A Current Affair (American TV program)
A tabloid newsmagazine with a signature "ka-chung" sound.
A Current Affair is an American television newsmagazine program that aired in syndication from July 28, 1986, to August 30, 1996, with a brief revival in 2005. Produced by Fox Television Stations and based at Fox's New York City flagship station WNYW, it began as a local production in 1986 before expanding to national syndication. The program was notable for its signature "ka-chung" sound effect, created from a construction paper cutter snap and a golf club swing run through a synthesizer.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Television news magazine
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Executive producers
- Peter Brennan
- Editor
- Burt Kearns
- Runtime
- 22–24 minutes
- Company
- 20th Century Fox Television (1986–1992); 20th Television (1992–1996, 2005)
- Network
- Syndication
Facts from the source article.
Overview
The show began with Maury Povich as its original host. In late 1990, Maureen O'Boyle took over, staying until May 1994. Jim Ryan served as interim host that summer. Penny Daniels hosted the 1994–95 season, and Jon Scott was the final host. Peter Brennan created and produced the program. Steve Dunleavy, a New York Post columnist, was a key on-air personality; at the show's start, the Post, WNYW, Fox Television Stations, and syndicator 20th Television were all part of the original News Corporation. What started as a late-night, irreverent show on WNYW, under Brennan and producers Burt Kearns and Wayne Darwen, began covering stories across the country that major network news often missed. Its logo was a pyramid accompanied by a distinctive "zoom-like" sound effect, famously called the "ka-chung." Although it covered some hard news, the program mainly focused on entertainment, scandals, gossip, and exploitative tabloid journalism. It thrived in the 1990s, a decade when magazine-style news shows were common on daytime TV. Its main rivals were Hard Copy and Inside Edition, as well as the many talk shows that filled daytime television during that era.
Revival
In March 2005, the show returned after being off the air for nine years. Tim Green, a former NFL defensive end for the Atlanta Falcons and a lawyer, hosted this version, sometimes called ACA 2. The production company, 20th Television, shifted the focus toward news and crime stories instead of entertainment, giving it a more serious feel. Like the original, it avoided obvious political angles. The program aired on all Fox-owned stations, including those that were UPN affiliates. This revival did not last long. After Lachlan Murdoch left Fox and Roger Ailes, then chairman of 20th Television, took over, Fox announced that Ailes would swap the show for Geraldo at Large in November 2005, just seven months after ACA 2 started. Some believed Ailes canceled it because the ACA team sometimes outperformed his Fox News cable channel. That suspicion grew in October 2005, when, after the cancellation was public, ACA aired an exclusive interview with Joran van der Sloot, a suspect in Natalee Holloway’s murder. Around the same time, Geraldo Rivera told the press that Ailes intended to use the time slot as a starting point for a Fox News nightly newscast.
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