al Primo knew,

00:01:13.830 --> 00:01:15.870
TV news must be.
- All right.

00:01:15.870 --> 00:01:17.635
What do you have tonight, (indistinct)?

00:01:17.635 --> 00:01:19.051
(audience cheering)
(audience applauding)

00:01:19.051 --> 00:01:22.718
(upbeat instrumental music)

00:01:29.880 --> 00:01:31.590
- [Al] I think if you
watch "Eyewitness News"

00:01:31.590 --> 00:01:34.860
and you're concerned
about the city as we are.

00:01:34.860 --> 00:01:36.663
If someone is hiding something,

00:01:38.460 --> 00:01:42.644
our people will be out
there to find out about it.

00:01:42.644 --> 00:01:47.144
(upbeat instrumental music continues)

00:01:59.329 --> 00:02:03.829
(upbeat instrumental music continues)

00:02:18.307 --> 00:02:22.807
(upbeat instrumental music continues)

00:02:35.364 --> 00:02:39.864
(upbeat instrumental music continues)

00:02:54.913 --> 00:02:56.593
(upbeat instrumental music continues)

00:02:56.593 --> 00:03:00.543
- [Reporter] This is
Channel 7 WABC TV, New York.

00:03:02.581 --> 00:03:04.936
(audience applauding)
(audience cheering)

00:03:04.936 --> 00:03:08.353
(upbeat drumming music)

00:03:13.890 --> 00:03:16.860
- Al Primo was my news director,

00:03:16.860 --> 00:03:21.018
and he revolutionized news reporting,

00:03:21.018 --> 00:03:24.630
(upbeat instrumental music)

00:03:24.630 --> 00:03:27.960
television news reporting for all time.

00:03:27.960 --> 00:03:31.290
He sent reporters out into the field

00:03:31.290 --> 00:03:34.447
and let them tell their
stories on the air.

00:03:34.447 --> 00:03:36.990
- "Eyewitness News" was
thinking more in terms

00:03:36.990 --> 00:03:39.430
of who are we talking to

00:03:40.890 --> 00:03:41.723
and what

00:03:42.570 --> 00:03:44.070
can we tell them?

00:03:44.070 --> 00:03:47.523
What can we help them communicate
even among each other?

00:03:48.570 --> 00:03:51.319
What can we learn from them?

00:03:51.319 --> 00:03:53.250
(upbeat instrumental music continues)

00:03:53.250 --> 00:03:57.120
- Primo had an extraordinary idea

00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:00.100
that changed television news

00:04:01.020 --> 00:04:02.700
forever.

00:04:02.700 --> 00:04:04.050
- It was about the people.

00:04:04.050 --> 00:04:05.610
It was their story.

00:04:05.610 --> 00:04:07.320
That was Al Primo's story.

00:04:07.320 --> 00:04:09.300
- Al Primo changed my life.

00:04:09.300 --> 00:04:10.410
But think about it,

00:04:10.410 --> 00:04:13.110
Al Primo changed a lot of lives.

00:04:13.110 --> 00:04:16.630
- By the late 1970s it was clear

00:04:17.790 --> 00:04:20.310
the Cronkite style was going down,

00:04:20.310 --> 00:04:23.280
and what Primo had begun
at "Eyewitness News"

00:04:23.280 --> 00:04:27.019
was the rising paradigm.
- This is "Eyewitness News"

00:04:27.019 --> 00:04:27.852
with Roger Grimsby.

00:04:27.852 --> 00:04:29.880
- Marshall McLuhan, the philosopher,

00:04:29.880 --> 00:04:32.130
the historian,

00:04:32.130 --> 00:04:34.440
said that of Al's creation,

00:04:34.440 --> 00:04:37.050
that it was a revolutionary
event in telecommunications.

00:04:37.050 --> 00:04:38.253
It was a revolution.

00:04:44.040 --> 00:04:45.150
- We hope you will join us.

00:04:45.150 --> 00:04:46.260
I'm John Johnson.

00:04:46.260 --> 00:04:48.257
Good news to you, good night.

00:04:48.257 --> 00:04:50.514
(upbeat instrumental music)

00:04:50.514 --> 00:04:53.040
- [Reporter] "Eyewitness
News" is the New York area's

00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:54.900
number one news presentation,

00:04:54.900 --> 00:04:57.030
and for the second consecutive year,

00:04:57.030 --> 00:05:00.990
recognized by the Associated
Press as New York State's best.

00:05:00.990 --> 00:05:03.360
- Painting is storytelling,

00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:05.520
so is television news.
- Bound to New York

00:05:05.520 --> 00:05:09.090
from Los Angeles has
reportedly been hijacked.

00:05:09.090 --> 00:05:11.853
- Television news is an
art and not a science.

00:05:12.780 --> 00:05:14.617
You can't write down,

00:05:14.617 --> 00:05:17.397
"Here are the 10 things you
do to become number one."

00:05:18.300 --> 00:05:19.417
You can't do it.

00:05:19.417 --> 00:05:23.280
- "Eyewitness News", the name defines it,

00:05:23.280 --> 00:05:26.100
learning from being there.

00:05:26.100 --> 00:05:27.000
- Nobody knew this was

00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:29.310
the greatest format since sliced bread.

00:05:29.310 --> 00:05:30.143
They didn't know it.

00:05:30.143 --> 00:05:32.520
- Consultant.
- None whatsoever.

00:05:32.520 --> 00:05:36.235
- The kids were.
(news introduction music)

00:05:36.235 --> 00:05:37.273
- This is "Eyewitness News".
(television switch clicking)

00:05:37.273 --> 00:05:38.610
- There were the days

00:05:38.610 --> 00:05:42.810
when there was a single
male anchor person.

00:05:42.810 --> 00:05:46.530
- What Primo and what
"Eyewitness News" did

00:05:46.530 --> 00:05:48.690
is it took something

00:05:48.690 --> 00:05:49.900
that was

00:05:50.760 --> 00:05:51.600
black and white,

00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:52.830
that was one color,

00:05:52.830 --> 00:05:54.630
that was monochromatic,

00:05:54.630 --> 00:05:56.170
and suddenly gave it

00:05:57.270 --> 00:06:00.930
a life, that gave it emotional tones.

00:06:00.930 --> 00:06:02.520
What that format did,

00:06:02.520 --> 00:06:05.670
it allowed that journalist,

00:06:05.670 --> 00:06:08.130
that reporter to actually talk to people,

00:06:08.130 --> 00:06:10.890
bring that information into the studio

00:06:10.890 --> 00:06:12.667
and into the viewer's home to say,

00:06:12.667 --> 00:06:15.630
"Look, these aren't just
facts we're telling you.

00:06:15.630 --> 00:06:20.630
These are what people who
lived through this thing saw,

00:06:20.880 --> 00:06:23.556
felt, and how they were affected."

00:06:23.556 --> 00:06:26.388
- [Reporter] This is New
York's number one news,

00:06:26.388 --> 00:06:28.920
Channel 7 "Eyewitness News".

00:06:28.920 --> 00:06:31.680
- [John] The TV news we
see today didn't just pop

00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:33.480
up like a mushroom.

00:06:33.480 --> 00:06:36.540
The early years were trial and error,

00:06:36.540 --> 00:06:38.820
figuring out what works,

00:06:38.820 --> 00:06:42.240
creating on the fly to get the news.

00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:45.060
But by the late 1960s,

00:06:45.060 --> 00:06:47.430
observers rendered a verdict.

00:06:47.430 --> 00:06:51.480
American media had not fulfilled its duty

00:06:51.480 --> 00:06:54.450
to society's most vulnerable.

00:06:54.450 --> 00:06:58.350
- Part of the context for me was the

00:06:58.350 --> 00:07:01.050
riots of the 1960s.

00:07:01.050 --> 00:07:05.070
The Kerner Report had to do with the media

00:07:05.070 --> 00:07:07.980
and its failure to communicate.

00:07:07.980 --> 00:07:10.740
The lack of any but White men and people

00:07:10.740 --> 00:07:13.420
who were not communicating with the

00:07:14.580 --> 00:07:17.910
totality of the American population

00:07:17.910 --> 00:07:20.850
were not a part of the process.

00:07:20.850 --> 00:07:22.620
- [John] The Kerner Commission published

00:07:22.620 --> 00:07:25.560
its findings in 1968,

00:07:25.560 --> 00:07:30.210
but Al Primo understood
the problem in 1965

00:07:30.210 --> 00:07:34.170
and he used his Philadelphia
newsroom as a canvas

00:07:34.170 --> 00:07:36.266
to do something about it.

00:07:36.266 --> 00:07:37.290
(static hissing)
(television beeping)

00:07:37.290 --> 00:07:40.710
- You can never underestimate
the impact he had

00:07:40.710 --> 00:07:44.190
in the integration of television news.

00:07:44.190 --> 00:07:45.780
I mean, the "Eyewitness News" concept

00:07:45.780 --> 00:07:46.980
for all the happy talk,

00:07:46.980 --> 00:07:48.840
disparagement and all the rest of it,

00:07:48.840 --> 00:07:51.990
the real significance and achievement

00:07:51.990 --> 00:07:56.910
of "Eyewitness News" was
the fact that he insisted

00:07:56.910 --> 00:08:00.510
that the team be a
reflection of the community

00:08:00.510 --> 00:08:02.280
that we sought to serve.

00:08:02.280 --> 00:08:06.360
- [John] So I was the first
Puerto Rican, John Johnson,

00:08:06.360 --> 00:08:07.380
and Melba Tolliver,

00:08:07.380 --> 00:08:10.056
the first Black reporters.

00:08:10.056 --> 00:08:13.800
(TV static)
(news introduction music)

00:08:13.800 --> 00:08:16.357
- [Reporter] If you
weren't there, we were.

00:08:16.357 --> 00:08:19.800
- "Eyewitness News" was a departure

00:08:19.800 --> 00:08:22.890
from what has been the standard of news,

00:08:22.890 --> 00:08:24.930
a single anchor,

00:08:24.930 --> 00:08:26.760
virtually, almost no females,

00:08:26.760 --> 00:08:28.800
unless they were usually doing weather,

00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:30.960
they were called weather
bunnies or weather girls,

00:08:30.960 --> 00:08:32.047
and here comes this guy who says,

00:08:32.047 --> 00:08:34.620
"Wait, I'm gonna change all those things."

00:08:34.620 --> 00:08:38.130
- It was primed to
explode into popularity,

00:08:38.130 --> 00:08:39.520
and all it needed was

00:08:41.070 --> 00:08:43.320
a fuse, and I think the
Willowbrook story is

00:08:43.320 --> 00:08:44.310
what lit that fuse.

00:08:44.310 --> 00:08:47.743
- You had the ABC-owned
television station group.

00:08:47.743 --> 00:08:49.920
They were making money,

00:08:49.920 --> 00:08:51.330
but,

00:08:51.330 --> 00:08:53.400
they were not number one in news.

00:08:53.400 --> 00:08:55.620
And in walks a guy.

00:08:55.620 --> 00:08:57.240
I didn't even know who the hell he was,

00:08:57.240 --> 00:09:00.600
Al Primo, and puts on "Eyewitness News"

00:09:00.600 --> 00:09:02.700
from a audience point of view

00:09:02.700 --> 00:09:05.310
and from an advertiser point of view.

00:09:05.310 --> 00:09:07.170
They just exploded.

00:09:07.170 --> 00:09:08.040
- It's an art.

00:09:08.040 --> 00:09:12.750
It's an art form and you have
to attend to every detail

00:09:12.750 --> 00:09:15.600
and put each detail in its right place,

00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:18.900
and has it effects the other element,

00:09:18.900 --> 00:09:21.153
and it's like a painting.

