''PM/Evening Magazine'' is a television series with a news and entertainment format. It was syndicated to stations throughout the United States. In most areas, ''Evening/PM Magazine'' was broadcast from the late 1970s into the late 1980s.

Origins

During the summer of 1976, KPIX in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

, a CBS affiliate then owned by Westinghouse (Group W) Broadcasting, premiered a local weeknight television news and entertainment series titled ''Evening: The MTWTF Show''. The show was designed to add localism as suggested by the newly enacted " Prime Time Access Rule." At its inception, the rule was created by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

(FCC) to give back the half-hour preceding primetime (7:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Eastern and Pacific time zones; 6:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in the

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

and

Mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher ...

time zones) to local network-affiliated stations in the top fifty television markets, prohibiting them from accepting network-originated programming (and later on, syndicated reruns of network programs) in that time slot.

KPIX's ''Evening Magazine''

KPIX's ''Evening Magazine'' was first hosted by San Francisco radio personality

Jan Yanehiro Jan Yanehiro is a Japanese-American broadcast journalist. Personal life Yanehiro earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from California State University, Fresno in 1970. She first worked as a flight attendant before getting a job on radio sta ...

, journalist Steve Fox and Detroit news anchor and reporter Erik Smith. According to the tenth anniversary special, Smith lasted 13 weeks before heading back to Detroit and returning to WXYZ-TV, where he remained until 2010. It was the first of a new breed of television show shot totally on videotape, rather than the then-standard 16mm film, taking advantage of new minicam technology. The format called for the local hosts to have on-location wraparounds (in and around their local communities) and introduce short feature stories about ordinary and interesting people doing extraordinary and quite newsworthy things.

Expansion

At the time, Westinghouse owned four other stations around the country, and with the success of ''Evening Magazine'' in the San Francisco market, it was expanded to their other properties. Soon, Group W stations in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore wa ...

( WJZ-TV), Boston, Massachusetts (

WBZ-TV WBZ-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent station WSBK-TV (ch ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

(

KYW-TV KYW-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside CW affiliate WPSG (channel ...

), and

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

( KDKA-TV) were all doing their own local versions of the ''Evening'' format. The show's format allowed the stations to share their feature stories among each other. For example, a feature that aired in San Francisco could also be shown in Baltimore, and vice versa. The success of the format on the Group W stations gave the company management a bigger idea. Group W decided to expand and syndicate the format to other markets where they didn't own stations. The first market that was interested in producing their own ''Evening'',

KING-TV KING-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Everett-licensed independent station KONG (channel 16). Both stations share studios at the Home Plate ...

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

, already had a program on the air called ''Evening Magazine'', which airs on that station to this day. However, Group W came up with another title that could be cleared in other markets: ''PM Magazine''. At the end of the 1970s, with ''Evening'' and ''PM'' now all over the country, Group W Productions created a large production office in San Francisco at 855 Battery Street. This was on the bottom floor of KPIX-TV. Dick Crew was the National Executive Producer along with the following production staff: Dick Newton, Sally Jewett, Andrew Schorr, Melanie Chilek, Bill Geddie, Diane Heditsian, John Norton, Larry Emsweller, Vanita Cillo, Jim Ziegler, David Baxter, Mellen O'Keefe, Gary Cooper and Joe Tobin. Their function was to watch all of the stories being produced by the new local ''PM'' and ''Evening Magazine'' stations and create a weekly "national reel" for stations to run in local markets. Depending on local station budgets they could produce as much or as little feature material as they wanted, but still have a local show starring local talent. The cooperative production model created by ''Evening/PM'' remains unique to this day.

Breeding ground for television on-air and production talent

''Evening/PM'' was also a "breeding ground" for television on-air and production talent. Matt Lauer, Tom Bergeron, Nancy Glass, Leeza Gibbons, Henry Tenenbaum and Jerry Penacoli were among those who became well-known because of their work with the ''PM/Evening'' programs. In Pittsburgh, KDKA-TV's broadcast of ''Evening Magazine'' featured a young

Dennis Miller Dennis Michael Miller (born November 3, 1953) is an American talk show host, political commentator, sports commentator, actor, and comedian. He was a cast member of '' Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1991, and he subsequently hosted a str ...

providing a "humorous" closing piece, similar to

Andy Rooney Andrew Aitken Rooney (January 14, 1919 – November 4, 2011) was an American radio and television writer who was best known for his weekly broadcast "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney", a part of the CBS News program ''60 Minutes'' from 1978 to 2011 ...

's commentary on ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique st ...

