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Al Primo & His Eyewitness News Revolution

Once upon a time, your TV news report came from a white man sitting at a desk reading a script. That all changed when "Eyewitness News" took to the air in 1965. Al Primo's vision of news became the industry standard: a reporter-centric "eyewitness" multicultural ensemble resembling the community. Al Primo & His Eyewitness News Revolution documents the career and influence of the man who understood that people can tell their stories better than anyone else.

  • Jennifer Dreisbach
    Producer
  • Brian Calfano
    Writer
  • Al Primo
    Key Cast
  • Brian Calfano
    Director
  • Pat Ciarrocchi
    Executive Producer
    KYW 3 Eyewitness News
  • Tanmay Srivastava
    Senior Producer
    90 Days to Leave
  • Reece Rexroad
    Editor
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    58 minutes 40 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 29, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    45,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Brian Calfano

Brian Robert Calfano is a TV news reporter and journalism professor at the University of Cincinnati. He's won multiple broadcasting awards for documentary content, investigative reporting, and political coverage. An accomplished academic, he's the author of several university press books and dozens of academic articles on topics ranging from political communication to urban politics to religion.

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Director Statement

Reporter live shots. Anchors and reporters talking on set. The news ensemble. A news team that looks and sounds like its community. These are the recognized norms of television news. And they took shape under the artful creativity of news director Al Primo. The Pittsburgh native introduced his Eyewitness News format at KYW-TV in Philadelphia in 1965. Primo perfected his concept at WABC-TV New York beginning in 1968. From there, Primo led a revolution in how television news serves the public as its most trusted information source.