THE EYEWITLESS NEWS TEAM

THE EYEWITNESS NEWS TEAM
WABC-TV 1967-present

THE EYEWITLESS NEWS TEAM
Sick #95, September 1973
w: Fred Wolfe (Paul Laikin)
a: Jack Sparling

Here's what you'd call “inside baseball”. Nobody outside of New York City would know who was being parodied, I don't even know who all anchored WABC nearly fifty years ago but I'll try.

WABC-TV created the format of the local news based on the network news only lighter, which was later used by ABC affiliates and the other networks right before the national broadcasts. In New York it was anchored by Roger Grimsby and Geraldo Rivera. Everybody knows who Geraldo Rivera is now but back then he was just a local news guy.

Bill Beutel was another of their anchors. Jim Bouton did their sports. Tex Antoine was eventually fired for being caught on camera saying rape victims should “sit back and enjoy it”.