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.
History
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.
WPIX in New York City, an independent station at the time, picked up the Action News concept (and music) successfully for its 10 p.m. newscast. The newscast won numerous awards, but the station never approached the ratings of longtime leader WNEW-TV (now WNYW).
In 2002 and 2003 (respectively), WFTS-TV in Tampa, Florida and KSHB-TV in Kansas City, Missouri (both owned by the E. W. Scripps Company) became the first stations in the country to identify themselves using Action News as full-time station branding (for both local newscasts and entertainment programming) with no station number.
Today, Action News innovations have been incorporated into newscasts across the country. In 2000, WestNet Wireless launched the first Action News brand online with its web-broadcast style format for the markets of Calgary, Alberta and Santa Barbara, California. WestNet also owns the trademark for Action News in Canada and even owns the domain
Although Action News originated at WPVI, it is Cox Media Group, whose stations in Atlanta and Jacksonville adopted the format, that owns the Action News trademark for broadcasting services.
300px|thumb|WXYZ-TV Action News remote van.
Outside the United States, the Action News title was used by the following television stations:
- Germany's RTL II (then known as RTL2) in the 1990s
- CKCO-TV in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, in the 1980s and 1990s
- NWS-9 in Adelaide, Australia, in the 1980s
- Netherlands' SBS6 since its inception in 1995 until 2006
- Colombia's Caracol TV (then as a production company for Inravisión) as Noticias de Acción in the 1980s
Theme
When WFIL originally adopted the Action News format in 1970, the program was introduced with the "Action News Theme". The theme was written by Temple University student Tom Sellers, who had briefly been in Daryl Hall's band Gulliver and later formed The Assembled Multitude, and was arranged as a brass-driven rock song. The entire theme was offered through The Philadelphia Inquirer, as a single sided 45 RPM record for about 25¢.
Two years later, the station (under its new call sign WPVI) replaced the "Action News Theme" with Al Ham's "Move Closer to Your World". WPVI continues to use this theme after five decades, even as others have stopped using it, a stereo rearrangement of the theme has been in use since December 1994 (which removed a bongo line). In 1996, the station replaced the original Al Ham theme with a fuller, orchestral version performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Viewer outcry caused the station to drop the new version within five days.
Action News offered the first evening newscasts to be solo-anchored by a woman: Diana Robinson, who was the first African-American female news anchor in American television. She was followed by Jacqui Mullen.
WPVI opens its broadcasts with a rapid montage featuring scenes of Philadelphia-area activities. The scenes are rotated to reflect the current season. For example, spring footage of the Phillies, NASCAR, CART and DIRT starts on March 21, while footage of the Philadelphia Eagles, Philadelphia Flyers, and 76ers starts on September 23, and footage of the Mummers Parade with other winter scenes is shown from December 21 to March 21.
Although "Move Closer to Your World" is strongly associated with the Action News format, many stations that have used the "Action News" name actually chose to use other pieces of music for their newscasts. A handful of stations continued to use Tom Sellers' original theme into the 1980s, with WBNG-TV in Binghamton, New York using the theme for its Action News broadcast as late as 1993.
Stations that use or have used the Action News format or name
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center" width=100%
|-
| Market Name(s)
| Station(s)
| Affiliation(s)
| Currently or Formerly Uses
| Other Notes
|-
| rowspan="2" | New York City
| WPIX
| The CW
| No
| Used as an Independent station from 1974 to 1984; station currently brands its newscast as PIX 11 News
|-
|WSNL-TV
|True Crime
|No
|Used as an independent station from 1973 until the original iteration of the station went bankrupt in 1975.
|-
| Los Angeles
| KCBS-TV
| CBS
| No
| Used 1988–1996; has identified as CBS LA/CBS News Los Angeles since 2025.
|-
| Chicago
| WBBM-TV
| CBS
| No
| Used for a very brief period from September to October 1971 as "TV2 Action News".
|-
| rowspan="2"|Philadelphia
| WPVI-TV
| ABC
| Yes
| Originator of the Action News format on April 6, 1970
|-
| WPHL-TV
| The CW
| Yes
| WPVI-produced broadcasts on WPHL are branded as Action News at Ten on PHL17
|-
| rowspan="2"| San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose
| KICU-TV
| Independent
| No
| Newscast defunct, station formerly referred to itself as "Action 36". Currently broadcasts newscast from sister station, KTVU.
|-
| KTVU
| Fox
| No
| Used from 1971 to 1978. Newscasts are now branded as KTVU Fox 2 News.
|-
| Dallas/Fort Worth
| KXAS-TV
| NBC
| No
| Used 1979–1984, its years of using Move Closer to Your World; has identified as NBC 5 News since 1999
|-
| Atlanta
| WSB-TV
| ABC (formerly NBC)
| Yes
| Identified as (Channel 2) Action News since 1974, initially cloning WPVI's format from 1974 to 1977. The station's newscasts still remain very fast-paced, keeping some aspects of the Action News format today.
|-
| Detroit
| WXYZ-TV
| ABC
| No
| Used from 1972 to 2024, now identifies as 7 News Detroit
|-
| rowspan="2"|Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida
| WFTS-TV
| ABC (formerly Fox)
| No
| Identified as ABC Action News from 2002 to 2025, now identifies as Tampa Bay 28 News
|-
| WTSP
| CBS (formerly ABC)
| No
| Identified as Action NewsCenter in 1977, then as Action 10 News from 1978 to 1979, and finally as Action News from 1979 to 1989; currently identifies as 10 News; unrelated to WFTS
|-
| Phoenix, Arizona
| KPNX
| NBC
| No
| Used from 1975 to 1986; has identified as 12 News since then.