00:09:21.153 --> 00:09:24.653
(news introduction music)

00:09:26.820 --> 00:09:28.610
- [Reporter] How many of you
have an "Eyewitness News"

00:09:28.610 --> 00:09:30.060
in your hometown?

00:09:30.060 --> 00:09:31.980
Here in Minneapolis you do.

00:09:31.980 --> 00:09:33.750
You also have one in Chicago.

00:09:33.750 --> 00:09:35.610
- [Reporter] Channel 7 Eyewitness News.

00:09:35.610 --> 00:09:37.980
- And in Pittsburgh.
- "Eyewitness News".

00:09:37.980 --> 00:09:40.350
- In Orlando, Florida.
- This is "Eyewitness News".

00:09:40.350 --> 00:09:41.310
- In Boston.
- Good evening.

00:09:41.310 --> 00:09:42.143
Here's what's happening.

00:09:42.143 --> 00:09:44.220
- In Cleveland.
- First in Ohio.

00:09:44.220 --> 00:09:46.200
- [Reporter] And in more
than 100 other cities

00:09:46.200 --> 00:09:47.033
in this country.

00:09:47.033 --> 00:09:48.390
- [John] Primo was not the first

00:09:48.390 --> 00:09:51.390
to have reporters interview
people on the scene,

00:09:51.390 --> 00:09:55.830
but he was the first to
bring the news ensemble

00:09:55.830 --> 00:10:00.153
with racial and gender
diversity to the air.

00:10:01.230 --> 00:10:04.500
- You had in what became
"Eyewitness News",

00:10:04.500 --> 00:10:07.710
a team concept of multiple presenters

00:10:07.710 --> 00:10:10.680
who not only were able to interact

00:10:10.680 --> 00:10:12.000
with each other on the news set.

00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:13.380
- [Roger] Good evening, I'm Roger Grimsby.

00:10:13.380 --> 00:10:14.400
Here now, the news.

00:10:14.400 --> 00:10:16.470
I'm Roger Grimsby. That's Roger Sharp.

00:10:16.470 --> 00:10:19.710
- [Craig] But do it in a highly
personal, humanistic way,

00:10:19.710 --> 00:10:23.790
where they could share their
feelings about the news,

00:10:23.790 --> 00:10:25.437
which I have always felt

00:10:25.437 --> 00:10:29.100
was a signal achievement in broadcasting.

00:10:29.100 --> 00:10:30.000
Up until then,

00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:32.790
no one had ever really seen news

00:10:32.790 --> 00:10:35.550
that could be delivered
in a humanistic way.

00:10:35.550 --> 00:10:38.227
- In soft tones by telling you,

00:10:38.227 --> 00:10:40.680
"You are looking at an utter idiot."

00:10:40.680 --> 00:10:44.190
Can you see this rain coming
down with a leaky umbrella?

00:10:44.190 --> 00:10:45.510
- Warner Wolf, the big worry is

00:10:45.510 --> 00:10:47.130
whether the subways
will be running in time

00:10:47.130 --> 00:10:50.130
to get people up there to the
Yankee Stadium on the subways.

00:10:50.130 --> 00:10:51.330
What do you think about that, Warner?

00:10:51.330 --> 00:10:52.223
- What did you say?

00:10:52.223 --> 00:10:54.000
(people laughing)

00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:55.920
- [John] It was against the grain

00:10:55.920 --> 00:10:58.110
and it begs the question,

00:10:58.110 --> 00:11:02.640
what inspired the "Eyewitness News" man?

00:11:02.640 --> 00:11:04.620
- You gotta give credit to the good Lord

00:11:04.620 --> 00:11:06.870
who gave me the inspiration.

00:11:06.870 --> 00:11:10.530
I think that "Eyewitness
News" was divine inspiration.

00:11:10.530 --> 00:11:11.910
- And that's not a throwaway line.

00:11:11.910 --> 00:11:13.923
Al was really a man of faith.

00:11:15.240 --> 00:11:18.690
Al lives his Roman Catholic faith.

00:11:18.690 --> 00:11:22.770
So he really believed that
those were gifts from God

00:11:22.770 --> 00:11:26.490
that he shared with others
for the common good,

00:11:26.490 --> 00:11:30.330
a very common theme as
Catholic Christians,

00:11:30.330 --> 00:11:31.574
the common good.

00:11:31.574 --> 00:11:35.624
(upbeat instrumental music)

00:11:35.624 --> 00:11:39.570
- [John] Al Primo's story
is an American story.

00:11:39.570 --> 00:11:41.400
How else do you explain

00:11:41.400 --> 00:11:45.120
this skinny Italian kid from Pittsburgh?

00:11:45.120 --> 00:11:46.890
- There was a very close Italian family,

00:11:46.890 --> 00:11:48.570
a very big family,

00:11:48.570 --> 00:11:51.360
and most of that family
was here in Pittsburgh.

00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:53.430
He grew up on Kennedy Avenue,

00:11:53.430 --> 00:11:55.620
which is a blue collar neighborhood

00:11:55.620 --> 00:11:57.420
in the city of Pittsburgh,

00:11:57.420 --> 00:12:00.480
and he never lost the feel for

00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:03.567
what regular working
people had to go through.

00:12:03.567 --> 00:12:08.040
- Dad grew up with that sort
of work ethic, that mentality.

00:12:08.040 --> 00:12:09.903
And also, he could see,

00:12:11.820 --> 00:12:15.240
you know, just how far his father came

00:12:15.240 --> 00:12:17.880
from Italy, from Southern Italy.

00:12:17.880 --> 00:12:20.340
I recently spoke to his sister,

00:12:20.340 --> 00:12:22.657
one of his sisters, who said,

00:12:22.657 --> 00:12:25.920
"We used to all stare at
Al at the kitchen table

00:12:25.920 --> 00:12:29.700
because we could literally
see his wheels turning.

00:12:29.700 --> 00:12:33.150
He was never quite 100% engaged

00:12:33.150 --> 00:12:35.700
in the family conversation
around the dinner table

00:12:35.700 --> 00:12:38.310
because he was creating
and thinking in his mind,

00:12:38.310 --> 00:12:40.485
and he always had ideas.

00:12:40.485 --> 00:12:43.220
- [Reporter] This is
DuMont Television Network.

00:12:43.220 --> 00:12:47.224
- [John] Growing up, he had
no idea TV was broadcast.

00:12:47.224 --> 00:12:49.050
- Most of the people that I know

00:12:49.050 --> 00:12:51.540
in this business stumbled in.

00:12:51.540 --> 00:12:54.474
- [John] Looking for
work out of high school,

00:12:54.474 --> 00:12:59.474
Al landed his first TV job by
literally taking a wrong turn.

00:13:02.220 --> 00:13:05.490
- He kind of got into
the business by accident.

00:13:05.490 --> 00:13:08.460
He was actually going to
an interview downtown,

00:13:08.460 --> 00:13:11.190
here in downtown Pittsburgh with a company

00:13:11.190 --> 00:13:14.410
and he made a wrong turn
and he went into the

00:13:15.450 --> 00:13:18.270
offices that was then WDTV,

00:13:18.270 --> 00:13:21.093
which was the predecessor station to KDKA.

00:13:22.184 --> 00:13:24.330
He got a job on the switchboard.

00:13:24.330 --> 00:13:26.460
Worked on the switchboard
for I think a couple

00:13:26.460 --> 00:13:29.160
of years while he was
attending school at Pitt.

00:13:29.160 --> 00:13:31.950
And gradually moved
into the news department

00:13:31.950 --> 00:13:35.850
in an entry level position where
he was taken under the wing

00:13:35.850 --> 00:13:38.520
of the iconic news anchor here,

00:13:38.520 --> 00:13:40.770
a guy by the name of Bill Burns.

00:13:40.770 --> 00:13:41.910
- There was a newspaper man,

00:13:41.910 --> 00:13:43.710
a radio news person,

00:13:43.710 --> 00:13:45.900
and then a television anchor person.

00:13:45.900 --> 00:13:47.970
And Bill knew everybody in Pittsburgh

00:13:47.970 --> 00:13:52.970
and instilled those virtues
in Al as a young journalist,

00:13:54.180 --> 00:13:56.130
is, you have to know your community,

00:13:56.130 --> 00:13:58.323
you have to reflect your community,

00:13:59.250 --> 00:14:02.190
and you have to give
back to your community

00:14:02.190 --> 00:14:04.200
because that is a part of,

00:14:04.200 --> 00:14:05.250
not the profession,

00:14:05.250 --> 00:14:08.506
but the calling of being
a television journalist.

00:14:08.506 --> 00:14:10.710
(upbeat instrumental music continues)

00:14:10.710 --> 00:14:15.210
- He went from his first
station in Pittsburgh

00:14:15.210 --> 00:14:18.180
to another city just like that, Cleveland.

00:14:18.180 --> 00:14:22.650
- [John] In 1965, KYW Cleveland

00:14:22.650 --> 00:14:27.650
became KYW-TV 3 Philadelphia,

00:14:28.350 --> 00:14:30.870
and Primo took the news reigns

00:14:30.870 --> 00:14:32.906
in the city of Brotherly Love.

00:14:32.906 --> 00:14:33.930
(Marciarose chuckling)

00:14:33.930 --> 00:14:38.280
- The very funny and very
common part of the story was

00:14:38.280 --> 00:14:43.280
that Primo thought about
this but always didn't do it

00:14:43.500 --> 00:14:44.730
because he figured he would have

00:14:44.730 --> 00:14:47.190
to pay his reporters a lot more money

00:14:47.190 --> 00:14:48.720
if they were on camera.

00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:51.390
So he looked at the contract
and discovered he didn't have

00:14:51.390 --> 00:14:54.540
to pay them one cent
more to do this thing,

00:14:54.540 --> 00:14:56.287
and the deal was set.

00:14:56.287 --> 00:15:00.720
- [John] "Eyewitness News"
debuted in September.

00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:02.820
- When the "Eyewitness
News" format came along,

00:15:02.820 --> 00:15:07.800
it put that reporter out in
the field to see firsthand

00:15:07.800 --> 00:15:11.010
and report firsthand back to the viewers.

00:15:11.010 --> 00:15:13.470
And that is so valuable

00:15:13.470 --> 00:15:16.050
because when they observe and see things

00:15:16.050 --> 00:15:19.590
and wind up reporting on
the air what they see,

00:15:19.590 --> 00:15:21.870
the viewer gets a firsthand
look at everything.

00:15:21.870 --> 00:15:23.520
- [John] As news director,

00:15:23.520 --> 00:15:26.160
Primo hired Trudy Haynes.

00:15:26.160 --> 00:15:28.920
- Dear Trudy, for the past three years.

00:15:28.920 --> 00:15:32.670
- [John] The first African
American TV reporter

00:15:32.670 --> 00:15:33.780
in a major market.

00:15:33.780 --> 00:15:37.023
- Those reporters who were reporting live,

00:15:38.460 --> 00:15:40.840
those were the first eyewitnesses

00:15:42.060 --> 00:15:42.893
to

00:15:44.850 --> 00:15:46.830
extraordinary things positively

00:15:46.830 --> 00:15:49.620
that happened in Philadelphia,

00:15:49.620 --> 00:15:53.190
a great Mummers Parade
that would be broadcast,

00:15:53.190 --> 00:15:57.480
or if it was something as
serious as the MOVE incident.

