Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 23, 1990 TAG: 9003231809
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAY SHARBUTT ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
In fact, don't even expect Ted Koppel to anchor it tonight.
"As a matter of fact, I`m taking the day off," says Koppel, the show's anchor ever since it premiered as a 20-minute, Monday-through-Thursday late-night news interview program on March 24, 1980.
The celebration of a decade will occur in late April with a prime-time edition of "Nightline," featuring suitable highlights of its existence.
The show's honors include two Peabody Awards and general acclaim for Koppel's crisp, to-the-point interviews of a wide variety of guests: world leaders, sports executives, diplomats, AIDS victims, Arabs and Israelis together, generals, and even Gary Hart, a two-time visitor.
But his most-watched show concerned what some might call light entertainment, a chat with the since-fallen TV preacher Jim Bakker and his wife, Tammy, in May 1987. It got a 41 percent share of the audience, and viewers in more than 12.3 million homes tuned in.
True, more cosmic matters tend to draw smaller audiences. The show averages 5 million to 6 million homes each night, ABC says. Sometimes it's even lower - only about 3.9 million homes in the week ending March 9.
But "Nightline," the brainchild of ABC News President Roone Arledge, has proved there is room in late-night TV for news interviews as an alternative to amusements, and it can get ratings even on those nights Johnny Carson fills in for his guest hosts.
"It's the only show of its kind that time at night - it's really the only show of its kind in commercial television," says Koppel, whose program, among other things, has held six world-class "town meetings."
The most recent one, set against the backdrop of the freeing of black leader Nelson Mandela, took place last month in South Africa.
What has become "Nightline" began on Nov. 8, 1979, with a different title and as a single-subject effort anchored by the late Frank Reynolds. Aired four days after 65 Americans were seized at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, the show was called "The Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage."
A week later, through Arledge's efforts, ABC began "America Held Hostage," a late-night series on the crisis. The show initially was anchored by Reynolds, then Peter Jennings and finally Koppel.
Koppel, with ABC News for 27 of his 50 years, became permanent anchor of the series two weeks after it began, staying at the helm as "Nightline" premiered and evolved into its half-hour, five-night format.
The anchorman, who now gets Monday nights off, became famous and wealthy. And, in an unusual arrangement nearly three years ago, he also got a new contract under which his own production company makes four prime-time ABC specials a year, which he then can sell overseas.
Although he and "Nightline" generally have enjoyed critical huzzahs, they have suffered a few shots, too, notably from a media watchdog group, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.
FAIR, citing its analysis of "Nightline" shows from 1985 to 1988, complained about what it said was the show's preponderance of white male guests from government, corporations and the military.
"The larger question here is . . . their perception and analysis that we had a great many white male conservatives on the program," Koppel says.
"Well, if you look at the 10 years that `Nightline' has been on the air, during those years Ronald Reagan was president, George Bush was president and the policy-makers and decision-makers, the people they put into power, tend to be white male conservatives."
by CNB