History
When ITN was formed on 22 September 1955, there were initially evening news bulletins on the ITV network. Originally ITN News at 5:50 broadcast was screened in the evening, presented by Gordon Honeycombe; this simple bulletin made use of a light blue background with a single camera, and was intended as a round-up of the day's headlines and looking at stories to be covered in more length by that evening's edition of News at Ten.
This changed in September 6, 1976 when ITV introduced a daytime television schedule for the first time; this new schedule included a renamed, the ITN News at 545, with the first edition broadcast at 5:45pm on September 6, 1976. The 545 marked a major departure in presentational style from the ITN News that had preceded it. Initially, the bulletins were broadcast from the Police Five studio, which enabled the producers to make extensive use of chromakey to display images behind the newscaster, several studio cameras, interviews with correspondents in the studio and on a TV monitor, and wide screen shots of the studio set at the beginning and end of the programme, and when handing over to correspondents.
Alastair Burnet was the original host of the News at 545. Michael Nicholson presented the bulletin on Fridays, and was also a relief presenter. Immediately after the visual 'roll' and electronic audio at the beginning, the announcer intoned in a hushed tone: "The news at 5:45, with Alastair Burnett/Michael Nicholson". Other relief newscasters in the late 1970s included Leonard Parkin, who at the time also regularly hosted the News at One, and Martyn Lewis. In March 1980, when Burnett departed the 545 to present News at Ten, Nicholson replaced him as main anchor, with Carol Barnes taking over as relief presenter. In September 1986, Nicholson left the 545 to return to war reporting, and was replaced by Alastair Stewart.
In 1988 the News at 545 underwent some cosmetic changes, with the visual 'roll' logo and electronic audio being dropped in favour of a new computer-generated opening sequence and a more contemporary theme tune; the studio images were still inlaid using chromakey, although these were now also generated by computer. The programme was moved to the main newsroom within the ITN headquarters building, and full-length reports were now featured as part of the programme. ITN dispensed with the "main" presenter and relief host format, and instead a "team" of newscasters - Alastair Stewart, Fiona Armstrong, Nicholas Owen, Trevor McDonald and Carol Barnes - began presenting the show on a "rotation" basis. ON 13 February 1989, the introduction of a national weather forecast at the end of the programme led to the bulletin's timeslot starting earlier at 5:40pm, being extended in length and the title being changed to News at 540.
Due to the Gulf Crisis of 1991, ITN were temporarily granted a full half-hour slot each evening; the continual change of time (and length) of the bulletin around this time led to the News at 540 being known simply as the ITN News, although the theme tune and set stayed the same with the 540 logo removed from the titles until the bulletin returned to the 5:40pm after the Gulf War ending.
By March 1992, the 540 was dropped, and re-launched as the ITN Early Evening News, though the bulletin remained at 5:40pm and kept the Early Evening News name. The "team" of presenters was scrapped, and John Suchet took over as the programme's main newscaster until the Early Evening News was axed on 5 March 1999.
The 6:30pm ITV Evening News was launched three days later with Trevor McDonald as its main presenter. He left to present the short-lived revival of News at Ten in 2001 and subsequently became main presenter on the ITV News at 10.30 (and later, a third incarnation of News at Ten in January 2008). Following McDonald's departure from the ITV Evening News in 2001, Dermot Murnaghan and Mary Nightingale became the programme's main newscasters. Mark Austin replaced Murnaghan following the latter presenter's defection to BBC News in 2002.
In August 2009, it was announced that after 16 years co-hosting London Tonight, Alastair Stewart was to leave the regional news programme to become main co-anchor of the ITV Evening News. Mark Austin, as the channel's lead news anchor, co-presents the ITV News at Ten but continues as a stand-in anchor for the 6.30pm bulletin.
In September 2011, it was announced that ITV is to pilot a new hour-long 6pm news programme that integrates its early evening regional and national news bulletins. It will also be in direct competition with the BBC News at Six. But this is only a pilot and if it proves to be unsuccessful the news at 6.30 will be re-introduced to the ITV schedules. No date has yet been set for the pilot too air.
Read more about this topic: ITV News At 6:30
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