00:15:57.480 --> 00:15:59.820
- He had this amazing
ability to find people

00:15:59.820 --> 00:16:03.000
who were near-electrifying on television,

00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:04.710
who could relate to the audience

00:16:04.710 --> 00:16:06.360
and to whom the audience could relate.

00:16:06.360 --> 00:16:08.070
And they weren't the same person.

00:16:08.070 --> 00:16:10.350
They weren't all sort of cookie cutter,

00:16:10.350 --> 00:16:11.310
they all looked this way,

00:16:11.310 --> 00:16:12.270
they all talked this way,

00:16:12.270 --> 00:16:13.103
they all sounded.

00:16:13.103 --> 00:16:15.843
- I went to our general
manager and I said,

00:16:16.687 --> 00:16:18.570
"I'd like to do the news."

00:16:18.570 --> 00:16:20.677
And he looked at me and he said,

00:16:20.677 --> 00:16:24.630
"A woman will do news over my dead body.

00:16:24.630 --> 00:16:26.910
They are not authority figures,

00:16:26.910 --> 00:16:29.640
and they don't have good voices."

00:16:29.640 --> 00:16:33.750
- [John] Primo made Marciarose
Shestack the first woman

00:16:33.750 --> 00:16:37.530
to anchor a local evening newscast.

00:16:37.530 --> 00:16:39.840
- The diversity of what
he brought to television,

00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:42.420
certainly at Channel 3
when I was growing up,

00:16:42.420 --> 00:16:45.570
and you could see these
pioneers like Malcolm Poindexter

00:16:45.570 --> 00:16:47.133
or Trudy Haynes who were,

00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:48.900
if not the first,

00:16:48.900 --> 00:16:50.790
among the first African American reporters

00:16:50.790 --> 00:16:52.020
in Philadelphia television.

00:16:52.020 --> 00:16:53.460
- To be perfectly honest with you,

00:16:53.460 --> 00:16:57.480
it just made good sense
that we had no Black people

00:16:57.480 --> 00:16:59.850
on the staff so we went and found them.

00:16:59.850 --> 00:17:02.320
There was no ulterior motives, just

00:17:04.200 --> 00:17:05.550
doing the right thing.

00:17:05.550 --> 00:17:08.580
- [John] Primo had each
reporter following a beat,

00:17:08.580 --> 00:17:10.890
a topic specialty,

00:17:10.890 --> 00:17:12.963
just like the newspapers.

00:17:14.070 --> 00:17:17.099
- [Reporter] This is KYW-TV
Channel 3 Philadelphia.

00:17:17.099 --> 00:17:20.552
- We did that first at KYW Philadelphia

00:17:20.552 --> 00:17:22.260
when I was the news director,

00:17:22.260 --> 00:17:23.130
and believe it or not,

00:17:23.130 --> 00:17:26.610
that was 1965 which was
a very long time ago.

00:17:26.610 --> 00:17:28.960
It was new and different and

00:17:30.900 --> 00:17:31.780
just by

00:17:33.120 --> 00:17:35.310
the individuals

00:17:35.310 --> 00:17:37.530
showing their expertise,

00:17:37.530 --> 00:17:40.443
lifted the entire news programming.

00:17:41.910 --> 00:17:46.910
It was successful and has been
very successful ever since.

00:17:47.190 --> 00:17:50.040
In Philadelphia, you
can do anything you want

00:17:50.040 --> 00:17:51.630
and nobody knows the difference

00:17:51.630 --> 00:17:55.170
because nobody's paying attention.

00:17:55.170 --> 00:17:56.880
- [John] In 1968,

00:17:56.880 --> 00:18:01.863
ABC helped everyone notice Al Primo.

00:18:03.592 --> 00:18:06.037
- I mean, the consultants were saying,

00:18:06.037 --> 00:18:08.040
"You're up against "30 Rock",

00:18:08.040 --> 00:18:10.500
you know, the ice skating rink,

00:18:10.500 --> 00:18:13.906
and the Christmas tree
and all of these things."

00:18:13.906 --> 00:18:15.420
(Al chuckling)

00:18:15.420 --> 00:18:17.550
That's loyalty. That's community.

00:18:17.550 --> 00:18:18.828
They're locked.

00:18:19.672 --> 00:18:20.943
You can't beat them.

00:18:23.130 --> 00:18:27.510
That's what the remarkable
part about this story is.

00:18:27.510 --> 00:18:30.630
When I walked into 77 West 66th Street

00:18:30.630 --> 00:18:33.390
on my very first day it was just,

00:18:33.390 --> 00:18:35.160
terror struck me.

00:18:35.160 --> 00:18:36.900
We were dead last.

00:18:36.900 --> 00:18:38.790
It was the worst

00:18:38.790 --> 00:18:41.403
environment you could
ever possibly imagine.

00:18:42.390 --> 00:18:44.527
The campaign that they
had on the air was called,

00:18:44.527 --> 00:18:46.950
"Roger Grimsby and The Noisemakers".

00:18:46.950 --> 00:18:51.060
- Well, I preceded Al
Primo by a few months.

00:18:51.060 --> 00:18:53.490
But a year before I had been
asked to come to New York

00:18:53.490 --> 00:18:55.140
and I took one look at that newsroom

00:18:55.140 --> 00:18:57.720
and the program it produced,

00:18:57.720 --> 00:19:00.210
and said, "I'm really very
happy in San Francisco.

00:19:00.210 --> 00:19:01.260
I'll stay there."

00:19:01.260 --> 00:19:03.580
- We at WABC-TV had no,

00:19:03.580 --> 00:19:07.530
until we opened a newsroom
in October of 1962,

00:19:07.530 --> 00:19:09.090
we had no reputation, no history,

00:19:09.090 --> 00:19:13.320
no culture on which to build
a good, viable newsroom.

00:19:13.320 --> 00:19:15.707
NBC and CBS had been around a long time.

00:19:15.707 --> 00:19:17.910
We were just late to the game.

00:19:17.910 --> 00:19:19.080
- Now, when I did come,

00:19:19.080 --> 00:19:21.300
I came because I thought
my marriage was breaking up

00:19:21.300 --> 00:19:24.000
and I get moved out of the
house at company expensed.

00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:26.280
- Roger Grimsby used to
come to work every day

00:19:26.280 --> 00:19:29.731
in a brown suit and a brown
shirt with a white tie.

00:19:29.731 --> 00:19:31.710
He looked like Nathan Detroit.

00:19:31.710 --> 00:19:34.380
Every anchorman we put beside him started

00:19:34.380 --> 00:19:36.330
to sound like Roger Grimsby.

00:19:36.330 --> 00:19:37.743
- Well, allies.

00:19:38.610 --> 00:19:41.295
- Roger, you were so weak tonight.

00:19:41.295 --> 00:19:44.109
- And your ad-libs were dynamite on time.

00:19:44.109 --> 00:19:45.910
- JJ, I thought they worked too.

00:19:45.910 --> 00:19:49.290
- Yeah, you said so much without
actually saying anything.

00:19:49.290 --> 00:19:51.180
- Here, Roger. Anchovies.
- Thank you.

00:19:51.180 --> 00:19:52.675
- [Coworker] Hey everybody, Phil's back.

00:19:52.675 --> 00:19:54.793
- Phil.
- Hey. Zelda.

00:19:54.793 --> 00:19:55.959
Sam.

00:19:55.959 --> 00:19:56.792
Hey.

00:19:56.792 --> 00:19:58.709
- Boy, did we miss you.

00:20:00.330 --> 00:20:01.830
- Would you like my autograph?

00:20:03.630 --> 00:20:06.840
- [Narrator] Grimsby and
Beutel, together again.

00:20:06.840 --> 00:20:10.570
- It's not appreciated
or it's kind of distorted

00:20:12.030 --> 00:20:15.120
where people think this
so-called happy talk

00:20:15.120 --> 00:20:18.750
or people making idle chatter or whatever,

00:20:18.750 --> 00:20:20.100
is "Eyewitness News".

00:20:20.100 --> 00:20:23.102
That was not "Eyewitness News".

00:20:23.102 --> 00:20:28.102
- I could bring in a Geraldo
Rivera or Melba Tolliver

00:20:28.170 --> 00:20:29.003
or

00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:32.223
Rose Ann Scamardella,

00:20:33.180 --> 00:20:34.660
this quality of

00:20:35.760 --> 00:20:39.150
pure communication, not forced,

00:20:39.150 --> 00:20:42.240
not taught, but natural.

00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:46.440
And when you put a team
of natural reporters

00:20:46.440 --> 00:20:48.393
and anchors together,

00:20:49.560 --> 00:20:51.450
it's very, very powerful.

00:20:51.450 --> 00:20:52.283
- That

00:20:53.490 --> 00:20:55.320
risk-taking,

00:20:55.320 --> 00:20:56.880
that

00:20:56.880 --> 00:20:59.760
understanding that nothing
happens in the studio,

00:20:59.760 --> 00:21:02.340
it's all in the field.

00:21:02.340 --> 00:21:04.327
I tell that to young reporters,

00:21:04.327 --> 00:21:07.230
"Don't think that just
'cause you've got a bouffant

00:21:07.230 --> 00:21:12.230
or a good-looking suit that
you're gonna be a success.

00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:13.500
You've gotta get out there.

00:21:13.500 --> 00:21:14.913
You've gotta be a reporter.

00:21:17.434 --> 00:21:20.070
You've gotta go out there
and put your on the line.

00:21:20.070 --> 00:21:23.760
You've gotta risk your
physical safety and well-being

00:21:23.760 --> 00:21:25.740
and your peace of mind.

00:21:25.740 --> 00:21:27.870
Sometimes it's like
stepping off a building,

00:21:27.870 --> 00:21:29.220
you don't know where you're gonna land."

00:21:29.220 --> 00:21:33.024
- They just mixed and
it was instant, instant.

00:21:33.024 --> 00:21:36.090
The respectful for one
another came through.

00:21:36.090 --> 00:21:39.570
The joy of working together came through.

00:21:39.570 --> 00:21:42.480
And basically, this whole

00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:43.510
enterprise

00:21:44.760 --> 00:21:46.320
was

00:21:46.320 --> 00:21:47.940
fun to watch

00:21:47.940 --> 00:21:51.900
and knowledgeable to get the day's news.

00:21:51.900 --> 00:21:54.300
But everybody on that program looked like

00:21:54.300 --> 00:21:56.280
they liked being there.

00:21:56.280 --> 00:21:58.950
And that is a very important element

00:21:58.950 --> 00:22:03.270
that when I work as a
consultant to stations,

00:22:03.270 --> 00:22:05.430
is people wanna see

00:22:05.430 --> 00:22:08.250
everybody liking each other.

00:22:08.250 --> 00:22:09.790
Nobody wants to see

00:22:11.490 --> 00:22:13.170
strife,

00:22:13.170 --> 00:22:15.453
and the audience can pick that up.

00:22:16.500 --> 00:22:19.440
When someone doesn't get along well with

00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:21.210
another one of the personalities,

00:22:21.210 --> 00:22:22.650
that comes through.

00:22:22.650 --> 00:22:26.040
Television is a great truth teller

00:22:26.040 --> 00:22:28.590
and that has to be fixed.

00:22:28.590 --> 00:22:31.470
You can't have that and win.

00:22:31.470 --> 00:22:34.260
- What was supposed to be a
two-hour interview turned out

00:22:34.260 --> 00:22:35.850
to be a full day,

00:22:35.850 --> 00:22:38.730
and probably the best day of my life.

