@Lemon6 there was a study done not long before that, saying that red was the color most likely to grab ppl's eyes. It was from fast food companies if I remember correctly,& is why almost all of them have some version of red in their signs & presentation
When John Williams wrote the NBC News themes in 1985, this one was chosen for special reports; we referred to it in the newsroom as the "(stuff) hits the fan" music.
At some point, NBC News decided to settle on the "Meet the Press" theme, indirectly making it the one sound you never want to hear anytime outside of Sunday morning.
That Meet the Press theme was composed by John Williams (E.T., Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter etc). It's part of an orchestral work entitled, "The Mission" and it's in 4 movements. John Williams was commissioned to write it for NBC. The 4 movements are: The Mission: Nightly News Fugue for Changing Times: Early Morning (not sure if still used, but amazing!) Scherzo for Today: Used to be for Today (some excerpts may be still used at times. Not 100%. Again, amazing!) The Pulse of Events: Meet the Press AND Special Report Edit: John Williams wrote the music for NBC Sunday Night Football too
Magnificent video, but let me just crack up a bit at how it's a special report, talking about breaking news, time is probably of the essence, but let's go into detail about Gulf Oil??
Gulf merged with Chevron in 1984, but the brand was split between Chevron in the West, Cumberland Farms in the Northeast, and BP/Sohio in the South. Today Gulf Oil, LP (spun off from Cumberland Farms) owns the brand nationwide. The Canadian affiliate, British/American Petroleum, became Gulf Canada, and later sold its downstream business to Petro Canada.
Gulf Oil was headquartered in Pittsburg Pa and had a big refinery in Port Arthur Texas. They were a major driller and producer in the Gulf of Mexico. On a personal note, several times my mother flew back and forth to Pittsburg on their plane (a DC 3) that was kept at Hobby Airport in Houston. My dad's employer was a service co to Gulf and they told him if she ever wanted to go to Pittsburg, just call and they would tell her when the next flight was. Boy those days are long gone - lol.
The second NBC News Special Report graphic features Howard Reig doing the opening, and Mel Brandt the ending. Other voices heard include Phil Gaines (from NBC's Washington bureau) and Fred Facey.
You can also hear Bill Hanrahan on a number of the special reports in the late 70s. He retired in 1982 and was succeeded by Howard Reig. Mr Hanrahan was also one of two NBC annoucers who subbed for Don Pardo on SNL; the other was Mel Brandt
In the original video, there was a commercial for a deodorant that looked like an adult toy. The regular program that they returned to was the Village People singing "Macho Man." That was so ironic given the circumstances.
Seeing all these Special Report intros made me imagine news of Steve Martin leaving this world and I got sad. I admire him so much. I want him to live a long and healthy life. Sorry for this comment being a bit random. However, I think it’s great to vent about things.
i never quite understood the whole sponsor thing. you think a multi billion dollar company wouldn't need help from outside sources to pay their bills. "this is the ABC World News which is owned by Disney a multi billion dollar corporation but we need sponsors to pay our bills. thank you"???
You have it turned around. Sponsors buy time on popular programs to sell their products to the television viewing audience. It has nothing to do with the the network paying its bills.
