1980: Nightline debuts
Roone Arledge, the president of ABC News, initially created the weekly late-night newsmagazine as a response to the Iran hostage crisis in November 1979, originally presented as a series of special reports.
The show later adopted the name “Nightline” and introduced Ted Koppel as its anchor, a position he held until 2005, solidifying the program’s best-known format.
Nightline, widely regarded as one of the most esteemed news programs of its time, continued to air at the 11:30 pm timeslot well into the 21st century.
However, with the increasing competition from entertainment-focused talk shows in that time slot, ABC eventually rescheduled the program to extend past midnight. -A.D.
Today’s Birthdays: Louie Anderson, comic (60); Joseph Barbera, cartoonist (d. 2006); Lake Bell, TV doctor (34); Lara Flynn Boyle, Twin Peaksian (43); Robert Carradine, Disney dad (58); R. Lee Ermey, military man (69); Norman Fell, landlord (d. 1988); Alyson Hannigan, witch (39); Connie Hines, talking horse co-owner (d. 2009); Peter Jacobson, doctor (48); Star Jones, talk show host (51); Jim Parsons, physicist (40); Donna Pescow, state senator (59); William Smith, character actor (80).
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