''. In its more than a decade run, the show's local market producers traveled all over the country and the world, producing fun and memorable television. ''PM Magazine'' was a launching point for the career of actor-meteorologist Mike Randall, who co-hosted the Hartford version from 1982 to 1983, and

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

wide receiver

Jimmy Cefalo James Carmen Cefalo (born October 6, 1956) is an American journalist, news broadcaster and sports broadcaster, radio talk show host, Voice of the Miami Dolphins, businessman, wine enthusiast and former professional American football wide receiver ...

began his broadcasting career with the local edition on WTVJ.

Departments

Two long features were augmented each day by a block of "departments", featuring special tips for daily living—generally, two or three departments were featured in each program, each with a different host. In the early 1980s, "Captain Carrot" presented the "Self" department, on healthier living; Judi Sheppard Missett presented " Jazzercise" in the "Exercise" department; Dr. James Wasco presented medical issues in the "Health" department;

Chef Tell Friedman Paul Erhardt (November 5, 1943 – October 26, 2007) was a German American pioneering early television chef. He was known as "Chef Tell" to his 40 million fans. He is widely regarded as one of the first chefs to enjoy widespread popular ...

gave new food ideas in the "Cooking" department; the "animal" department featured Joan Embery and animals from the San Diego Zoo; Fred McBurney hosted "Outdoor Leisure" featuring tips related to hunting & fishing; and in the "Travel" department, Linda Harris visited various parts of the globe.

Special editions

Occasionally, ''PM Magazine'' would feature a prime-time "Special Edition" special, focusing on a single subject for an entire hour. These specials were hosted not by local hosts, but by more-well-known personalities, such as

Bill Rafferty William Rafferty (June 17, 1944 – August 11, 2012) was an American comedian and impressionist who hosted the game shows '' Every Second Counts'' (1984–1985, syndicated), ''Card Sharks'' (1986–87, syndication), and '' Blockbusters'' (1987, N ...

, who hosted a 1980 special edition on "Mating and Dating in the '80s"; and a 1982 "Star-Studded Super Special" hosted by

Robert Guillaume Robert Guillaume (born Robert Peter Williams; November 30, 1927 – October 24, 2017) was an American actor and singer, known for his role as Benson DuBois in the ABC television series ''Soap'' and its spin-off, '' Benson'', as well as for voi ...

Decline

The number of stations carrying ''PM Magazine'' began to decline in the middle- to late-1980s for a variety of reasons. Some industry insiders have placed a great deal of the blame on Group W Television, which handled both distribution of the franchise as well as national advertising sales for the local editions. The initial arrangements between Westinghouse and stations which subscribed to the ''PM Magazine'' format were done so on a "barter" basis, where the local affiliate and the national distributor shared an even split of advertising time and revenue. But by the mid-1980s Group W increased the program's franchise fees, and also took more advertising time within the program, thereby reducing the local affiliates' ability to make money with local spots, some by as much as 20 percent. With fewer local commercial spots to sell, and increasing production costs on the affiliate end, the ''PM Magazine'' format appeared less attractive. By

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

, when Group W decided to cancel the format, ''Evening/PM'' had been edged out in many of its local time slots in favor of tabloid TV news–investigation programs, many with little or no local content. Shows such as '' A Current Affair'', '' Hard Copy'', and '' Inside Edition'', along with the lighter-edged ''

Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American first-run syndicated news broadcasting newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Paramount Streaming. ET also airs in Aus ...

'' filled up the prime time access available spots and ended ''Evening/PMs run, although KPIX would resurrect its own version of ''Evening Magazine'' once again, this time in the mid-1990s. During this run, one of the hosts was Mike Rowe. KPIX continued to air its version of ''Evening Magazine'' weeknights before CBS's prime time programs up until

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

, when the show's name was changed to ''Eye on the Bay'', and the program's hosts also changed after a short transition.

Stations that carried ''Evening/PM Magazine''

Notes: This is an incomplete list. Information on local hosts of this program may be found within the individual stations' articles. Stations marked with an asterisk were owned by Group W. *Albany:

WTEN-TV WTEN (channel 10) is a television station licensed to Albany, New York, United States, serving the Capital District, New York, Capital District as an affiliate of American Broadcasting Company, ABC. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is a sister s ...

*Albuquerque: KOB-TV, KGGM-TV *Amarillo, Texas:

KFDA-TV KFDA-TV (channel 10) is a television station in Amarillo, Texas, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Borger-licensed Telemundo affiliate KEYU (channel 31). Both stations share studios on Broadway Drive ( ...

*Anchorage:

KTBY KTBY, virtual channel 4 (UHF digital channel 20), is a Fox- affiliated television station licensed to Anchorage, Alaska, United States. The station is owned by Cumming, Georgia-based Coastal Television Broadcasting Company LLC, which also operat ...

*Asheville, North Carolina:

WLOS WLOS (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Asheville, North Carolina, United States, broadcasting ABC and MyNetworkTV programming to Western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which prov ...

