ABC 2000 Today
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ABC 2000 Today was ABC News's coverage of the millennium from 1999-12-31 to 2000-01-01. Peter Jennings anchored the 25 hour broadcast in Times Square Studios in New York. ABC temporarily converted the Good Morning America marquee broadcast studio into a type of "millennium command center" that included a desk, where a standing Jennings spent most of his time, two lounge chairs, where Jennings would interview guests, a large screen with a time-zone included map of the world, a wall of clocks, and a make-shift newsroom where ABC News staffers would follow the latest developments. Dick Clark did the countdown in Times Square, as always since his Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve shows first aired in 1972, and was credited as a correspondent. Diane Sawyer and Jack Ford were stationed in Times Square during the daylight hours. Other correspondents were Charlie Gibson in London, Barbara Walters in Paris, and many other ABC News personalities stationed around the world to cover the new year in every time zone. They included Sam Donaldson at the Y2K Command Center in Washington, Cokie Roberts at the Vatican, with her mother, the then U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican, along with Carole Simpson in Chicago Connie Chung in Las Vegas, Deborah Roberts at Walt Disney World, and Morton Dean in Moscow. Then ABC correspondent, Aaron Brown narrated many segments. Guests included veteran actor Alan Alda, famed British comedian Dame Edna, and comedian Al Franken. Musical performances included Enrique Iglesias, Kenny G, Charlotte Church, Billy Joel, Bonnie Raitt, *NSYNC, James Taylor, and Aerosmith.Originally, the name of the broadcast was ABC 2000, but it was officially known as ABC 2000 Today because ABC joined 60 other nations, all celebrating the dawn of the new millennium. The network was part of the 2000 Today consortium that included PBS, the BBC, ABC in Australia, TV Asahi in Japan, RTL in Germany, and the CBC in Canada.
Trivia
The main reason for sending so many correspondents abroad but having Jennings stay and anchor for the entire duration was to make sure ABC got on the air first with any news of Y2K or related news. NBC's coverage with Tom Brokaw and Katie Couric and CBS's coverage with Dan Rather started at 11pm. Like Jennings, Brokaw and Rather were stationed in Times Square; Couric in NBC News Headquarters in Rockefeller Plaza.Peter Jennings stayed on the air for the entire duration without a break using only commercial breaks and correspondent pieces to rest, eat, or change suits.
At least 175 million Americans tuned into some portion of ABC 2000 Today. The broadcast won a Peabody Award.
Theme music for ABC 2000 Today (which was also used for ABC News' election coverage that year) was from Epcot's live show. The music was composed by Gavin Greenway, who won an Emmy award for the work.
See also
External links
- [ABC News Store]
- [ABC 2000 Promo (from Network News Music)]
- [ABC 2000 Theme (from Network News Music)]
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