00:22:38.730 --> 00:22:39.570
Leaving the building,

00:22:39.570 --> 00:22:41.347
Don Dunphy said,

00:22:41.347 --> 00:22:42.390
"Are you interested

00:22:42.390 --> 00:22:45.237
in a summer replacement
desk assistant job?"

00:22:46.200 --> 00:22:48.810
There weren't interns then in 1971,

00:22:48.810 --> 00:22:50.967
so I immediately said, "Sure."

00:22:53.220 --> 00:22:55.530
Two weeks later I was back in the newsroom

00:22:55.530 --> 00:23:00.270
and I started my job at 18 years old

00:23:00.270 --> 00:23:03.210
as a summer replacement desk assistant,

00:23:03.210 --> 00:23:04.953
working for Al Primo.

00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:07.387
Al Primo said to me,

00:23:07.387 --> 00:23:08.850
"I'm gonna make you a star."

00:23:08.850 --> 00:23:09.940
- Al Primo

00:23:11.520 --> 00:23:12.810
had the big picture.

00:23:12.810 --> 00:23:15.750
I didn't know what the
big picture was at 24.

00:23:15.750 --> 00:23:17.493
I know now, in retrospect.

00:23:18.420 --> 00:23:20.490
I think it was a great picture.

00:23:20.490 --> 00:23:23.430
I think it's a wonderful
way to deliver news

00:23:23.430 --> 00:23:25.003
and for people to hear it,

00:23:26.613 --> 00:23:29.760
'cause I was like them.
(Rose Ann chuckling)

00:23:29.760 --> 00:23:31.170
I was like them.

00:23:31.170 --> 00:23:35.190
- When we were making
our move in New York,

00:23:35.190 --> 00:23:36.420
CBS

00:23:36.420 --> 00:23:37.597
decided,

00:23:37.597 --> 00:23:40.860
"Let's open up more
bureaus in Long Island.

00:23:40.860 --> 00:23:43.590
Let's get a helicopter."

00:23:43.590 --> 00:23:47.490
NBC was, "Let's bring the network guys

00:23:47.490 --> 00:23:49.440
in there and make them local."

00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:50.520
So you'd get Sander Vanocur,

00:23:50.520 --> 00:23:55.520
a big NBC correspondent being
the local anchor on WNBC.

00:23:56.580 --> 00:23:58.980
Well, of course we ate those guys up alive

00:23:58.980 --> 00:24:02.130
because we were New York

00:24:02.130 --> 00:24:05.610
and they were the
network and other things,

00:24:05.610 --> 00:24:07.593
and the audience knows that.

00:24:09.540 --> 00:24:12.210
Credibility is critical in any kind

00:24:12.210 --> 00:24:14.040
of a local operation.

00:24:14.040 --> 00:24:15.850
And, you have to

00:24:17.190 --> 00:24:19.140
signal your audience

00:24:19.140 --> 00:24:21.003
that you're a part of that community,

00:24:21.840 --> 00:24:24.960
and that's why covering the local parades,

00:24:24.960 --> 00:24:26.790
the local awards,

00:24:26.790 --> 00:24:28.982
the Kiwani's Speeches,

00:24:28.982 --> 00:24:31.320
the library events.

00:24:31.320 --> 00:24:32.970
And even though they're very,

00:24:32.970 --> 00:24:35.523
very difficult to cover,

00:24:36.660 --> 00:24:38.250
you have to find a way to do it

00:24:38.250 --> 00:24:40.020
and you have to do it very well.

00:24:40.020 --> 00:24:43.050
Dual anchors, better music,

00:24:43.050 --> 00:24:44.520
good set,

00:24:44.520 --> 00:24:46.110
and it worked.

00:24:46.110 --> 00:24:48.270
In 1968,

00:24:48.270 --> 00:24:50.490
the American Broadcasting Company

00:24:50.490 --> 00:24:53.820
could not get a half a rating point.

00:24:53.820 --> 00:24:57.150
And suddenly because of "Eyewitness News",

00:24:57.150 --> 00:25:00.483
the right people brought onto the set,

00:25:01.470 --> 00:25:05.490
a fierce dedication to
what I really believe is

00:25:05.490 --> 00:25:07.710
the true factor of success,

00:25:07.710 --> 00:25:11.043
adherence to the basic
principles of journalism.

00:25:13.020 --> 00:25:14.880
- Yeah, but didn't you
put them all in blazers?

00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:16.500
Why didn't you make them wear a seven?

00:25:16.500 --> 00:25:21.500
- Using all the tools of this
industry to its maximum use.

00:25:21.510 --> 00:25:24.630
And there is nothing
wrong with using the tools

00:25:24.630 --> 00:25:27.098
of our business to its maximum use.

00:25:27.098 --> 00:25:28.710
The unfortunate part is that some

00:25:28.710 --> 00:25:31.290
of those same tools are
used in Broadway shows

00:25:31.290 --> 00:25:33.120
and have got their lights, microphones,

00:25:33.120 --> 00:25:34.560
cameras, action.

00:25:34.560 --> 00:25:36.450
But there's nothing wrong with that.

00:25:36.450 --> 00:25:38.250
- This is the famous run.

00:25:38.250 --> 00:25:40.887
Every desk assistant at "Eyewitness News",

00:25:41.790 --> 00:25:46.091
we earned our track stripes
racing up the street here.

00:25:46.091 --> 00:25:49.470
And then one night we
found our desk assistant,

00:25:49.470 --> 00:25:53.373
Eric Ramey, flattened out below
one of those street signs.

00:25:55.440 --> 00:25:57.840
Avoiding pedestrians, hit the pole

00:25:57.840 --> 00:25:59.250
and cracked his head open and wound up

00:25:59.250 --> 00:26:01.050
at Roosevelt Hospital.

00:26:01.050 --> 00:26:04.890
- There's a sixth sense
that says, that's good,

00:26:04.890 --> 00:26:07.173
that's medium, that's bad,

00:26:08.100 --> 00:26:10.890
and how can we fix that?

00:26:10.890 --> 00:26:15.483
And sometimes it's easy and
sometimes it's difficult.

00:26:17.640 --> 00:26:21.003
We didn't become number
one on the first day.

00:26:21.990 --> 00:26:24.480
On the first day of "Eyewitness News",

00:26:24.480 --> 00:26:26.310
I knew that this was gonna

00:26:26.310 --> 00:26:28.786
be the number one news of New York.

00:26:28.786 --> 00:26:33.786
(TV switch clicking)
(upbeat piano music)

00:26:36.540 --> 00:26:37.410
- It's not hard to do.

00:26:37.410 --> 00:26:39.420
It's just this.
(fingers clicking)

00:26:39.420 --> 00:26:40.647
If you're a drummer,
any drummer can do it.

00:26:40.647 --> 00:26:42.330
But people are, like,
"Wow, how'd you do that?"

00:26:42.330 --> 00:26:43.324
And they try to do it with one hand.

00:26:43.324 --> 00:26:44.950
(upbeat piano music)

00:26:44.950 --> 00:26:47.033
It actually sounds like "Eyewitness News".

00:26:47.033 --> 00:26:50.200
(upbeat piano music)

00:26:51.037 --> 00:26:53.760
"Hello, I'm Roger Grimsby
and now on the news."

00:26:53.760 --> 00:26:55.110
- And you'd hear from people,

00:26:55.110 --> 00:26:56.550
and you'd hear from people
of different colors,

00:26:56.550 --> 00:26:58.050
different ages, different backgrounds.

00:26:58.050 --> 00:26:59.220
They'd be interviewing people in a taxi

00:26:59.220 --> 00:27:00.570
or a cop on the street.

00:27:00.570 --> 00:27:02.100
We'd even interview a bus driver.

00:27:02.100 --> 00:27:05.610
- I was in New York in '74
to '78 and I was at WCBS.

00:27:05.610 --> 00:27:07.050
Of course, CBS,

00:27:07.050 --> 00:27:08.910
the Tiffany of the Broadcast Station.

00:27:08.910 --> 00:27:10.620
- [Reporter] Channel 2, New York.

00:27:10.620 --> 00:27:12.930
- The home of Walter Cronkite, of course.

00:27:12.930 --> 00:27:17.157
And so we felt like we had
a standard to live up to.

00:27:17.157 --> 00:27:19.410
But one of the things I noticed was

00:27:19.410 --> 00:27:22.020
that every night at about 10:30,

00:27:22.020 --> 00:27:24.330
the news producers would look for the copy

00:27:24.330 --> 00:27:27.960
of the "New York Times" at the front door.

00:27:27.960 --> 00:27:29.790
And they'd grab the "New York Times"

00:27:29.790 --> 00:27:31.800
and run into the newsroom,

00:27:31.800 --> 00:27:35.220
look at the front page
and compare that rundown

00:27:35.220 --> 00:27:37.080
on the newspaper front page

00:27:37.080 --> 00:27:41.040
to what their rundown was
for the 11 o'clock news.

00:27:41.040 --> 00:27:42.300
And it turns out,

00:27:42.300 --> 00:27:44.760
meanwhile across town,

00:27:44.760 --> 00:27:45.593
ABC

00:27:46.440 --> 00:27:50.188
Channel 7 was probably looking
at the "New York Post",

00:27:50.188 --> 00:27:52.413
a different philosophy altogether.

00:27:53.310 --> 00:27:57.210
And it's probably why they
were number one in that market.

00:27:57.210 --> 00:27:59.610
They had the "Eyewitness News" concept

00:27:59.610 --> 00:28:01.500
and it was going gangbusters.

00:28:01.500 --> 00:28:03.780
- The look, the music,

00:28:03.780 --> 00:28:05.280
the seven.

00:28:05.280 --> 00:28:08.910
- Our personalities were
pushed through that screen

00:28:08.910 --> 00:28:13.023
in a way that the other
guys didn't really get it.

00:28:15.304 --> 00:28:19.560
Then they finally figured it out in pieces

00:28:19.560 --> 00:28:22.320
and you got a piece
here and a piece there.

00:28:22.320 --> 00:28:23.880
- When there was a lull or not,

00:28:23.880 --> 00:28:26.167
but when we needed an
energy break I would say,

00:28:26.167 --> 00:28:27.240
"Okay everybody, let's go."

00:28:27.240 --> 00:28:30.945
I'd crank up the radios and
we would do a disco moment.

00:28:30.945 --> 00:28:32.359
(Joe chuckling)

00:28:32.359 --> 00:28:33.192
(TV switch clicking)
(TV buzzing)

00:28:33.192 --> 00:28:34.561
- It just goes to show you,

00:28:34.561 --> 00:28:36.246
it's always something.

00:28:36.246 --> 00:28:38.162
If it's not one thing, it's another.

00:28:38.162 --> 00:28:39.390
- I may not be the best flipper in town,

00:28:39.390 --> 00:28:41.010
but when it comes to eating,

00:28:41.010 --> 00:28:42.030
I'm number one.

00:28:42.030 --> 00:28:43.380
Rose Ann Scamardella,

00:28:43.380 --> 00:28:45.360
Channel 7 "Eyewitness News".

00:28:45.360 --> 00:28:46.710
- The guys with the motorcycles that used

00:28:46.710 --> 00:28:48.360
to drive you back, the couriers.

00:28:48.360 --> 00:28:49.717
I get a phone call.

00:28:49.717 --> 00:28:51.886
"Did you see what was on television?

00:28:51.886 --> 00:28:53.412
You want me to take care of her?"

00:28:53.412 --> 00:28:55.560
(Rose Ann laughing)

00:28:55.560 --> 00:28:57.943
I said, "I think it's wonderful."

