Evening/PM Magazine

"Evening/PM Magazine" was a half-hour local program that was in production at many stations from the late 1970s through the early '90s. The show pioneered the use of small-format videotape field equipment and electronic editing to tell stories about local people, places and things. The program was known as "Evening Magazine" at the five Group W stations (Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Francisco) and "PM Magazine" on other stations where it was franchised. "Evening/PM" was seen on over 100 stations at it peak, and usually aired at either 7:00 or 7:30 P.M. This 1981 segment from WBZ-TV's "Evening" illustrates how a typical story was produced using the television technology of the era: Sony 3/4-inch videotape decks, Ikegami HL-79 field camera, Datatron edit controller, Grass Valley Group 1600 switcher, and RCA TR-600 quadruplex VTRs.