ABC World News Tonight: Encyclopedia II - ABC World News Tonight - The Jennings Solo Era

ABC World News Tonight - The Jennings Solo Era

In April 1983, Reynolds left the broadcast for health reasons and succumbed to bone cancer on July 20. A rotation of replacement anchors (including Jennings) hosted the program until September 5, 1983 when the program was renamed to reflect the new host, World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. Robinson left ABC News in 1984, after stints of hosting news briefs and anchoring weekend editions of World News Tonight; he died of AIDS in 1988.

With Jennings as lead anchor, World News Tonight was the most-watched national newscast throughout most of the 1990s, but since 1997 it has been in second place behind its main rival NBC Nightly News.

In April 2005, Jennings announced that he had lung cancer and, as before, a variety of anchors, including 20/20 co-host Elizabeth Vargas and Good Morning America co-host Charlie Gibson, filled in for him. Jennings died of lung cancer on August 7, 2005, at his apartment in New York City at the age of 67.

The August 8, 2005 edition of the program was dedicated to Jennings's memory and four-decade career in news. His death ended the era of the three network news anchors of Jennings, Brokaw, and Rather.

During his career, Jennings had reported from every major world capital and war zone, and from all 50 U.S. states, according to the network. The Jennings era was known for his ability to calmly portray events as they were happening. He was known for his covering of many major world events.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The Jennings Solo Era", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki