TV and radio news from July 4, 1976

[SouthBayDem]

On YouTube, ABC News has a 5-minute highlight video of its primetime special The Great American Birthday Party, coverage of the US bicentennial on July 4, 1976, hosted by Harry Reasoner.

TV Obscurities has a summary of what was on the networks back then.

YouTube also has the complete broadcast the NBC Sunday News hosted by John Hart (jump to 1:10 to skip commercials) recorded off Chicago station WMAQ. The lead story was the freeing of 100 hostages from Uganda. At 6:50 is a segment about the 200th anniversary celebrations (boats in NYC, Pres. Ford visiting Valley Forge, Philadelphia, and NYC).

Other news that day: Jimmy Carter interviewed Edmund Muskie for his campaign's vice presidential nomination, and Queen Elizabeth II was planning an "inspection tour" of America for July 6.

Side note: On Friday, I was vacationing out East. In my hotel room, I had NBC Nightly News on in the background while catching up with some personal matters. Having been a regular viewer of NBC News from 2006-11 (and more casually as a child, for around 10 years beforehand), today's national evening news shows feel so freaking fast-paced compared to the video clips from the '80s and before I see online, because modern TV news must consistently have someone talking (the reporter, a guest, or some other speaker) and jumping around from scene to scene, in contrast to the above 1976 NBC newscast that had some silent moments in the stories about the 200th anniversary, letting the viewer see the scenes (like NYC boats or Independence Hall) without needing to be told what was going on.

There is also an off-air recording of New York City's WCBS-AM at midnight, with the CBS national and WCBS local news updates. (Skip to 0:30 to get past the recording listener's added intro.)

(Sadly, WCBS AM no longer is an all-news station; it changed to sports as WHSQ in 2024. Thankfully, 1010 WINS is still giving you the world in 22 minutes.)