*Atlanta:

WAGA-TV WAGA-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios and transmitter facil ...

*Austin: KTBC-TV *Baton Rouge: WBRZ-TV *Baltimore: WJZ-TV* *Beaumont, Texas: KFDM *Birmingham:

WBRC-TV WBRC (channel 6) is a television station in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power, Class A Telemundo affiliate WTBM-CD (channel 24). The two stations studios at ...

*Boston:

* *Buffalo: WIVB-TV, WGRZ-TV *Cedar Rapids/Waterloo, Iowa: KWWL-TV *Champaign/Urbana/Springfield, Illinois: WCIA *Charleston-Huntington, West Virginia: WSAZ-TV *Charleston, South Carolina: WCBD-TV *Charlotte: WBTV *Chattanooga: WRCB-TV *Chicago: WFLD *Cincinnati: WKRC-TV, WIII-TV (final season; now WSTR-TV) *Cleveland: WJW-TV *Colorado Springs, Colorado: KXRM-TV *Columbia, South Carolina:

WIS-TV WIS (channel 10) is a television station in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, affiliated with NBC and The CW. The station is owned by Gray Television, and maintains studios on Bull and Gervais Streets ( US 1/US 378) in downtown Columbia ...

*Columbia/Jefferson City, Missouri: KCBJ-TV *Columbus, Ohio: WCMH-TV *Dallas/Fort Worth: WFAA-TV, KDFW-TV *Davenport, Iowa: WOC-TV/KWQC-TV *Dayton, Ohio: WDTN *Denver: KOA-TV/KCNC-TV *Des Moines: WHO-TV *Detroit:

WJBK WJBK (channel 2) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios and transmitter facil ...

''(as "PM Magazine Detroit" and "PM Detroit")'' *El Paso, Texas: KVIA-TV *Evansville, Indiana:

WEHT-TV WEHT (channel 25) is a television station in Evansville, Indiana, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which provides certain services to WTVW (channel 7), a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station of The CW, ...

*Flint/Saginaw/Bay City, Michigan: WNEM-TV *Fort Myers/Naples, Florida: WINK-TV *Fort Wayne, Indiana: WANE-TV *Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo/Battle Creek: WZZM-TV *Green Bay, Wisconsin: WFRV-TV *Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem:

WFMY-TV WFMY-TV (channel 2) is a television station licensed to Greensboro, North Carolina, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for the Piedmont Triad region. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on Phillips Avenue in Greensboro, ...

*Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville: WFBC-TV/WYFF,

*Harrisburg/Lancaster/York/Lebanon: WGAL-TV *Hartford/New Haven: WFSB *Houston: KHOU, KHTV *Huntington, West Virginia:

WSAZ WSAZ-TV (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Huntington, West Virginia, United States, affiliated with NBC. It serves the Charleston–Huntington market, the second-largest television market (in terms of geographical area) east of t ...

*Indianapolis: WTHR,

WISH-TV WISH-TV (channel 8) is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is locally owned by Circle City Broadcasting alongside Marion-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WNDY-TV (channel 23) and low-power, C ...

*Jackson, Mississippi: WJTV *Jacksonville: WJXT *Johnstown, Pennsylvania: WJAC-TV *Kansas City: KMBC-TV *Knoxville:

WATE-TV WATE-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Nexstar Media Group. The station's studios are located in the Greystone mansion on North Broadway/ SR 33/ SR 71/ US 441, and i ...

''(as Knoxville's PM Magazine)'' *Lafayette, Louisiana: KLFY-TV *Lansing, Michigan: WJIM-TV *Las Vegas:

KLAS-TV KLAS-TV (channel 8) is a television station in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Nexstar Media Group. The station's studios are located on Channel 8 Drive near the northern portion of the Las Vegas Strip in the ...

*Lexington, Kentucky: WKYT-TV *Los Angeles: KTTV ''(CBS station KNXT aired a similar program called "2 On The Town")'' *Louisville: WHAS-TV *Lubbock, Texas:

KCBD KCBD (channel 11) is a television station licensed to Lubbock, Texas, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned Gray Television alongside Wolfforth-licensed CW+ affiliate KLCW-TV (channel 22) and four low-power stations— MyNetworkTV a ...

*Madison, Wisconsin: WMTV *Memphis: WHBQ-TV *Miami/Fort Lauderdale: WTVJ *Milwaukee: WISN-TV, WVTV during its last season *Minneapolis/St. Paul:

WCCO-TV WCCO-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, broadcasting the CBS network to the Twin Cities area. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, and maintains studio ...

*Mobile/Pensacola: WALA-TV *Mount Vernon, IL: WCEE-TV *Nashville:

WKRN-TV WKRN-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Nexstar Media Group. The station's studios are located on Murfreesboro Road (U.S. Routes 41 and 70S) on Nashville's southe ...

