Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Here's the first seven minutes of the 11pm edition of Eyewitness News on KABC Channel 7 in Los Angeles, CA, with anchors Bill Van Amburg (son of Van Amburg, legendary anchor at sister station KGO Channel 7 in San Francisco from 1969 to 1986) and Joanne Ishimine (substituting for Anna Chavez). It is preceded by a commercial break.

[Musical Note ♫ - The edit of Lalo Schifrin's "Tar Sequence" KABC used as the Eyewitness News opening theme was done by that station and did not come from the custom edit originated in 1968 with WABC Channel 7 in New York and also used at one time or another at KGO (News Scene), WXYZ Channel 7 in Detroit, MI (Action News), and Chicago's own WLS-TV.

Also, the font used for lower-thirds was Serif Gothic Bold from Chyron's type library.]

Includes:

Bill, Joanne and voiceover (by Len Beardsley) preview coming stories (notice, in far-away shot, the Ikegami HK-312 cameras which, the prior year, replaced the Norelco PC-70 cameras KABC had used since 1966)

Commercials for:

Sambo's Restaurant - 99 Cent Breakfast, $1.99 Lunch and $2.99 Dinner (voiceover by ??)

Ralphs - 108-Year Anniversary Savings Sale

Imperial Savings & Loan (voiceover by ??)

Station ID with plug for Eyewitness News (featuring photos of Jerry Dunphy, Christine Lund, Dr. George Fischbeck and Ted Dawson?) (voiceover by Len Beardsley) - "#1 in Southern California"

News opening (voiceover by Len Beardsley, also previewing Ed Arnold with sports and Bill Keene with weather), followed by items:

- Longest jet hijacking in history (13 days) comes to an end; hijackers surrender in Damascus after Pakistan releases 50 political prisoners; one ex-hostage, Craig Clymore of Orange County, indicted on drug charges, another passenger impersonated Brooklyn, NY native Lawrence Magnum (while the real Magnum never even left the country); of all passengers, one ended up dead

- Craig's parents, from San Juan Capistrano, are bitter about his indictment; father Glen, who was interviewed by Angela Black, says U.S. Embassy in Syria refused to let him speak with his son, but before the charges were announced, was grateful he had lived through the ordeal

- Another session in Bellmore, WA, trial of copycat Hillside Strangler, Veronica Compton who was lover of accused L.A. Strangler Kenneth Bianci; L.A. County Sheriff's Deputy Peter Finnigan is among those testifying

- Another child declared missing in ongoing case of Atlanta child murders, with the count now up to 22 (20 dead, 2 missing); Vice President Bush meets with local authorities in Atlanta after President Reagan pledges $1.5 million dollars towards investigation, and emphasizes that this is a national commitment as well as that of the city

- Fire in old (unnamed? What's up with the reporting here?) Chicago hotel kills 19 people and injures 12 including two policemen, and 100 escaping with their lives; it had started in laundry room and spread to fourth floor; it housed many North Side transients (?? "Run-down section" of the Northside??); accounts from survivors John Hernandez and Peter Pocan

- Fire officials in Encino area investigating cause of blaze that caused $2 million in damage to mansion on 4300 block in Meadow View Place

- In Westwood, outpatient of Veterans Hospital, James Hopkins, 32, of Malibu, who claimed his brain was destroyed by Agent Orange, drives Jeep through glass front doors and fires several shotgun blasts before being subdued; he was found carrying two pistols and two rifles; FBI is on case; his service would have come within era of Vietnam War

- Singer/guitarist Eric Clapton hospitalized in Minneapolis in stable condition with perforated ulcer; he had used painkillers while performing in Madison, WI, but was doubled over in pain afterwards and cancelled all shows for coming week; he was eight shows into 59-show U.S. tour

Very brief shot of commercial before recording ends

This aired on local Los Angeles TV on or about Saturday, March 14th 1981 during the 10:58pm to 11:07pm (Pacific) timeframe.

About The Museum of Classic Chicago Television:

The MCCTv (FuzzyMemoriesTV) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose primary mission is the preservation and display of off-air, early home videotape recordings (70s to early 80s, mostly) recorded off of TV (in Chicago or other cities now too); things which would likely be lost if not sought out and preserved digitally. If you have any old 1970s videotapes recorded off of TV please email: tapes@fuzzy.tv We preserve the entire broadcasts in our archives - the complete programs with breaks (or however much is present on the tape), for historical preservation. For information on how to help in our mission, to donate or lend tapes to be converted to digital, please e-mail tapes@fuzzy.tv Thank you for your help!