OT: What makes ACTION NEWS untouchable in Philadelphia?

[Fenway]

I preface this by saying I work in TV.

WPVI Channel 6 has had a stranglehold on local Philly TV news for 40 years and there is no other local station in the US that can make that claim.

Is it the news theme?



Is it Jim Gardner?



I'm sure NBC owned Channel 10 was thrilled when this happened



I would be curious about your thoughts

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[Devonator]

I can't speak to this particular station but I find most of the news stations unwatchable across North America.

 

[Fenway]

I can't speak to this particular station but I find most of the news stations unwatchable across North America.

Channel 6 in Philly was owned by the Philadelphia Inquirer (WFIL-TV) but the FCC ruled a newspaper could not own a TV station in the same market and did not give the station a grandfather exemption and the station was sold to Capital Cities Broadcasting and their flagship was WKBW-TV in Buffalo. The Buffalo station was one of the most profitable stations in the US because of Toronto and they freely admitted it.



and they had a news theme



Caps City transferred Jim Gardner to Philly because the main Buffalo anchor Irv Weinstein wanted him out of Buffalo

A few years later Cap Cities BOUGHT ABC and later sold to Disney

 

[Lord Defect]

It’s the only news station that I watch, but I only watch for traffic, weather, and background noise.
Why the odd thread though?

 

[Beef Invictus]

I preface this by saying I work in TV.

WPVI Channel 6 has had a stranglehold on local Philly TV news for 40 years and there is no other local station in the US that can make that claim.

Is it the news theme?



Is it Jim Gardner?



I'm sure NBC owned Channel 10 was thrilled when this happened



I would be curious about your thoughts

It's the theme. When I'm visiting and anyone has any other channel on I get agitated if I don't hear my theme.

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

 

[ajgoal]

A friend of mine who's not originally from the area refers to it as the "Super Sexy Action News Theme," and has chosen the channel for that specific reason.

I haven't watched network TV news in decades, but I feel like I remember Gardner and most of the other hosts coming across as pretty likeable, too.

 

[dragonoffrost]

It's the theme and the people they have on air. They project a family vibe that welcomes viewers in.

 

[Young Sandwich]

It's Jim Gardner's moustache. One of the most inviting and least threatening moustaches of all time.

 

[Lord Defect]

Side note, what is Karen Rodgers? Is she weather or traffic? She does a mix of both and I can’t tell what her primary role is

 

[FatTugboatFlahr]

What?

 

[Beef Invictus]

Side note, what is Karen Rodgers? Is she weather or traffic? She does a mix of both and I can’t tell what her primary role is

A lot of TV and news radio outfits combine the traffic and weather segments (since weather impacts traffic), so she might pull double duty?

 

[Lord Defect]

A lot of TV and news radio outfits combine the traffic and weather segments (since weather impacts traffic), so she might pull double duty?

She’s never solo though. They have some other dude do the weather, or the traffic, depending on the day, and she will do the other during one segment and then do what they covered later on in the hour.

 

[BringBackHakstol]

Yes.

 

[phlflyer1]

Jim Gardner is a big part of it. I'm old enough to remember watching Action News back in the early 80's growing up and it was #1 then as well.

He and anchor/weatherman Jim O'Brien were very well liked and respected. Jim O'Brien died in 1983 from a Skydiving accident and Jim Gardner gave a pretty touching speech about his friend and colleague on that evenings newscast.

 

[trostol]

Having Cecily doesn't hurt...though she looked better when she first arrived

 

[Starat327]

Having Cecily doesn't hurt...though she looked better when she first arrived

She hasn't changed

 

[Embiid]

A lot of lookers

I liked Melissa Magee....quite the hottie..

She went back to LA....boooo!

Meet the 6abc Action News Team | WPVI Team Bios

 

[Embiid]

She hasn't changed

She is kind of a snoot. I have seen her at the Target on city line a few times. I also saw Melissa Magee and she was in line in front of me and she was so sweet...she asked if I wanted to go ahead of her bc I had fewer items. I was a bit shocked and probably had googly eyes and turned it down ..she just smiled and said ok....felt like a little starstruck kid. Pretty and nice/modest always wins out...

 

[Starat327]

She is kind of a snoot. I have seen her at the Target on city line a few times. I also saw Melissa Magee and she was in line in front of me and she was so sweet...she asked if I wanted to go ahead of her bc I had fewer items. I was a bit shocked and probably had googly eyes and turned it down ..she just smiled and said ok....felt like a little starstruck kid. Pretty and nice/modest always wins out...

Oh, I've heard she's a total C these days, but what do I care? I ran into her at the Wawa in Rio Grande YEARS ago and she seemed nice enough, but that was a 30 second encounter.

 

[Embiid]

Oh, I've heard she's a total C these days, but what do I care? I ran into her at the Wawa in Rio Grande YEARS ago and she seemed nice enough, but that was a 30 second encounter.

She was walking through Target like she was gonna get attacked by throngs of men....looked paranoid tbh. Too high opinion of herself ....

 

[swami24]

My brother in law moved to Chatlotte in the 90s. He visited a few years ago, and I had the noon news on. He and his wife couldn't believe they still used the same theme song. It is so simple, they do not fix what is not broke. I do not like their 6 or 11 casts. I tend to prefer the local fox29 people. But if I watch at noon, it is 6.

 

[Embiid]

I had to search for this....I remember when it happened

Comments reveal the truth....poor fridge

 

[AaronTrieu]

It’s the channel we watched as kids to get news on snow days. Brings back memories

 

[mercury]

Several things, but the Action News format was revolutionary in the early-1970s. Getting younger on-air talent to locations, doing tons of stuff on the suburbs as people were streaming out of the city, the quick and strictly-timed segments, etc. And the best news theme song in the country, too.