Central Newsnight

(titled Central Newsnight with Julie Etchingham since October 2022 and also simply known as Newsnight) is the flagship daily evening television news program of Central News, the news division of the Central Television Network in the United States. It is currently the most watched network newscast in the United States, with an average of 2 million. Since October 3, 2022 the program's weekday broadcasts have been anchored by . As of June 2022 the weekend newscasts are anchored by Paul Folger (Saturday) and Lois Thome (Sunday).
The program has been anchored at various times by a number of other presenters since its debut in 1971, originally known as The 6:30 Report from 1971 to 1985.
The previous day's newscast can be seen on the internet via centralnews.com, the Central News YouTube channel, and Central Now.
 
==History==
===Formation and The 6:30 Report===
Ron Stone and Gary LaPierre, one of Central News' pioneers, created Central's second evening newscast on July 5, 1971, known as The 6:30 Report airing Monday to Friday from 6:30 to 7:30 in the evening. Dr. George Fischbeck and Brent Musburger, both from Los Angeles, joined Stone for their respective weather and sports positions in 1975. The newscast ran for one hour and replaced The Nightbeat, which then moved to the 11:35pm time slot.
===Central Newsnight (1983-present)===
====Early years====
Montreal native Céline Galipeau eventually joined Stone in 1983, after a brief stint at the network's station in Washington D.C. In time for July 4, 1983, longtime Central News president Claude Beauchamp reformed and modernized the newscast, including a name change—into the current Newsnight title, in which the show was reduced to 30 minutes. LaPierre and Galipeau continued to head the newscast, now partnering with "Captain Mike" Ambrose replacing Dr. Fischbeck as meteorologist.
====Later years====
Stone announced his stepdown with the newscast in 1985, leaving Galipeau to lead the newscast. He died at the age of 72 in 2008. replaced Musburger as its sports anchor in 1993.
On December 16, 1989, a weekend edition was founded (for a further history on the weekend editions, see section below); anchored by J.D. Roberts.
Mike Nelson replaced "Captain Mike" as chief meteorologist in 1994. He died in 2008.
A major revamp of the newscast occured on January 2, 1995, with new graphics done by Television by Design (TVbD) (and similar to that of TeleOnce's graphics at the time). Galipeau moved back to Quebec in 1996, with longtime Centralist Don Shelby taking over her position.
By 1997, Newsnight became America's second most-watched network newscast, beating ABC's World News Tonight, CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News. The four programs would usually trade positions for first place since 2007.
Newsnight became the first network newscast to broadcast regular newscasts in high definition on January 2, 2006, coinciding with the network's launch of high definition programming that same day. On July 4, 2007, the newscast gained a new set and graphics; along with refreshed graphics.
On June 30, 2008, Newsnight launched up its Facebook and Twitter website. Marv Albert left his position three days prior, replaced by Fred Cowgill. That same day, Wes Wyatt took over as Chief Meteorologist.
====2011-2022: The Stephen Swift era====
Don Shelby announced his stepdown from the newscast in early 2011. His final day anchoring the newscast was on July 5 that year, the newscast's 40th anniversary. His replacement is chief reporter Stephen Swift. With the change came in new graphics and music. On February 27, 2017, Swift renewed his contract with Central News.
On September 18, 2017, a new studio set debuted, designed by Florida-based FX Design Group. The current set features a 20-by-11-foot (6.1 m × 3.4 m) LED video wall and a smaller curved LED wall near the anchor desk. With the upgrade, they also upgraded to 4K cameras and a new graphics presentation. Singer-songwriter and actress joining the team as its entertainment/feature anchor and Ryan Field, replacing Cowgill as sports anchor that same day.
On August 10, 2020, Central Newsnight marked 8 consecutive weeks as "America's Most-Watched Show".
New graphics were introduced as part of the newscasts' 50th anniversary on July 5, 2021, with a special opening sequence showing past clips and photos of the newscast's memorable moments. A special documentary entitled Newsnight: The First Fifty was aired on September 12 and 19, 2021, interviewing living former and current Newsnight staff. New graphics also debuted the following day.
====Julie Etchingham era (October 2022-present)====
At New Year's Eve 2021, Swift annouced that he would step down as anchor of Central Newsnight by mid-2022, to be succeeded by Central's correspondent hailing from London and longtime British TV presenter Julie Etchingham. Swift closed his final Newsnight newscast in front of 3.7 million viewers on September 29, 2022, by saying:
::Well this is it. After eleven years anchoring the news here on Central, I want to say, thank you. Thank you to everyone here at past and present, with whom it's been my honor to work over these years. And a deeply felt thanks to all of you, who have let us into your homes night after night which I have been grateful for.
::Starting on Monday, you're gonna see some new face on Newsnight, and that is a particular someone who has been reporting the news around the United Kingdom.
::And that has been Newsnight for tonight. I'll still see you around.
Swift continues working with Central News, serving as an analyst and anchoring and producing documentary programs, in addition to continuing his docuseries Stephen Swift Reports and his chief reporting and editorial management duties, and said to continue anchoring the newscast when Etchingham is away on leave and/or on general assingment duties. With Etchingham taking over as anchor of the newscast, Mark Austin became Central News' chief London correspondent. Critics reviewed Etchingham's anchoring, saying "it makes its viewers speak in a British accent." This wasn't the first time the network had a British anchor, Matt Frei anchored the Saturday editions of Newsnight from 2004 to 2022.
==Weekend editions==
Initially being aired during special occasions since its inception, the weekend editions premiered on December 16, 1989, at 6:30pm, with John Roberts as the original anchor of both Saturday and Sunday editions. Roberts was succeeded by Mike Snyder and Gloria Campos in 1990 as he moved back to Toronto for a role at CTV News.
On June 5 and 13, 2004, Snyder and Campos respectively were replaced by Matt Frei and Carol LeBeau as anchors. For the first time, Sam Champion and Dean Blevins were assigned as meteorologist and sports anchorman respectively.
Along with the main weeknight newscast, the weekend editions were upgraded to HD in January 2006, and later in July 2019, in 4K.
In June 2015, Blevins announced his return to local news with , and was replaced by Pat Tomasulo.
LeBeau served as the Sunday edition anchor until 2015. Lois Thome served as replacement for her position since October 11, 2015. Paul Folger replaced Frei as Saturday anchor on June 20, 2022.
==Theme music==
Under The 6:30 Report, it originally used Richard Hayman's "Conquest" as its very first theme music up until 1975. Various production music/compositions were done for and/or used for the newscast from 1975 to 1977 and 1986 to 1995.
In 1977, the newscast adopted Vangelis' "Pulstar" as its theme music. The theme was well-used up until 1986, even with the rename to Newsnight in 1983. The theme had also been used by Univision owned-and-operated station WLTV-TV (now WLTV-DT).
On January 2, 1995, the 1991 theme was replaced with a composition by British composer George Fenton. The signature theme has been kept since, with subsequent revamped versions introduced throught in 2003 and for the newscast's 50th anniversary in 2021. The headline bed is also used during special reports.
==Anchors==
===Weeknights===
*Julie Etchingham (anchor and managing editor, October 3, 2022-present)
====Fill-in anchors====
*Peter Alexander
*Gilles Bouleau (from Paris)
*Tim Boyum
*Jonathan Elias
*Matt Frei
*Lisa McRee
*Ross Palombo
*Rob Powers
*Shelly Ribando
*Stephen Swift
===Weekends===
*Paul Folger (Saturday; June 19, 2022-present)
*Lois Thome (Sunday; October 11, 2015-present)
===Specialist anchors===
*Ryan Field (2017-present, Sports Central weeknight correspondent)
*Lisa Foronda Harper (2022-present; Swiftertainment/feature stories correspondent)
*Karen Fuller (1997-present, Central News Investigates correspondent)
*Pat Tomasulo (2015-present, Sports Central weekend correspondent)
*Tom Terry (2011-present, Gary England Weather Central weekend meteorologist; also holds "Senior Meteorologist" title)
*Taylor Swift (2022-present; Swiftertainment/feature stories correspondent)
*Wes Wyatt (2007-present, Gary England Weather Central weeknight and chief meteorologist)
===Former anchors===
====Weeknight anchors====
*Don Shelby – anchor from 1996-2011, now heads the news department
*Céline Galipeau – co-anchor from 1984-1987, main anchor from 1987-1996; now at anchoring weeknight editions of 
*Stephen Swift – main anchor from July 4, 2007-September 29, 2022; now fill-in anchor of weeknight editions
*Ron Stone – anchor from 1971-1990; died in 2008
====Weekend anchors====
*Gloria Campos – Sunday anchor from 1990-May 30, 2004; retired
*Matt Frei – Saturday anchor from June 5, 2004-June 11, 2022; now fill-in anchor of weeknight editions
*Carol LeBeau – Sunday anchor from June 6, 2004-August 2, 2015; now retired
*Mike Snyder – Saturday anchor from 1990-May 29, 2004; later host for the weekly political program Up to the Point; now retired
*John (J.D.) Roberts – anchor from December 16, 1989-1990; now Senior White House Correspondent for Central News
====Specialist anchors====
*Mike Ambrose – chief meteorologist from 1988-1994; now deceased
*Dean Blevins – Sports Central weekend anchor (2004-2015); now at in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
*Aaron Brown – chief Central News Investigates correspondent (1996-2001); now retired
*Sam Champion – weekend meteorologist (2004-2011)
*Fred Cowgill – Sports Central chief correspondent from 2008-2017
*George Fischbeck – chief anchor from 1975-1986; died in 2015
*Brent Musburger – sports anchor from 1975-1988; now retired
*Mike Nelson – chief meteorologist from 1994-2004, now chief meteorologist at in Denver
*Sam Rubin (2011-2017, 2022-2024, Swiftertainment/feature stories chief anchor); died in 2024
*Marv Albert – Sports Central chief correspondent from 1988-2010; now retired
==International broadcast and other channels airing Newsnight==
A Filipino version was created on June 22, 1992 for Pilipinas Central known as Newsnight Pilipinas, with the newscasts' main language in Tagalog. It is presently anchored by Pia Arcangel, Andrei Felix and Jiggy Manicad.