*New Bern, North Carolina: WCTI-TV *New Orleans:

WWL-TV WWL-TV (channel 4) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Slidell-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WUPL (channel 54). Both stations share studios on Rampart St ...

*New York City: WNEW-TV/WNYW ''(PM Magazine)'',

WWOR-TV WWOR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area as the flagship of MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox flagship WNYW ...

''(Evening Magazine)'' *Norfolk/Portsmouth/Newport News: WTKR *Oklahoma City: KTVY/KFOR-TV *Omaha: WOWT *Orlando/Daytona Beach: WDBO-TV/WCPX-TV *Peoria: WMBD-TV *Philadelphia:

* *Phoenix: KTVK *Pittsburgh: KDKA-TV* *Portland, Oregon: KGW-TV

*Providence/New Bedford:

WJAR-TV WJAR (channel 10) is a television station in Providence, Rhode Island, United States, affiliated with NBC. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station has studios on Kenney Drive in Cranston, Rhode Island (shared with Telemundo owned-and-ope ...

*Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville:

WRAL-TV WRAL-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Raleigh, North Carolina, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Research Triangle area. It is the flagship station of the locally based Capitol Broadcasting Company, which h ...

*Reno, Nevada:

KTVN-TV KTVN (channel 2) is a television station in Reno, Nevada, United States, affiliated with CBS. Owned by Sarkes Tarzian, Inc., the station has studios on Energy Way in Reno, and its transmitter is located on Slide Mountain in unincorporated Wa ...

*Richmond, Virginia: WXEX-TV *Roanoke/Lynchburg, Virginia:

WDBJ WDBJ (channel 7) is a television station licensed to Roanoke, Virginia, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for the Roanoke– Lynchburg market. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Danville-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WZBJ, c ...

*Rochester, New York: WOKR *Sacramento/Stockton: KXTV,

KOVR KOVR (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Stockton, California, United States, broadcasting the CBS network to the Sacramento area. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside CW affiliate ...

KCRA-TV KCRA-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Sacramento, California, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside Stockton-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate KQCA (channel 58). Both stations share studios on Te ...

*Saint Louis: KTVI *Salt Lake City:

KUTV KUTV (channel 2) is a television station in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside independent station KJZZ-TV (channel 14) and St. George–licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate K ...

*San Antonio: KSAT-TV *San Diego: KFMB-TV *San Francisco: KPIX* *Scranton/Wilkes-Barre: WNEP-TV *Seattle/Tacoma:

KIRO-TV KIRO-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with CBS and Telemundo. Owned by Cox Media Group, the station maintains studios on Third Avenue in the Belltown section of Downtown Seattle, and its ...

''(PM Magazine)'',

''(Evening Magazine); KING-TV version still on-air today'' *Shreveport, Louisiana:

KSLA-TV KSLA (channel 12) is a television station in Shreveport, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power, Class A Telemundo affiliate KTSH-CD (channel 19). The two stations share studios on Fa ...

*Spokane, Washington: KHQ-TV *St. Louis, Missouri: KTVI-TV *Syracuse, New York:

WTVH WTVH (channel 5) is a television station in Syracuse, New York, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is the only station whose broadcast license continues to be owned by Granite Broadcasting, a moribund company (controlled by Greenwich, C ...

, WIXT *Tampa/Saint Petersburg:

WTOG-TV WTOG (channel 44) is a television station licensed to St. Petersburg, Florida, United States, serving as the CW affiliate for the Tampa Bay area. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group, and maintains studios on Northeast 105th Terrace ...

, WTSP *Toledo, Ohio: WTOL-TV, WDHO-TV *Traverse City/Cadillac/Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan: WGTU-WGTQ *Tucson: KOLD

*Tulsa: KOTV-DT, KOTV *Utica, New York WKTV *Waco, Texas KWTX-TV *Washington, D.C.: WTTG, WDVM-TV/WUSA *West Palm Beach/Ft. Pierce: WPEC-TV *Wichita, Kansas: KAKE-TV *Wichita Falls, Texas: KAUZ-TV *Youngstown, Ohio: WKBN-TV

References

External links

History of Group W's ''Evening/PM Magazine'', mainly from the WBZ-TV/Boston perspectivePM Magazine segments from Beaumont's KFDM
on the

Texas Archive of the Moving Image The Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) is an independent 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2002 by film archivist and University of Texas at Austin professor Caroline Frick, PhD. TAMI's mission is to preserve, study, and exhibit Texas film h ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pm Magazine 1976 American television series debuts 1991 American television series endings 1980s American television series 1990s American television series First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Franchised television formats Infotainment Television series by CBS Studios Westinghouse Broadcasting