00:28:57.943 --> 00:28:58.890
(Rose Ann chuckling)

00:28:58.890 --> 00:29:00.660
And I think I went in the next day

00:29:00.660 --> 00:29:02.073
and negotiated my contract,

00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:04.830
renegotiated my contract.

00:29:04.830 --> 00:29:07.298
She says it was just my name.

00:29:07.298 --> 00:29:09.051
I mean, I didn't have hair like that.

00:29:09.051 --> 00:29:10.110
(Rose Ann chuckling)

00:29:10.110 --> 00:29:14.190
You can see I have not a
curl on my hair at all.

00:29:14.190 --> 00:29:16.260
She told me it was because
they were sitting around,

00:29:16.260 --> 00:29:17.670
they wanted to do a character,

00:29:17.670 --> 00:29:18.723
a news character.

00:29:19.800 --> 00:29:22.887
She said, "That Scamardella
is quite a last name.

00:29:22.887 --> 00:29:24.840
That's quite a handle."

00:29:24.840 --> 00:29:26.010
So they came up with,

00:29:26.010 --> 00:29:26.983
from the song.

00:29:26.983 --> 00:29:29.446
♪ Banananana ♪

00:29:29.446 --> 00:29:31.243
And that's how it came.

00:29:31.243 --> 00:29:34.743
(news introduction music)

00:29:35.850 --> 00:29:39.270
- During the time Primo was at WABC,

00:29:39.270 --> 00:29:42.810
they had enlisted consulting
companies McHugh and Hoffman.

00:29:42.810 --> 00:29:45.090
They had the social class diamond

00:29:45.090 --> 00:29:49.080
and they would teach the news directors,

00:29:49.080 --> 00:29:54.080
you can't appeal to that 15%
in the upper middle class.

00:29:54.360 --> 00:29:56.520
You've gotta go to the middle majority,

00:29:56.520 --> 00:29:59.163
to the heart of the diamond
where the people are.

00:30:00.120 --> 00:30:01.860
- [John] In 1972,

00:30:01.860 --> 00:30:06.860
ABC made Primo the head
of its own stations

00:30:07.140 --> 00:30:10.027
in the nation's biggest markets.

00:30:10.027 --> 00:30:12.270
"Eyewitness News" became

00:30:12.270 --> 00:30:15.434
the industry's dominant news format.

00:30:15.434 --> 00:30:17.130
(upbeat instrumental music)

00:30:17.130 --> 00:30:20.250
- It really was Roone and Al Primo

00:30:20.250 --> 00:30:22.050
who changed

00:30:22.050 --> 00:30:24.157
the fate of ABC,

00:30:25.168 --> 00:30:28.380
and then in '73, '74,

00:30:28.380 --> 00:30:31.200
the television network
caught up with Roone

00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:34.915
and with the OWN television
station division.

00:30:34.915 --> 00:30:39.498
(upbeat instrumental music continues)

00:30:48.281 --> 00:30:51.031
- [John] Primo left ABC in 1976.

00:30:54.030 --> 00:30:56.670
His format was now in the hands

00:30:56.670 --> 00:31:00.390
of news managers at stations large

00:31:00.390 --> 00:31:03.063
and small from coast-to-coast.

00:31:04.380 --> 00:31:05.700
- This was the,

00:31:05.700 --> 00:31:06.533
so we used to joke,

00:31:06.533 --> 00:31:09.990
the world headquarters
of Primo News Service.

00:31:09.990 --> 00:31:12.990
And a lot of what you
see on television today

00:31:12.990 --> 00:31:16.050
in the 21st century was
created in this office

00:31:16.050 --> 00:31:19.170
or on the second floor of
a nondescript building,

00:31:19.170 --> 00:31:22.590
above a pizzeria and a coffee shop.

00:31:22.590 --> 00:31:25.020
Television history and a lot of the DNA

00:31:25.020 --> 00:31:29.340
of local television news
happened behind this door.

00:31:29.340 --> 00:31:31.830
- [John] In May, 1977,

00:31:31.830 --> 00:31:35.760
the Columbia Journalism
Review took local TV news

00:31:35.760 --> 00:31:40.587
to task with the article,
"Eyewitless News".

00:31:41.610 --> 00:31:44.820
- As hurtful it as it can be,

00:31:44.820 --> 00:31:47.490
because you're talking about many,

00:31:47.490 --> 00:31:49.650
many people devoting their lives

00:31:49.650 --> 00:31:54.200
and their lives to
covering news dangerously

00:31:56.220 --> 00:31:58.830
and with great vigor,

00:31:58.830 --> 00:32:03.367
all of a sudden somebody looking
at the whole picture says,

00:32:03.367 --> 00:32:04.890
"It's happy talk,

00:32:04.890 --> 00:32:06.540
it's this and it's that,"

00:32:06.540 --> 00:32:07.900
and it's because

00:32:09.823 --> 00:32:14.823
their job as critics is
to find those weak spots.

00:32:15.480 --> 00:32:17.940
And some of it I guess was helpful.

00:32:17.940 --> 00:32:22.200
- As successful as "Eyewitness
News" was in New York City,

00:32:22.200 --> 00:32:25.170
the network resisted it.

00:32:25.170 --> 00:32:26.700
And I know that personally

00:32:26.700 --> 00:32:31.140
because I was a relief writer
on the weekends working

00:32:31.140 --> 00:32:33.750
with Ted Koppel and Bill Beutel,

00:32:33.750 --> 00:32:37.740
'cause Bill Beutel also did
network news on the weekends.

00:32:37.740 --> 00:32:39.450
And I would write for "Network News".

00:32:39.450 --> 00:32:41.640
I write for "Eyewitness
News" during the week

00:32:41.640 --> 00:32:44.490
and write for "Network
News" on the weekend.

00:32:44.490 --> 00:32:47.700
And I was constantly having
my copy bounce back to me,

00:32:47.700 --> 00:32:48.960
saying, "Alan,

00:32:48.960 --> 00:32:50.070
we don't talk about death

00:32:50.070 --> 00:32:51.690
and destruction raining from the sky.

00:32:51.690 --> 00:32:54.570
Can you just simply say
that they bombed Laos?"

00:32:54.570 --> 00:32:55.470
I said, "Yeah,

00:32:55.470 --> 00:32:57.030
but that's what we said yesterday.

00:32:57.030 --> 00:32:58.747
Don't you wanna do it differently?"

00:32:58.747 --> 00:33:00.270
"Well, that's how we do it in local."

00:33:00.270 --> 00:33:01.920
I said, "Well that's why you're in local."

00:33:01.920 --> 00:33:03.877
- We always tell the television stations,

00:33:03.877 --> 00:33:06.210
"When the newspapers write
about you and they say,

00:33:06.210 --> 00:33:07.530
'Oh, it's all flash and trash,'

00:33:07.530 --> 00:33:10.350
when your competitors talk about you,

00:33:10.350 --> 00:33:11.700
just do your job better.

00:33:11.700 --> 00:33:13.410
Don't even acknowledge them."

00:33:13.410 --> 00:33:15.810
And so Al just never acknowledged all

00:33:15.810 --> 00:33:19.500
of that criticism because he knew,

00:33:19.500 --> 00:33:21.390
and history showed then

00:33:21.390 --> 00:33:24.393
that "Eyewitness News" was a success.

00:33:25.440 --> 00:33:26.557
As Al would always say,

00:33:26.557 --> 00:33:28.917
"Only the audience liked it."

00:33:30.600 --> 00:33:33.810
- Yeah, I knew Walter

00:33:33.810 --> 00:33:35.640
and I knew Al,

00:33:35.640 --> 00:33:37.620
both of them to some degree,

00:33:37.620 --> 00:33:41.943
and they never really
mentioned each other directly.

00:33:43.850 --> 00:33:48.060
Essentially, what
happened during the heyday

00:33:48.060 --> 00:33:52.800
of Cronkite's tenure in
the early to mid-1970s,

00:33:52.800 --> 00:33:55.980
that was the period when "Eyewitness News"

00:33:55.980 --> 00:33:58.410
was also sort of in its heyday.

00:33:58.410 --> 00:34:00.300
It was accelerating.

00:34:00.300 --> 00:34:04.170
It was getting vastly larger audiences

00:34:04.170 --> 00:34:07.110
than the network "Nightly Newscast".

00:34:07.110 --> 00:34:11.190
It eventually led into a
dispute between Cronkite

00:34:11.190 --> 00:34:13.380
and news consultants,

00:34:13.380 --> 00:34:15.420
Primo among them.

00:34:15.420 --> 00:34:17.160
- [Craig] In this speech,

00:34:17.160 --> 00:34:19.020
you ripped into the consultants.

00:34:19.020 --> 00:34:22.380
Do you recall what led up to that?

00:34:22.380 --> 00:34:24.330
- [Walter] What I could
see mostly in New York

00:34:24.330 --> 00:34:27.993
and then was seeing as I
traveled around the country,

00:34:30.480 --> 00:34:33.046
the "Eyewitness News"

00:34:33.046 --> 00:34:34.530
(Walter smirking)

00:34:34.530 --> 00:34:35.673
came into being.

00:34:37.923 --> 00:34:40.230
Some of the instructions that I saw

00:34:40.230 --> 00:34:43.740
from consultants to local station people,

00:34:43.740 --> 00:34:48.740
it said that you had to have
action in the first 25 seconds.

00:34:50.340 --> 00:34:52.880
There had to be some action of some kind.

00:34:52.880 --> 00:34:56.110
It just seemed to me to totally demean

00:34:58.547 --> 00:35:03.547
the whole ethic of news
gathering and dissemination.

00:35:03.708 --> 00:35:05.700
(TV switch clicking)
(electricity buzzing)

00:35:05.700 --> 00:35:09.900
You and I started as young
people many years ago.

00:35:09.900 --> 00:35:12.000
There were no consultants, were there?

00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:13.890
How did you find out what was gonna work

00:35:13.890 --> 00:35:15.300
in Philadelphia, because it worked?

00:35:15.300 --> 00:35:16.300
- Well, I think that

00:35:18.660 --> 00:35:23.130
what we tried to do was
to get a good grasp,

00:35:23.130 --> 00:35:25.890
a good feel of the community
we were working in,

00:35:25.890 --> 00:35:28.590
and apply all the years of training

00:35:28.590 --> 00:35:29.910
and plying the trade,

00:35:29.910 --> 00:35:30.810
so to speak,

00:35:30.810 --> 00:35:32.610
to that specific and particular area.

00:35:32.610 --> 00:35:34.510
- [Craig] The thing that I found

00:35:35.910 --> 00:35:37.620
that impresses me is the fact

00:35:37.620 --> 00:35:40.170
that if you go back to
what they did in the '70s,

00:35:40.170 --> 00:35:42.870
which is really a critical period,

00:35:42.870 --> 00:35:47.870
that they did not give that
many recommendations to clients,

00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:49.800
to newsrooms with regard to news.

00:35:49.800 --> 00:35:52.920
Clearly, what they did do
is they instituted formats,

00:35:52.920 --> 00:35:54.270
like "Eyewitness News",

00:35:54.270 --> 00:35:57.723
and this dissents from a
lot of research they did.

00:35:57.723 --> 00:36:00.450
A lot of this is class-oriented.

00:36:00.450 --> 00:36:03.780
They established the lower
end of the middle class

00:36:03.780 --> 00:36:05.100
and the lower class,

00:36:05.100 --> 00:36:08.190
and what they did is
they designed a format

00:36:08.190 --> 00:36:10.380
that these people said they wanted.

00:36:10.380 --> 00:36:13.590
You can see the value in doing that?

00:36:13.590 --> 00:36:15.930
- [Walter] No, none at all whatsoever.

