ABC World News Now

History

In late 1991 and early 1992, ABC, CBS, and NBC each launched overnight general news programs to compete for viewer demand driven by CNN's 24-hour Gulf War coverage and to supply local affiliates with overnight programming. Before these programs, network stations often filled overnight slots with movies, syndicated shows, or simply signed off. ABC's program was originally titled World News Overnight but was renamed ABC World News Now before its debut on January 6, 1992, with Aaron Brown and Lisa McRee as anchors.

Later that year, the production staff took over ABC's early-morning news program World News This Morning, sharing anchors. After McRee left in January 1993, Brown anchored solo (with a cardboard cutout of McRee) until Thalia Assuras joined in May 1993; she became the longest-serving anchor at five years, leaving in 1998 for CBS News. Brown left a month later, and the program has since experienced significant anchor turnover. Following the tradition of NBC News Overnight, the show has featured serious and offbeat stories, odd features such as the "World News Polka" played by comedian Barry Mitchell on accordion, video of dancing camels on Wednesdays for "Hump Day," and laughter from off-camera. Weather predictions were made for obscure places like Cicely, Alaska, and Twin Peaks, Washington.

Production

The program airs live beginning at 2:00 a.m. Eastern Time, with a re-air at 3:00 a.m. Eastern Time; it also airs live at 2:30 a.m. Eastern Time with a re-air at 3:30 a.m. Eastern Time. The broadcast is divided into four segment blocks ("A," "B," "C," and "D"). The "A" block starts with national and international news headlines, incorporating pre-taped reports with live wraparounds from ABC NewsOne correspondents or repeated reports from ABC World News Tonight.

It also features a national weather forecast, usually from WABC-TV chief meteorologist Lee Goldberg or Jeff Smith on Mondays, and ends with a humorous "kicker" story. The "B," "C," and "D" blocks mix stories from Nightline or other live-to-tape or pre-taped segments. Segments include "Top Stories," "Weather," "Kicker story," "What to Watch" (since 2009), "Our Favorite Story of the Day" (since 2012), "The Skinny" (since 2007, focusing on entertainment news), and "The Mix" (since 2012, featuring off-beat stories and viral videos).

After the A-block, the rest of the half-hour may include a rebroadcast of the previous night's Nightline story package, the "Roundtable" segment from This Week on Monday mornings, "ABC News Vault" (a historical lookback), "American Landscape" (team coverage from a local ABC station's perspective), "GizWiz" (Dick DeBartolo demonstrating gadgets), "Viewers' Voice" (reading viewer opinions), "Insomniac Theater" on Fridays (staff movie reviews), and "Insomniac Kitchen" (anchors visiting a New York City restaurant for late-night snack ideas).

Scheduling

ABC World News Now is produced in two half-hour blocks that air from 2:00 to 3:00 a.m. Eastern Time on weekday mornings. The program is then looped on a continuous 60-minute tape delay until 8:00 a.m. Eastern, at which point Good Morning America First Look begins in some parts of the Pacific Time Zone. Good Morning America First Look, which shares the same production team and anchors as ABC World News Now but is marketed as part of the Good Morning America brand, goes live to the network at 3:30 a.m. Eastern and is also tape-delayed for many ABC stations.

Most ABC stations do not broadcast the full loop; they cut away for local content, often infomercials or syndicated shows, joining the newscast anywhere from five minutes to two hours after it starts. While the majority of ABC stations carry the program, a few do not. Oklahoma City affiliate KOCO-TV has aired it since its launch, but from November 2010 to September 2012 it skipped the Monday edition because its weekday morning newscast expanded to 4:30 a.m.; the full Monday edition returned in September 2012.

WAWV in Terre Haute, Indiana, did not carry the program when it became an ABC affiliate again in September 2011, after a 16-year gap without an over-the-air ABC station in the market, due to existing syndication deals. It began airing ABC World News Now in fall 2013 once those contracts expired.