When I moved to the Bay Area from New England, I noticed that KGO 7, the ABC station in San Francisco, used the same theme song and logo as WABC 7 in New York. Here’s a KGO “open” from 1989:
To my surprise, the theme song is from the movie Cool Hand Luke starring Paul Newman. It’s amazing how a 10-second clip became the basis for newscasts around the world.
Most TV stations now use themes only reminiscent of the original, after the composer of the soundtrack, Lalo Schifrin, demanded higher royalties. (Schifrin also composed the theme song to Mission: Impossible.)
This is too funny. I grew up with that channel 7 theme song and can recognize it anywhere, and to hear it in an old film like that induces a real crisis of context.
Bizarre, isn’t it? By the way, here is WABC’s open from around the same time. When I said it was similar to KGO, I really meant it:
WABC Eyewitness News Opening from 1988 on YouTube