00:36:15.930 --> 00:36:17.820
None whatsoever.

00:36:17.820 --> 00:36:19.640
I abhor this suggestion.

00:36:19.640 --> 00:36:22.800
It gives me goose pimples
just to think about it.

00:36:22.800 --> 00:36:24.770
- I looked historically at all

00:36:24.770 --> 00:36:27.000
of the industries in this country,

00:36:27.000 --> 00:36:28.980
the basic industries,

00:36:28.980 --> 00:36:30.480
the automotive business,

00:36:30.480 --> 00:36:31.380
the steel business,

00:36:31.380 --> 00:36:32.550
the coal business,

00:36:32.550 --> 00:36:37.320
all of these basic businesses
employ consultants,

00:36:37.320 --> 00:36:38.880
and why?

00:36:38.880 --> 00:36:41.670
Because a consultant can come in

00:36:41.670 --> 00:36:45.960
with a objective, independent view,

00:36:45.960 --> 00:36:48.319
no political ax to grind.

00:36:48.319 --> 00:36:50.800
He doesn't have to worry about

00:36:51.960 --> 00:36:53.613
offending the boss.

00:36:54.750 --> 00:36:55.830
I think the bottom line is,

00:36:55.830 --> 00:37:00.830
I think that if every television
station had a very strong,

00:37:00.960 --> 00:37:04.860
committed, experienced news director,

00:37:04.860 --> 00:37:05.693
then there might not

00:37:05.693 --> 00:37:08.310
be such a tremendous need for consultants.

00:37:08.310 --> 00:37:12.840
- What's interesting about the
Walter Cronkite era at CBS,

00:37:12.840 --> 00:37:14.430
I don't know if he ever knew this,

00:37:14.430 --> 00:37:18.090
and certainly the statute of
limitations has expired but

00:37:18.090 --> 00:37:21.150
CBS hired Primo News Service

00:37:21.150 --> 00:37:23.970
to consult some of its owned

00:37:23.970 --> 00:37:25.950
and operated television stations,

00:37:25.950 --> 00:37:29.430
which by that time were
in the ratings seller.

00:37:29.430 --> 00:37:32.190
There's that infamous story, it's true,

00:37:32.190 --> 00:37:33.510
where Bill Paley,

00:37:33.510 --> 00:37:34.957
the founder of CBS, says,

00:37:34.957 --> 00:37:37.110
"Why can't we have 'Eyewitness News',"

00:37:37.110 --> 00:37:38.610
as they're getting their clocks cleaned

00:37:38.610 --> 00:37:41.250
in all the five OHNO markets?

00:37:41.250 --> 00:37:45.960
So Dr. Frank Stanton calls
Albert T. Primo Jr. one day,

00:37:45.960 --> 00:37:49.020
and said, "Why don't you
come over for breakfast?"

00:37:49.020 --> 00:37:52.920
So he does and they hit it off.

00:37:52.920 --> 00:37:55.207
But in the way CBS did business, said,

00:37:55.207 --> 00:37:58.740
"We want you to talk to
the head of CBS News,

00:37:58.740 --> 00:38:00.960
who didn't like "Eyewitness News".

00:38:00.960 --> 00:38:02.763
Never called Al.

00:38:05.640 --> 00:38:09.693
The head of CBS News never called Al.

00:38:13.620 --> 00:38:17.850
- [John] Every innovation
builds on prior pioneering.

00:38:17.850 --> 00:38:22.850
When Primo's "Eyewitness News"
became the industry standard,

00:38:23.340 --> 00:38:27.840
competitors wanted a
leg up on the innovator.

00:38:27.840 --> 00:38:30.567
- WPVI was in first place at 11 o'clock

00:38:30.567 --> 00:38:32.160
and at 6 o'clock.

00:38:32.160 --> 00:38:34.470
The electricity around
"Eyewitness News" sort

00:38:34.470 --> 00:38:36.390
of continued among people,

00:38:36.390 --> 00:38:38.820
that you couldn't go out of our studios

00:38:38.820 --> 00:38:42.540
on Independence Mall and not
be approached by school kids

00:38:42.540 --> 00:38:45.690
or visitors from other
neighborhoods who'd come down

00:38:45.690 --> 00:38:47.160
to the Liberty Bell,

00:38:47.160 --> 00:38:49.650
and there was Channel 3 right next to it.

00:38:49.650 --> 00:38:54.193
But the numbers were
close but not quite there.

00:38:54.193 --> 00:38:57.693
(news introduction music)

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:02.970
- [Introducer] Action
News, Delaware Valley's

00:39:02.970 --> 00:39:06.603
leading news program with
Steve Levy and Bob Hite.

00:39:07.782 --> 00:39:12.060
(TV introduction music continues)

00:39:12.060 --> 00:39:12.893
- I was

00:39:15.870 --> 00:39:20.870
terribly disappointed in
hearing about "Action News".

00:39:21.450 --> 00:39:22.833
And they did,

00:39:23.850 --> 00:39:25.260
I guess,

00:39:25.260 --> 00:39:27.900
the only thing

00:39:27.900 --> 00:39:30.090
you could possibly think of

00:39:30.090 --> 00:39:32.757
to crack this beat system
and all the rest of it,

00:39:32.757 --> 00:39:36.780
and that is just flood them
with every story that moves

00:39:36.780 --> 00:39:39.660
and everything is 15, 20 seconds.

00:39:39.660 --> 00:39:42.600
But you know you turned on that newscast,

00:39:42.600 --> 00:39:46.110
you've seen every single
thing that happened

00:39:46.110 --> 00:39:47.970
that day in that city.

00:39:47.970 --> 00:39:50.190
- [John] But the biggest charge leveled

00:39:50.190 --> 00:39:54.030
at local TV news is one
we still hear today,

00:39:54.030 --> 00:39:57.120
sensationalized crime coverage

00:39:57.120 --> 00:40:00.930
perpetuates racial stereotypes.

00:40:00.930 --> 00:40:04.080
- The way that "Eyewitness"
and "Action News",

00:40:04.080 --> 00:40:07.470
particularly, covered Black and Brown

00:40:07.470 --> 00:40:11.400
and low-income communities
was kind of predatory.

00:40:11.400 --> 00:40:13.890
It was stereotypical.

00:40:13.890 --> 00:40:15.900
But also a big part of the argument,

00:40:15.900 --> 00:40:17.010
well, it's actually fact,

00:40:17.010 --> 00:40:20.370
is that these formats both
started in Philadelphia.

00:40:20.370 --> 00:40:22.980
- Yes, there is a superficiality

00:40:22.980 --> 00:40:26.370
to a 90-second broadcast of any crime.

00:40:26.370 --> 00:40:27.566
And it's very difficult.

00:40:27.566 --> 00:40:29.520
You're not talking about relationships

00:40:29.520 --> 00:40:32.520
or motivation or context.

00:40:32.520 --> 00:40:34.170
Like the weather,

00:40:34.170 --> 00:40:37.140
people wanna know what's
happening that day

00:40:37.140 --> 00:40:40.830
or that night and how it affects them

00:40:40.830 --> 00:40:42.030
and how it worries them.

00:40:43.917 --> 00:40:46.020
Would I like

00:40:46.020 --> 00:40:47.730
news to be

00:40:47.730 --> 00:40:48.670
more

00:40:49.740 --> 00:40:50.880
probing and thoughtful?

00:40:50.880 --> 00:40:53.550
Of course, but you can't do

00:40:53.550 --> 00:40:56.280
an award-winning essay every time.

00:40:56.280 --> 00:40:57.750
- [John] There's an emphasis now

00:40:57.750 --> 00:41:02.370
in American media called
solutions journalism,

00:41:02.370 --> 00:41:07.020
the goal, use evidence to
address social problems.

00:41:07.020 --> 00:41:11.370
WABC's "Eyewitness News" showed the world

00:41:11.370 --> 00:41:15.593
how to do solutions
journalism in the early 1970s.

00:41:17.370 --> 00:41:20.160
- To this day it remains
almost like our North Star

00:41:20.160 --> 00:41:23.580
in terms of serious
investigative journalism

00:41:23.580 --> 00:41:25.860
that not only is a good
piece of journalism,

00:41:25.860 --> 00:41:29.460
but actually changes the
laws, changes society,

00:41:29.460 --> 00:41:31.560
improves people's lives.

00:41:31.560 --> 00:41:33.090
- The world's largest institution

00:41:33.090 --> 00:41:35.700
for the population we then
described as mentally retarded,

00:41:35.700 --> 00:41:37.650
now developmentally disabled,

00:41:37.650 --> 00:41:39.860
'cause we don't use the R word now,

00:41:39.860 --> 00:41:41.430
but they went to work there.

00:41:41.430 --> 00:41:42.870
They were horrified by what they saw,

00:41:42.870 --> 00:41:46.380
and it was those people who tipped me,

00:41:46.380 --> 00:41:47.213
and he gave me the key,

00:41:47.213 --> 00:41:48.046
I have the key here,

00:41:48.046 --> 00:41:50.730
to building number six and I went in.

00:41:50.730 --> 00:41:53.250
And then I called Al and told him

00:41:53.250 --> 00:41:54.780
what we had on Staten Island there.

00:41:54.780 --> 00:41:56.500
And Al didn't come out

00:41:58.424 --> 00:42:01.050
on the scene much,

00:42:01.050 --> 00:42:03.538
but he was the general

00:42:03.538 --> 00:42:04.920
or the admiral I should say,

00:42:04.920 --> 00:42:06.126
of the ship.

00:42:06.126 --> 00:42:08.550
That ship was run by Al Primo.

00:42:08.550 --> 00:42:12.810
Al Primo screened virtually
everything of significance

00:42:12.810 --> 00:42:14.700
that we were putting on the air.

00:42:14.700 --> 00:42:18.900
He personally briefed and
debriefed the correspondence.

00:42:18.900 --> 00:42:22.320
And while he may not have
been the reason I went

00:42:22.320 --> 00:42:23.610
to Staten Island to do the story,

00:42:23.610 --> 00:42:25.983
he gave me the green light.

00:42:27.025 --> 00:42:29.193
They trusted me enough for that.

00:42:31.230 --> 00:42:33.273
The rest is literally history.

00:42:34.830 --> 00:42:37.170
- When I was thinking about Bernard,

00:42:37.170 --> 00:42:42.170
if Al hadn't hired Geraldo and
Geraldo hadn't been Geraldo,

00:42:43.620 --> 00:42:45.870
Bernard would be dead,

00:42:45.870 --> 00:42:48.210
as would all those other
children of Willowbrook.

00:42:48.210 --> 00:42:49.920
- We had a motorcycle courier

00:42:49.920 --> 00:42:51.600
who took the film from Staten Island,

00:42:51.600 --> 00:42:53.280
the 45-minute drive to Manhattan,

00:42:53.280 --> 00:42:55.830
and the 45-minute process
to develop the film.

00:42:55.830 --> 00:42:58.821
Then you physically edited the film.

00:42:58.821 --> 00:43:00.685
And we got it on the news

00:43:00.685 --> 00:43:02.614
and we made the decision that first day,

00:43:02.614 --> 00:43:04.290
Al and Management did,

00:43:04.290 --> 00:43:07.770
to blur the faces of the inmates,

00:43:07.770 --> 00:43:09.480
the patients, the clients.

00:43:09.480 --> 00:43:11.133
But the impact was explosive.

00:43:12.090 --> 00:43:15.390
I submit that it is the most important

00:43:15.390 --> 00:43:18.570
local news story ever done.

