Action News TV Commercial – Next at 11 with Jim Gardner – WPVI Channel 6 Philadelphia – Feb 1983

Action News is a local television newscast format originating in the United States. First conceived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it is characterized by a tight format with strict time limits on set packages, a focus on surrounding suburbs, and a focus on young talent. It was a competitor to the Eyewitness News format.

The “Action News” format was conceived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at WFIL-TV (now WPVI-TV) by news director Mel Kampmann in 1970, as a response to the “Eyewitness News” format that was used on rival station KYW-TV. At the time, WFIL-TV was said to be “#4 in a three-station market.”

The main difference between Action News and Eyewitness News was that the former was far more tightly formatted. Time limits were placed on packages – for instance, a reporter package could be no longer than 90 seconds. This difference enabled the station to cover more stories than its competitors. Another key difference was the focus on the surrounding Philadelphia suburban areas – a response to the movement of residents from the city to the suburbs. Finally, WPVI placed more emphasis on young talent – while WCAU-TV and KYW-TV used older, well-known news anchors such as Vince Leonard, Tom Snyder, and John Facenda, WPVI had a young Larry Kane as its top anchor. Later, the station would add Jim O’Brien as its main weathercaster.

The format was immediately successful, and after going back and forth with KYW for first place, WPVI took the lead in 1977, which it has held ever since. Capital Cities Communications, which acquired WPVI in 1972 and gave the station its current call sign, took the format to most of its other stations.

One of the major development stations for WPVI’s Action News was its Capital Cities sister station, WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York. Under the leadership of news director Irv Weinstein, who had developed his own similar format under the name Eyewitness News, WKBW developed much of the talent that WPVI would later hire to boost them to #1 in the market; anchor Jim Gardner (replacing Larry Kane when he moved to WABC in New York), weatherman Dave Roberts, and voice-over artist Jeff Kaye are the three highest-profile WPVI personalities to have come from WKBW.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_News

James Goldman (born May 17, 1948), known professionally as Jim Gardner, is an American retired news anchor.

Gardner was born in New York City and grew up on the Upper East Side in a Reform Jewish household. His father was Joseph Goldman, a professor and chairman of the ear, nose and throat department of Mount Sinai Medical Center. Through his father, he is the step-grandson of noted Jewish rabbi Mordecai Kaplan.[1] He attended Ethical Culture Fieldston School. In 1970, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Columbia University. As a student, he was a play-by-play announcer for football and basketball, and reported on the Columbia University protests of 1968 for the university’s radio station, WKCR-FM.

On November 10, 2021, Gardner announced his intentions to retire from broadcasting at the end of 2022. Prior to his retirement, Gardner left his position as anchorman on Action News at 11:00 PM on January 11, 2022, and remained on the 6:00 PM broadcast until his retirement and final broadcast at 6:00 PM on December 21, 2022.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Gardner_(broadcaster)

Video preservation by DDVF.com for educational purposes. Original airdate was Feb 1983.