The National is the CBC's flagship national television newscast. It reports on major Canadian and international news stories, airing weekday nights at 10:00 pm.
History
The National evolved in the early 1970s out of the CBC's national news programming, airing at 11:00 pm as a half-hour program. On January 11, 1982, The National was relaunched in the 10:00 pm timeslot with a modernized design and format. The Journal, a program that covered news stories in greater depth using interviews and documentaries, followed it at 10:22 pm.
One of the hosts of The Journal from the beginning was Barbara Frum, who quickly became a symbol of CBC News as she was not afraid to tackle the toughest and most controversial of issues. This was intended as a full hour of news and information programming. Sadly, Frum died suddenly in March 1992. Her final interview was with Canadian author Mordecai Richler, which took place just days before her death.
That same year, the CBC, which was undergoing major changes, replaced The National and The Journal with Prime Time News, an integrated package which aired at 9:00 pm. However, the show fared poorly in the ratings, and returned to the 10 p.m. time slot in 1994.
In 1995, the program reverted to the name The National, and was followed by The National Magazine, which later became simply The Magazine. When the program was revamped significantly in early 2001 this segment was renamed Documentary. The program acquired its current look and format in the fall of that year with the CBC's corporate redesign.
Presentation
The show opening during this period, known as "the Bloops", featured the title of the program in a "space-age" font in green on the bottom of the screen, superimposed over a wide shot of the set. Sometimes the program title appeared in the center of the screen, with a black background. Accompanied by synthesized beeps that resembled an old computer, different letters appeared from left to right until they spelled "The National".
An announcer would intone "The National, with," followed by the name of the anchor, followed by a cut to a shot of the anchor beside a screen. The anchor of the program would then summarize the top stories as different slides appeared for each of them on the screen.
1982 - 1988
On January 11, 1982, the CBC relaunched The National with a radically different format and presentation style that looked very hi-tech for its time. The new logo used the typeface Stop.
The opening animation, an electronic globe that features a map of the world mapped onto an array of cubes, used red 3d vector computer graphics with blue shading.
The synthesized opening music featured a fanfare played by The Canadian Brass.
During the mid-1980s Quantel Paintbox was used to create many of the graphics for the stories.
1988 - 1992
In 1988 the CBC updated the presentation of The National with more modern computer graphics. The logo used all upper-case letters in the typeface Times New Roman.
1992 - 1995
Between 1992 and 1995, the program was called Prime Time News.
1995 - 1997
The logo used the font Palatino in upper-case for the words "The National", and Frutiger in upper-case for the words "CBC News" underneath.
1997 - 2001
A new opening and look for the show appeared that retained the style of the 1995 opening but used somewhat more sophisticated and modern computer animation.
2001
The logo used the typeface Microgramma, centred on two lines, with "CBC News" underneath in Frutiger.
2001- Present
In the fall of 2001 the presentation of The National was updated along with the corporate redesign of the entire network to have one consistent branding. The New York design firm Razorfish designed the look of this and other network programs.The logo used the typeface Frutiger in upper case.
Anchors
- 1959-1966: Earl Cameron
- 1966-1969: Stanley Burke
- 1969-1970: Warren Davis
- 1970-1976: Lloyd Robertson
- 1976-1978: Peter Kent
- 1978-1988: Knowlton Nash
- 1988-Present: Peter Mansbridge (co-anchor with Pamela Wallin from 1992 to 1994)
Other personalities who have anchored The National include Jan Tennant, Sheldon Turcotte, Alison Smith, Wendy Mesley and Carole MacNeil.
Commentators
Bob MacDonald appears as the science correspondent.
Gwynne Dyer appears frequently as the military affairs correspondent.
Rex Murphy frequently appears on The National with commentaries on a segment entitled "Point of View", before the end of the program.
External links
- Official website on cbc.ca
- The National and The Journal - The Museum of Broadcast Communications
Sources
Nash, Knowlton. Prime Time At Ten (1987)