00:43:18.570 --> 00:43:20.520
- Innovators don't look backwards.

00:43:20.520 --> 00:43:21.990
They learn from what works,

00:43:21.990 --> 00:43:23.550
what didn't work,

00:43:23.550 --> 00:43:25.080
and they're onto the next mountain

00:43:25.080 --> 00:43:27.210
while someone is still
trying to climb the mountain

00:43:27.210 --> 00:43:29.080
that you've ascended and taken.

00:43:29.080 --> 00:43:34.080
(upbeat instrumental music)
(keyboard buttons clicking)

00:43:38.488 --> 00:43:40.655
It was the spring of 1980,

00:43:41.640 --> 00:43:43.920
and AT&T

00:43:43.920 --> 00:43:46.660
calls Al Primo

00:43:46.660 --> 00:43:48.037
and AT&T said,

00:43:48.037 --> 00:43:49.750
"We have an idea

00:43:51.030 --> 00:43:53.073
and we would like you to execute it.

00:43:54.030 --> 00:43:58.770
And the idea is to do a 60-second newscast

00:43:58.770 --> 00:44:00.300
on the telephone."

00:44:00.300 --> 00:44:02.490
So Al Primo and I went to work on that.

00:44:02.490 --> 00:44:05.460
In fact, he and I recorded

00:44:05.460 --> 00:44:09.240
as co-anchors, the first
60-second newscast.

00:44:09.240 --> 00:44:11.820
So we present it to AT&T.

00:44:11.820 --> 00:44:13.170
They love it.

00:44:13.170 --> 00:44:17.910
Somehow, CBS learns about this project.

00:44:17.910 --> 00:44:21.700
CBS sees a 60-second
newscast on a telephone

00:44:22.830 --> 00:44:24.093
as competition.

00:44:25.050 --> 00:44:27.637
And CBS tells AT&T,

00:44:27.637 --> 00:44:31.590
"If you do this deal with Al Primo,

00:44:31.590 --> 00:44:32.650
we'll find

00:44:33.510 --> 00:44:37.510
an alternate way to distribute our network

00:44:38.700 --> 00:44:42.180
to 210 affiliates in the United States."

00:44:42.180 --> 00:44:43.680
And that was really in the infancy

00:44:43.680 --> 00:44:46.740
of satellite-delivered broadcasts as well.

00:44:46.740 --> 00:44:48.090
That scared AT&T.

00:44:48.090 --> 00:44:49.950
That's a big chunk of money,

00:44:49.950 --> 00:44:51.840
even for AT&T,

00:44:51.840 --> 00:44:54.363
and so the project never
got off the ground.

00:44:55.470 --> 00:44:56.303
And Al,

00:44:57.390 --> 00:44:59.970
to almost the day he died,

00:44:59.970 --> 00:45:03.030
Al and I would talk about
the one that got away.

00:45:03.030 --> 00:45:04.770
- When you go around the country,

00:45:04.770 --> 00:45:07.980
many of the local people are young,

00:45:07.980 --> 00:45:09.619
fresh out of school,

00:45:09.619 --> 00:45:12.510
fresh out of anchor training school.

00:45:12.510 --> 00:45:14.820
And from the day one,

00:45:14.820 --> 00:45:19.080
from my earliest days working
at KDKA in Pittsburgh,

00:45:19.080 --> 00:45:22.560
I was taught that you
could have a great script

00:45:22.560 --> 00:45:25.650
but the person who's
delivering that script

00:45:25.650 --> 00:45:26.770
has to be

00:45:28.110 --> 00:45:29.580
qualified,

00:45:29.580 --> 00:45:31.470
has to have

00:45:31.470 --> 00:45:32.303
the

00:45:33.300 --> 00:45:38.300
personality that gives
that script meaning.

00:45:38.340 --> 00:45:40.710
It's the it factor,

00:45:40.710 --> 00:45:42.090
and

00:45:42.090 --> 00:45:44.613
it's very hard to find that.

00:45:46.500 --> 00:45:49.743
It applies across the whole spectrum.

00:45:50.910 --> 00:45:53.010
Broadcast journalism,

00:45:53.010 --> 00:45:54.360
movies,

00:45:54.360 --> 00:45:55.293
series,

00:45:57.210 --> 00:46:00.300
the people that come
through are the people

00:46:00.300 --> 00:46:04.060
that have that certain
quality that's very difficult

00:46:05.807 --> 00:46:10.200
to isolate but it comes
through when you see them.

00:46:10.200 --> 00:46:12.580
And I've been fortunate

00:46:13.645 --> 00:46:14.950
in being taught

00:46:18.378 --> 00:46:22.075
to find these people and to
concentrate on these people.

00:46:22.075 --> 00:46:24.030
(news introduction music)

00:46:24.030 --> 00:46:28.440
- [John] After ABC, Al
Primo continued to innovate

00:46:28.440 --> 00:46:32.989
and nurture new generations
of television news.

00:46:32.989 --> 00:46:36.368
(news introduction music continues)

00:46:36.368 --> 00:46:38.285
- As a 15-year-old who,

00:46:39.210 --> 00:46:40.650
like I said, no experience,

00:46:40.650 --> 00:46:43.410
had never been in the field whatsoever,

00:46:43.410 --> 00:46:45.540
just the idea that suddenly,

00:46:45.540 --> 00:46:48.720
just as quickly as we were
brought onto the team,

00:46:48.720 --> 00:46:50.970
we were valued as a part of the team.

00:46:50.970 --> 00:46:54.624
And that confidence that it gave us,

00:46:54.624 --> 00:46:56.820
I genuinely believe is the reason

00:46:56.820 --> 00:46:58.830
why we're still able to do it to this day.

00:46:58.830 --> 00:47:01.770
I never forgot that
feeling of being valued.

00:47:01.770 --> 00:47:05.700
- What was so significant
to me is that for him,

00:47:05.700 --> 00:47:10.350
news was about information
and connection, right.

00:47:10.350 --> 00:47:11.730
If you think about all of it,

00:47:11.730 --> 00:47:14.610
from "Eyewitness News" and being there

00:47:14.610 --> 00:47:16.110
with the people going through it,

00:47:16.110 --> 00:47:21.110
and then his diversity on
news programs, was connection,

00:47:22.080 --> 00:47:25.050
is letting people see
themselves and be reflected,

00:47:25.050 --> 00:47:27.540
and then to start "Teen Kids News" so

00:47:27.540 --> 00:47:29.970
that kids could be reported by kids,

00:47:29.970 --> 00:47:32.190
and again, feel connected.

00:47:32.190 --> 00:47:36.150
So that to me is so
significant in what he did.

00:47:36.150 --> 00:47:38.040
- He would let us try our ideas.

00:47:38.040 --> 00:47:39.480
He would let us cover that event,

00:47:39.480 --> 00:47:40.350
do that interview,

00:47:40.350 --> 00:47:42.513
reach out about covering a topic.

00:47:43.530 --> 00:47:44.760
And so I'll just,

00:47:44.760 --> 00:47:45.810
I'll never forget that.

00:47:45.810 --> 00:47:47.670
- We stayed in touch
so much over the years,

00:47:47.670 --> 00:47:52.050
and I gotta say he was always
so encouraging and supportive.

00:47:52.050 --> 00:47:55.500
In fact, I still have
Al' number in my phone

00:47:55.500 --> 00:47:58.230
and I think that that
is just such a reminder

00:47:58.230 --> 00:48:00.810
to each of us to continue
paying it forward

00:48:00.810 --> 00:48:01.960
in the way that he did.

00:48:03.690 --> 00:48:05.160
I mean, he was such a legend,

00:48:05.160 --> 00:48:08.850
but still always made
himself so accessible

00:48:08.850 --> 00:48:12.720
and so ready to give
advice, encouragement,

00:48:12.720 --> 00:48:14.850
support, insight.

00:48:14.850 --> 00:48:19.050
And I think that he's truly
a role model for all of us

00:48:19.050 --> 00:48:21.810
and a reminder of how important it is

00:48:21.810 --> 00:48:23.247
to always pay it forward.

00:48:23.247 --> 00:48:25.710
- What you're looking for is people with

00:48:25.710 --> 00:48:28.983
that sparkle and people with that desire.

00:48:31.440 --> 00:48:33.180
You gotta be prepared to move

00:48:33.180 --> 00:48:34.430
and you gotta be prepared

00:48:35.935 --> 00:48:38.430
to not just move,

00:48:38.430 --> 00:48:39.720
but you gotta know the market.

00:48:39.720 --> 00:48:43.173
I mean, Cincinnati's a
great market for example,

00:48:44.070 --> 00:48:46.530
- 70 in

00:48:46.530 --> 00:48:47.373
three months,

00:48:48.780 --> 00:48:49.885
less than three months.

00:48:49.885 --> 00:48:51.960
(Joe laughing)

00:48:51.960 --> 00:48:52.803
It's scary.

00:48:54.180 --> 00:48:56.980
I first walked through the 77 doors

00:48:57.930 --> 00:48:59.103
in 1971.

00:49:00.860 --> 00:49:05.490
And I thank you and Mary
Lou and the Gods at ABC

00:49:05.490 --> 00:49:07.680
for letting me fill my bucket list.

00:49:07.680 --> 00:49:09.090
I'm sitting in the news director chair.

00:49:09.090 --> 00:49:10.830
It took a half a century,

00:49:10.830 --> 00:49:12.303
but thank you Al Primo.

00:49:14.677 --> 00:49:18.390
- "Eyewitness News" was
accepting the Governor's Award

00:49:18.390 --> 00:49:20.820
for 50 years of "Eyewitness News".

00:49:20.820 --> 00:49:22.110
So at that point,

00:49:22.110 --> 00:49:26.460
I had been news director
I think for about a year,

00:49:26.460 --> 00:49:29.640
and Al was one of the
people who presented us

00:49:29.640 --> 00:49:31.650
with that award that night.

00:49:31.650 --> 00:49:33.000
And having him there,

00:49:33.000 --> 00:49:35.310
you know, me being the
current news director,

00:49:35.310 --> 00:49:37.650
to the first "Eyewitness News" director,

00:49:37.650 --> 00:49:39.450
it was just remarkable.

00:49:39.450 --> 00:49:41.700
And again, on that evening,

00:49:41.700 --> 00:49:45.540
having very special
conversations about Al,

00:49:45.540 --> 00:49:47.466
about the state of the business,

00:49:47.466 --> 00:49:49.500
where the business was going.

00:49:49.500 --> 00:49:53.040
And Al spent time talking
to as many team members

00:49:53.040 --> 00:49:56.760
as he could about their
careers and their lives

00:49:56.760 --> 00:49:59.430
and getting their perspective on things.

00:49:59.430 --> 00:50:01.770
- We're sitting in The Stanford Diner,

00:50:01.770 --> 00:50:03.390
and we're not sitting in any booth,

00:50:03.390 --> 00:50:04.830
we're sitting in the booth where Al

00:50:04.830 --> 00:50:08.733
and I would have lunch every week or two.

00:50:09.960 --> 00:50:14.137
And probably after the
fourth or fifth time, I said,

00:50:14.137 --> 00:50:17.160
"Al, why do you always
sit in the same booth?"

00:50:17.160 --> 00:50:18.157
And he says,

00:50:18.157 --> 00:50:20.010
"It's the assignment desk."

00:50:20.010 --> 00:50:21.810
I said, "The assignment desk?"

00:50:21.810 --> 00:50:23.460
He said, "Yeah."

00:50:23.460 --> 00:50:26.010
He said, "You can see the cash register.

