Live at Five (WNBC)

History

Live at Five was created to fill the 5 p.m. hour of NewsCenter 4, a two-hour early evening news block that mixed hard news with feature segments. The goal was to draw viewers away from the old movies and syndicated shows airing on competing stations at that time. Its first anchors were Pia Lindström and Melba Tolliver, with Jack Cafferty joining the desk a few months later. After the news block’s ratings dropped in 1980, WNBC decided to focus its best reporters on the 6 p.m. newscast, while the 5 p.m. show shifted to a lifestyle and interview format, opening with news headlines.

Sue Simmons came aboard in October 1980 from WRC-TV in Washington, D.C., and over the years worked with several co-anchors she nicknamed “anchor husbands,” including Cafferty, Tony Guida, Matt Lauer, Dean Shepherd, and Jim Rosenfield. From 1980 to 1991, announcer Don Pardo handled talent introductions and voice-overs, usually live from the studio. During the 1980s, the show landed guests like Jimmy Carter, Orson Welles, and Little Richard. This impressive lineup became a running gag on NBC’s Late Night with David Letterman, which taped across the hall in Studio 6A.

Letterman would often grab a portable camera to interview Live at Five staffers or guests in the hallway, or even barge into the Live at Five set unannounced. The program was canceled in September 1991 and replaced by a traditional newscast, News 4 New York at 5, anchored by Simmons and Chuck Scarborough. That format didn’t stick; Simmons soon reunited with Matt Lauer for a revived Live at Five, this time originating from the Window on the World studios used by Today. The show later returned to 30 Rockefeller Center and switched to a more conventional news format in September 1993.