|-
| Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota
| WCCO-TV
| CBS
| No
| Used during the early 1970s; now identifies as WCCO News and CBS News Minnesota
|-
| Denver, Colorado
| KUSA-TV
| NBC (formerly ABC)
| No
| Used 1976–1984, first as "KBTV Action Center 9 News" from 1976 to 1977, then as 9 News Action Center, has identified as 9 News since 1976, but used "Action" as secondary branding from 1976 until 1984.
|-
| Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
| WFOR-TV
| CBS
| No
| Used 1989–1995 under the WCIX (channel 6) branding, cloning KCBS-TV's format; has identified as CBS News Miami since 2023
|-
|rowspan="2"| Cleveland, Ohio
| WOIO
| CBS
| No
| Has identified as 19 Action News 2002–2015; now identified as 19 News
|-
| WKYC-TV
| NBC
| No
| Known as Action 3 News from October 14, 1974, to March 18, 1984, it utilized the graphics associated with NBC's owned-and-operated stations; has been identified as (Channel) 3 News since 1984; unrelated to WOIO
|-
| Orlando
| WRDQ
| Independent
| No
| Newscast produced by WFTV was rebranded to Eyewitness News.
|-
| rowspan="2"|Sacramento/Stockton/Modesto, California
| KOVR
| CBS (formerly ABC)
| No
| Used as an ABC affiliate in the 1970s; has identified as CBS 13 News since 2005
|-
| KMAX-TV
| Independent (formerly UPN, WB and the CW)
| No
| Used in the 1990s; formerly unrelated to KOVR
|-
| St. Louis
| KTVI
| Fox (formerly ABC)
| No
| Used from 1973 to 1977, cloning WPVI's format; has identified as Fox 2 News since 1996
|-
| Pittsburgh
| WTAE-TV
| ABC
| Yes
| Used from 1974 to 1989; Brought back again in 1995 as Channel 4 Action News. Currently branded as Action News 4. One of the few that used the name to put emphasis on investigative reporting, with the slogan being "Taking Action For You." Rival station WIIC (now WPXI) cloned WPVI's format.
|-
| Baltimore
| WBAL-TV
| NBC (formerly CBS)
| No
| Identified as Action News 1973–1985, has identified as "11 News" since 1995 and also identified as WBAL-TV 11 News.
|-
| rowspan="3"|Charlotte
| WSOC-TV
| ABC (formerly NBC)
| No
| Never used the Action News title but used its news format, station calls itself Channel 9 Eyewitness News
|-
| WAXN-TV
| Independent
| No
| Produced by WSOC-TV; newscasts are now branded as Eyewitness News
|-
| WCNC-TV (formerly WPCQ-TV)
| NBC
| No
| Used from 1982 to 1984; has identified as WCNC Charlotte News since 2020; unrelated to WAXN/WSOC
|-
| San Diego
| KFMB-TV
| CBS
| No
| Used briefly in the 1970s; title was followed by the current year à la the television game show Match Game and the Airport films (i.e., Action News '75); has identified as CBS 8 News since 2022
|-
| Hartford/New Haven, Connecticut
| WTNH
| ABC
| No
| Used 1971–1996, same as WPVI's format; has identified as News 8 since 2010; former sister station of WPVI
|-
| Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville
| WRAL-TV
| NBC (formerly CBS and ABC)
| No
| Used during the 1970s and 1980s; the sister station of Fox affiliate WRAZ. Has identified as WRAL News since 2003. Rival station WTVD cloned WPVI's format.
|-
| rowspan="2"|Kansas City
| KSHB-TV
| NBC (formerly FOX)
| No
| Identified as NBC Action News (2003–2012), then as 41 Action News in early 2012, has identified as KSHB 41 News since 2021.
|-
| WDAF-TV
| Fox (formerly NBC)
| No
| Used 1974–1990; has identified as Fox 4 News since 1997; unrelated to KSHB
|-
| Salt Lake City, Utah
| KTVX
| ABC
| No
| Identified as Action News 4 1975–1979; has identified as ABC 4 Utah since 2013
|-
| Columbus, Ohio
| WSYX (formerly WTVN-TV)
| ABC
| No
| Used as WTVN; has identified as ABC 6 News since 2006
|-
| Cincinnati
| WLWT
| NBC
| No
| Used from 1973 to 1984, cloning WPVI's format; has identified as News 5 since 2004
|-
| Milwaukee
| WISN-TV
| ABC (formerly CBS)
| No
| Used from 1976 (when it was still a CBS affiliate) to 1984 for full operation; has identified as (Channel) 12 News since then, with consumer advocacy division known as "Action 12" until the early 2010s
|-
| Greenville
| WYFF (formerly WFBC-TV)
| NBC
| No
| Used 1975–1981; has identified as WYFF News 4 since 1996
|-
| West Palm Beach, Florida
| WPTV-TV
| NBC
| No
| Used in the 1980s and early 1990s; has identified as NewsChannel 5 since 1993
|-
| rowspan="2"|Birmingham, Alabama
| WVTM-TV
| NBC
| No
| Used in the 1970s; currently identified as WVTM 13 News
|-
| WIAT
| CBS
| No
| Used in the 1980s and 1990s; currently identifies as WIAT News 42, unrelated to WVTM
|-
| Harrisburg/York/Lancaster, Pennsylvania
| WXBU (formerly WLYH-TV)
| Univision (formerly CBS and The CW)
| No
| Used as a CBS affiliate; newscasts during CW affiliation were produced by WHP-TV
|-
|Calgary, Alberta/Santa Barbara California
|WNET-HD
|Independent
|Yes
|Used since 2000, WestNet Wireless