WTEN 11pm Newscast (April 11, 1988; Complete)

The 11pm news as aired on WTEN (channel 10) in Albany, NY, the area's ABC affiliate. From 1986 to 1994, WTEN's late news was titled "Nightcast."
Dick Wood anchors the news, Joe Sottile does weather and Steve Shapiro does sports. Pauline Liu, Doug Myers and Bob Lawson report news stories. Marci Elliott is featured in the talent bump, but had the night off. Because this aired following the Oscars, the 11pm news aired a bit later than usual. Dick and Joe mention this at the beginning of the weather segment, to which one of them jokes about how people were taping this and they wouldn't care what time it was (you mean like the guys I bought this from perhaps!)
Aside from the Oscars, stories in this video include 1988 election campaigns, a plane accident in Florida, a deadly fire keeping people out of their homes and a movie critic skipping the Oscars due to a court meeting. The election story features Myers reporting on the Democrats' agenda and Lawson reporting at the Schenectady airport where then-vice president Bush had landed for a campaign stop. Bush would win the presidency over Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis.
As for the court story, film critic Rex Reed was in Albany no less for his meeting. The issue was tax evasion which he plead guilty to, and his visit made him miss the Oscars. He still told the news crews his best wishes for the Oscars, on which Dick says "were more accurate than his taxes." Hur-hur.
Joe Sottile's forecast is typical spring for the Albany area, with 50 degrees bordering on 60. Steve Shapiro reports on NBA and MLB scores, including the Yankees matching up against the Blue Jays. Coincidentally, the Yankees played against the Jays a few days ago where Aaron Judge tied Roger Maris' 61 home run record.
This is the earliest newscast on TH-cam from the "10 Eyewitness News" era. WTEN debuted the brand in January alongside a new set, graphics, and new management. Joe Sottile had arrived a month ago as the first hire under news director Jim Holland; both worked at WTVH in Syracuse earlier in the decade. Steve Shapiro was also moved from weekends, swapping roles with Ed O'Brien. Despite the changes, you can still see WTEN's 1986 logo on the mic flags.
Also they stayed true to the "Eyewitness News" name. The newscast is very much happy-talk, especially when Dick Wood interacts with Joe and Steve. I find it a bit distracting - particularly at the end when Steve reports on Siena's basketball banquet, he tells Dick Wood to his face instead of telling the viewers. I guess we weren't supposed to know that? Too bad if that was the intention!
As always, Dude Walker voices the news intro and outro, and the news theme is Palmer News Package, a CBS Enforcer track. Always found it weird they used a CBS theme for the news despite not being affiliated with them since the 70s.
(C) 1988 Knight-Ridder Broadcasting; WTEN is now owned by Nexstar Media Group. No copyright infringement intended. For educational and historical purposes only. We don't profit off this video.

[@piekielrl]

I'm from near Syracuse, and always liked Joe when he was the weatherman on our local station here!

[@bmasters1981]

Also, Sottile was not billed as the weatherman, but Steve Shapiro was billed as the sports man.

[@JimmySand9]

Steve before WSVN. Joe before KGW.