00:50:26.010 --> 00:50:27.540
You can see the front door,

00:50:27.540 --> 00:50:29.640
and you can also see the kitchen.

00:50:29.640 --> 00:50:31.410
So you see everything that's going on,

00:50:31.410 --> 00:50:32.997
who's coming in and out."

00:50:34.140 --> 00:50:35.790
And in just sitting here,

00:50:35.790 --> 00:50:37.590
and I'm actually sitting on his side

00:50:37.590 --> 00:50:40.620
for the very first time
of the assignment desk,

00:50:40.620 --> 00:50:43.623
this is booth 61 at The Stanford Diner,

00:50:44.700 --> 00:50:46.530
there was inevitably a story

00:50:46.530 --> 00:50:49.170
that came from someone walking in and out,

00:50:49.170 --> 00:50:51.420
or somebody who knew
Al Primo who came over.

00:50:51.420 --> 00:50:52.380
So

00:50:52.380 --> 00:50:54.570
forever, this booth,

00:50:54.570 --> 00:50:57.810
booth number 61 is the assignment desk.

00:50:57.810 --> 00:50:59.670
And one of the things that
you should know about Al,

00:50:59.670 --> 00:51:01.020
Al wanted to be an anchorman,

00:51:01.020 --> 00:51:05.250
and he got the chance to do
that for a five-minute cut-in

00:51:05.250 --> 00:51:08.880
on KDKA-TV sometime in the late 1950s.

00:51:08.880 --> 00:51:09.713
And he said,

00:51:09.713 --> 00:51:11.220
"It only took one newscast to realize

00:51:11.220 --> 00:51:13.410
that it wasn't for me."

00:51:13.410 --> 00:51:18.270
But every day at the 7:30 a.m.
mass here at St. Clements,

00:51:18.270 --> 00:51:21.363
Al was the anchorman in
that he read the scripture.

00:51:22.230 --> 00:51:24.870
He read the first reading at every mass,

00:51:24.870 --> 00:51:27.183
Monday through Friday here at St. Clement.

00:51:28.140 --> 00:51:31.200
- [John] In May, 2022,

00:51:31.200 --> 00:51:34.860
Al sat for his final interview,

00:51:34.860 --> 00:51:37.860
an appearance for this documentary.

00:51:37.860 --> 00:51:40.710
- One of my wife's
friends was in real estate

00:51:40.710 --> 00:51:42.537
and used to pick her
up and take her around.

00:51:42.537 --> 00:51:45.367
And she drove her down
here one day and said,

00:51:45.367 --> 00:51:46.200
"Hey,

00:51:48.060 --> 00:51:49.227
this is for sale."

00:51:50.640 --> 00:51:51.487
My wife called and said,

00:51:51.487 --> 00:51:53.307
"Hey, I've found a nice house."

00:51:54.270 --> 00:51:55.233
So I came out and,

00:51:56.497 --> 00:51:58.164
"How much is it?"
(Al chuckling)

00:51:58.164 --> 00:51:59.760
I said, "Okay let's buy it."

00:51:59.760 --> 00:52:01.498
It's been a blessing.

00:52:01.498 --> 00:52:04.470
(upbeat instrumental music)

00:52:04.470 --> 00:52:06.660
- [John] So unaware at the time,

00:52:06.660 --> 00:52:09.063
Al had stage 4 cancer,

00:52:10.350 --> 00:52:13.020
- I think that we're blessed
to be in this business.

00:52:13.020 --> 00:52:16.113
I think we're so lucky, so lucky.

00:52:17.940 --> 00:52:21.780
- [John] On September 29th, 2022,

00:52:21.780 --> 00:52:23.760
TV news lost

00:52:23.760 --> 00:52:26.177
its unmatched visionary.

00:52:26.177 --> 00:52:29.260
(somber organ music)

00:52:31.323 --> 00:52:32.477
- I saw a mutual friend of ours,

00:52:32.477 --> 00:52:35.730
Don Lark, who's an
anchorman whom Al helped

00:52:35.730 --> 00:52:38.250
in client television stations.

00:52:38.250 --> 00:52:42.390
Don came to my house
where I have my studio.

00:52:42.390 --> 00:52:45.282
- [John] John Harper for
Drew Mariani this afternoon.

00:52:45.282 --> 00:52:47.410
- And he said, "Al died

00:52:48.330 --> 00:52:49.437
just a little while ago."

00:52:49.437 --> 00:52:51.810
And it was just a few
minutes after three o'clock,

00:52:51.810 --> 00:52:53.700
a few minutes after three
o'clock Eastern Time

00:52:53.700 --> 00:52:56.530
when I had gone on the air and

00:52:57.510 --> 00:53:00.840
it's called the "Divine Mercy Hour",

00:53:00.840 --> 00:53:03.663
And it's a prayer that I prayed with Al.

00:53:07.560 --> 00:53:09.813
His timing even in death was perfect.

00:53:12.840 --> 00:53:14.190
- His legacy, I mean,

00:53:14.190 --> 00:53:16.560
the most important thing that Primo did

00:53:16.560 --> 00:53:20.490
and that affected the industry forever

00:53:20.490 --> 00:53:23.280
was his whole creation
of "Eyewitness News"

00:53:23.280 --> 00:53:28.200
and having reporters report
on the air what they saw.

00:53:28.200 --> 00:53:30.180
- Dad loved people

00:53:30.180 --> 00:53:32.940
and he loved hearing their stories.

00:53:32.940 --> 00:53:34.600
Growing up, he taught me

00:53:35.854 --> 00:53:38.670
that being able to make
yourself understood

00:53:38.670 --> 00:53:42.993
to all different audiences
was so important.

00:53:44.220 --> 00:53:46.293
And even more important than that,

00:53:47.880 --> 00:53:48.937
he would say,

00:53:48.937 --> 00:53:53.100
"People wanna talk to you when
they know you're listening.

00:53:53.100 --> 00:53:54.660
So be a good listener."

00:53:54.660 --> 00:53:56.730
- He was always not only willing,

00:53:56.730 --> 00:53:59.850
but anxious to help other people.

00:53:59.850 --> 00:54:00.683
- Al

00:54:04.140 --> 00:54:05.670
made

00:54:05.670 --> 00:54:08.460
television relevant.

00:54:08.460 --> 00:54:10.590
Al made news

00:54:10.590 --> 00:54:12.150
relevant.

00:54:12.150 --> 00:54:13.390
Al showed

00:54:14.760 --> 00:54:15.780
what

00:54:15.780 --> 00:54:16.900
we could do

00:54:18.060 --> 00:54:20.253
if given inspired leadership.

00:54:22.800 --> 00:54:23.910
And I really,

00:54:23.910 --> 00:54:25.810
I think now

00:54:27.870 --> 00:54:31.500
about Mount Rushmore of
broadcast journalism,

00:54:31.500 --> 00:54:32.660
and he's right there.

00:54:32.660 --> 00:54:36.450
- It was possible and it was embraced,

00:54:36.450 --> 00:54:38.550
whether we understood
it at the time or not,

00:54:38.550 --> 00:54:42.547
because Al Primo came up with the idea.

00:54:42.547 --> 00:54:45.570
"Let's take the viewer with us

00:54:45.570 --> 00:54:47.370
to a story

00:54:47.370 --> 00:54:49.983
that will enlighten their world,

00:54:50.850 --> 00:54:53.802
that will illuminate their world."

00:54:53.802 --> 00:54:57.930
(upbeat instrumental music)

00:54:57.930 --> 00:54:59.410
- Al was like a painter

00:55:01.110 --> 00:55:04.260
and we were on his canvas.

00:55:04.260 --> 00:55:05.793
- It's not a pretty picture.

00:55:08.130 --> 00:55:09.960
The color's right.

00:55:09.960 --> 00:55:13.860
The positioning is right
and the location is right.

00:55:13.860 --> 00:55:15.540
It's all, it's art.

00:55:15.540 --> 00:55:17.520
- I think the reason
why so many people fail

00:55:17.520 --> 00:55:19.110
in imitating "Eyewitness News"

00:55:19.110 --> 00:55:22.867
is that they adopt the
superficial elements of it.

00:55:22.867 --> 00:55:24.210
"Oh, we need a snazzy set.

00:55:24.210 --> 00:55:25.890
We need cool graphics.

00:55:25.890 --> 00:55:27.270
We need a cool theme song.

00:55:27.270 --> 00:55:29.910
Oh, maybe we can use
the "Tar Sequence" too.

00:55:29.910 --> 00:55:32.700
Or we need ethnically-diverse talent."

00:55:32.700 --> 00:55:34.710
You can do all that stuff,

00:55:34.710 --> 00:55:37.890
but I think what made this
place work was the heart,

00:55:37.890 --> 00:55:39.357
you know, the connection,

00:55:39.357 --> 00:55:41.190
the way that the reporters

00:55:41.190 --> 00:55:43.890
and the people behind
the scenes approached

00:55:43.890 --> 00:55:44.940
and tackled the news,

00:55:44.940 --> 00:55:48.360
and the relationship that
they built with the audience.

00:55:48.360 --> 00:55:49.890
I mean, there is a reason why

00:55:49.890 --> 00:55:53.370
when there was a hostage crisis
that needed to be diffused,

00:55:53.370 --> 00:55:54.203
people would say,

00:55:54.203 --> 00:55:55.590
"Get John Johnson on the phone.

00:55:55.590 --> 00:55:56.700
Get him over here, please.

00:55:56.700 --> 00:55:58.050
I'll only talk to him,

00:55:58.050 --> 00:55:59.880
not the negotiator,

00:55:59.880 --> 00:56:00.900
not the cops,

00:56:00.900 --> 00:56:02.130
not the jail warden.

00:56:02.130 --> 00:56:03.330
Where's John Johnson?"

00:56:03.330 --> 00:56:05.010
I think that tells you something

00:56:05.010 --> 00:56:07.290
about the emotional connection

00:56:07.290 --> 00:56:09.837
that the audience made with this station,

00:56:09.837 --> 00:56:12.427
and that continues to this day.

00:56:12.427 --> 00:56:14.027
- "Eyewitness News" had a heart.

00:56:16.297 --> 00:56:18.297
"Eyewitness News" connected with people.

00:56:20.190 --> 00:56:22.143
And if there's a secret sauce,

00:56:23.040 --> 00:56:26.700
the journalism was in plain
view every single night.

00:56:26.700 --> 00:56:27.780
- It's like a painting.

00:56:27.780 --> 00:56:31.170
It's like a Michelangelo, you know.

00:56:31.170 --> 00:56:32.880
It just has to be right.

00:56:32.880 --> 00:56:36.870
- The good Lord created
a man that is Al Primo,

00:56:36.870 --> 00:56:39.240
who's sensitive, interested,

00:56:39.240 --> 00:56:40.770
artistic,

00:56:40.770 --> 00:56:42.900
verbal and

00:56:42.900 --> 00:56:45.870
very, very in touch with people.

00:56:45.870 --> 00:56:49.990
- He made life better for Americans

00:56:51.120 --> 00:56:53.577
by his invention.

00:56:56.410 --> 00:57:00.077
(upbeat instrumental music)

00:57:15.873 --> 00:57:20.373
(upbeat instrumental music continues)

00:57:35.931 --> 00:57:40.431
(upbeat instrumental music continues)

00:57:55.904 --> 00:58:00.404
(upbeat instrumental music continues)

00:58:15.948 --> 00:58:20.448
(upbeat instrumental music continues)

00:58:29.629 --> 00:58:34.629
(audience applauding)
(audience cheering)

00:58:35.999 --> 00:58:39.082
(TV switch clicking)