Newsnight airs in Australia with a delayed telecast the next morning on SBS WorldWatch every Sunday and Monday, while its weekend counterpart is aired every Tuesday to Saturday. Prior to the WorldWatch channel launch, Newsnight was aired on SBS' World Watch news block via SBS and SBS Viceland.
Newsnight is also syndicated and aired on local television stations in the United States that do not have any newscasts, or without an in-house news department.
In addition to syndication around the United States, Newsnight is aired on its sister news channel CENN during the same time, which follows Early Edition. The newscasts are also simulcast on Central News' streaming service, Central News Live.
==Gallery==
Central's The 630 Report open 1971.png|The 6:30 Report opening titlecard from 1971 to 1975, aired during Newsnight: The First Fifty in 2021.
The 6-30 Report open 1975.png|The 6:30 Report opening titlecard from 1975 to 1976, aired during Newsnight: The First Fifty in 2021.
NN open 1983.png|Newsnight open (1983-1986)
newsnight open 1986.png|Newsnight open (1986-1991), aired during Newsnight: The First Fifty in 2021.
NN open 1992.png|Newsnight open (1991-1995)
NN graphics 1991-1995.png|Graphics (1991-1995)
The Centralist open 1995.png|Titlecard used from 1995 to 1996.
Newsnight 1996.svg|Logo (1996-2003)
Newsnight open 1996.png|Titlecard used from 1996 to 2003.
Newsnight (Central News Special Report) graphics 1996.png|Split-screen graphics (1996-2003)
Newsnight 1996-2003 graphics.png|On-screen graphics (1996-2003)
Newsnight open 2004.png|Titlecard used from 2004 to 2007.
NN graphics 2004.png|Graphics (2004-2007)
The Centralist with Shiftwell and AMD (2004-2010).svg|Logo (2004-2011)
LeBeau_Press.jpg|Carol LeBeau, Saturday anchor (2004-2015)
Newsnight open 2007.png|Titlecard used from 2007 to 2011.
Sam Champion.jpg|Sam Champion, weekend meteorologist (2004-2011)
newsnight 2011 c.svg|Logo (2011-2016)
Newsnight open 2011.png|Titlecard used from 2011 to 2016.
CEN-EWN 2023.svg|Logo (2015-2021)
Newsnight open 2015.png|Titlecard used from 2015 to 2021.
Matt-Frei.jpg|Matt Frei, Saturday anchor (2004-2022)
Lois-Thome.jpg|Lois Thome, Sunday anchor (2015-present)
nn open (2021).png|Titlecard used since 2021. This version was used in the last year of Stephen Swift's tenure as anchor (2021-2022).
NN-HL-09262023-01.png|Headline tease graphics (2021-present)
John Paul on Central-EWN.png|On-screen graphics (2021-present)
NN-TRUMP-9262023-01.png|On-screen graphics (breaking news, 2021-present)
FolgerPaulWeb.jpg|Paul Folger, Saturday anchor (2022-present)
Category:News programming
Category:Central Television Network
Category:Central News
Category:List of news programs broadcast and aired by Central Television Network
Category:List of programs broadcast and aired by Central Television Network
Category:United States
Category:Television programmes in the United States