Laughs »Catch 5

catch 5This gloriously dated news jingle is not simply just another forgotten relic from the past; when WEWS-TV in Cleveland commissioned writer Frank Gari (not to be confused with the controversial architect) magic was made. In fact, the tune was such a hit that the station kept it their promotional jingle through the eighties and it kicked off the newscast jingle trend nation-wide.

But WEWS's influence doesn't stop there: they were also the first in Cleveland to feature a regularly scheduled African-American anchorman named Bill Jacocks.

As for those men and women you see having a ball in this commercial?

Gib Shanley, the featured sports guy, was a controversial figure in his time, once burning the Iranian flag in protest of an Iranian burning the American flag.

Dorothy Fuldheim is considered the “First Lady Of Television News”. She started in Cleveland in 1947, when it was the only news station between New York and Chicago. No stranger to controversy herself, she ad-libbed this response to the Kent State shootings: “What is wrong with our country? We're killing our own children.”

This song and ad makes it looks like a fun and games disco, but the WEWS-TV staff was full of revolutionaries, man!


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Posted on November 19, 2007

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