Evening Magazine

infobox television
show_name = Evening Magazine


caption =
format = newsmagazine
runtime = 30 minutes
starring =
country = USA
network = All 5 Westinghouse Broadcasting stations
first_aired = September 6, 1976
last_aired = August 30, 1991
website =
imdb_id =

"Evening Magazine" is the name of various different news and entertainment style local television shows in different markets.

The original concept

In August of 1976, KPIX-TV, the highly-rated CBS affiliate in the San Francisco Bay Area owned and operated at the time by Group W, debuted a locally-produced magazine program called "Evening Magazine." The award-winning primetime series ran for 14 years. It was the first program in the U.S. to introduce the magazine format for television. The series dealt with lifestyles, leisure time, pop culture, famous people, fascinating places, consumer tips and information about modern city living. KPIX's "Evening Magazine" was first hosted by San Francisco radio personality Jan Yanehiro and journalist Steve Fox.

The original San Francisco version was so popular, Group W decided to import the "Evening Magazine" format to its other owned-and-operated stations such as WBZ-TV in Boston and KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh. When Group W decided to expand the format to stations outside of their group, the existence of another locally produced program in Seattle, already named "Evening Magazine", prompted them to create an alternate name for the national roll-out—"PM Magazine".

"Evening Magazine" in Seattle

The current "Evening Magazine" that airs in the Pacific Northwest is still produced to this day by NBC affiliate KING-TV in Seattle, Washington. Launched on that station in 1986, that show airs at 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time, with a replay airing later on sister cable station Northwest Cable News. The show focuses on local events, places, and human-interest stories. When "Evening Magazine / PM Magazine" was still on the air nationwide, KING would use some stories from the national feed for their own "Evening Magazine". ( [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/archives/1986/8601180682.asp] )

"Evening Magazine" in other Group W markets

"Evening Magazine"'s local version in Philadelphia was produced by Group W's KYW-TV, Channel 3, an NBC affiliate at the time (the station is now owned and operated by CBS, like all former Group W stations). It was hosted by Ray Murray for a long time and also featured Susie Pevaroff, Nancy Glass, Mary Ann Grabavoy, Jerry Penacoli, Pat Ciarrocchi and other stars of KYW's Eyewitness News. It was canceled in the 1990s.

"Evening Magazine" also aired in Pittsburgh from the mid-1970s until its cancellation in 1990 and was produced at Group W's KDKA-TV. Hosts included Jon Burnett, Donna Hanover, Liz Miles, and Mary Robb Jackson. Contributors to the show included Bob Kmetz and Dennis Miller as his first broadcast experience.

Boston's version of "Evening Magazine" was produced at Group W's WBZ-TV, featuring Robin Young and Marty Sender. A TV special was once produced in their honor, entitled "An Evening to Remember", circa 1987- when the franchise was starting to lose some ground. It featured a history of the show, augmented with staff and viewer comments.

KPIX revival

A similar show with the same name aired on KPIX-TV (by this time owned and operated by CBS) from 1998 to 2005. This one is well known because it was hosted by the now-popular Discovery Channel personality, Mike Rowe. The Bay Area "Evening Magazine" aired on weeknights prior to Mike Rowe's move to "Dirty Jobs". The show has since been replaced by "Eye on the Bay", which has left Rowe's former "Evening Magazine" co-host, Malou Nubla, on the outs with the TV station. Chuck Barney, the TV critic for the Bay Area "Times" newspapers said in a March 2006 article:

Turns out Nubla was displeased when Channel 5 scrapped "Evening Magazine" in favor of "Eye on the Bay"—a move that diminished her onscreen role. Her contract, however, ran through this month, and she insists she intended to be a good team player and honor it. But then a heated exchange with a station exec (that Nubla says was initiated by the "irate" exec) quickly torpedoed those plans, and she was out of there.

Sources

* [http://www.evening-pm.org History of Group W's "Evening Magazine", mainly from the WBZ-TV/Boston perspective]
* [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_km4465/is_200603/ai_n16290844 Chuck Barney's 2006 article about Malou Nubla's departure from KPIX]