Development and original format Chronicle was conceived as the latest in a long line of original local programming produced by
WCVB-TV, which, by the early 1980s, was considered by
The New York Times to be "the best TV station in the country". Up to that time, WCVB produced more local shows than any other network-affiliated station. Many of the programs received national attention and/or distribution. Seeing how well its other
public affairs and talk programs were doing, station management decided that the market was ripe for a five-day-a-week competitor to
WBZ-TV (channel 4; then an
NBC affiliate, now a
CBS owned-and-operated station)'s
Evening Magazine. The new program, with proposed titles including
OnLine,
Prime Access,
Tuning In,
Close Up and
5 to You, was to follow the
Evening Magazine format; a 30-minute newsmagazine covering a variety of different topics each night, ranging from arts and entertainment to human interest stories.
Chronicle was structured this way when it premiered on Monday, January 25, 1982, at 7:30 pm. Hosted by WCVB chief news anchor
Chet Curtis, with co-anchors Donna Downes and Jeanne Blake, the program covered four unrelated topics with local appeal. Among the segments featured in the show's premiere edition focused on wintertime on
Cape Cod and funny pet tricks. Almost immediately, reviews for
Chronicle were mixed. Some thought WCVB's effort to have an
Evening Magazine-style show of their own paid off and had potential, while one reviewer, Jack Thomas of the
Boston Globe, went so far as to criticize the show by comparing it to
60 Minutes. The review read, "If
Mike Wallace had watched the first 10
Chronicle shows, he would sue the producers for defamation of character, because
Chronicle is a "dog-and-pony" show compared with
60 Minutes." Undaunted, the producers went along and continued running the mixed bag of stories until a few months into the show's run. Possibly due to marginal ratings, if not anything else,
Chronicle began to evolve into its current form, a newsmagazine that tackles one single topic per night. The new, longer segment style, including topics listed above, gradually built a substantial audience. As the producers found the formula that worked, there was some turnover of
Chronicles on-air staff in its early years. In the fall of 1982, Chet Curtis left the program, and was replaced by new lead anchor/reporter Peter Mehegan. Jeanne Blake would stay on as lead female anchor as well as a reporter, but Donna Downes would depart in 1983. Another original regular, contributor Arnie Reisman, hosted an
Andy Rooney-like closing segment that poked fun at life's little foibles. When the show underwent an early revamp beginning in the fall of 1982, Reisman was replaced with
Tony Kahn, who then did similar closing segments. As main
Chronicle segments became more involved due to the single-topic format, Kahn and his social commentary segment became occasional until they were phased out entirely in 1985 (WCVB would subsequently produce a number of primetime specials featuring Kahn, which were extended versions of this social commentary segment). However, it was correspondent/contributor
Mike Barnicle, a columnist who had stints at both
The Boston Globe and
Boston Herald, who remained in the long run. Known for his hard-biting, "to the point" commentary and unique outlook on whatever story he covered, Barnicle became the program's source of social and political relevance. Barnicle was the longest-running member of the original
Chronicle reporter's lineup; he lasted from the January 1982 premiere until 2005, save for a period between August 1998 and January 1999 when WCVB put him on a leave of absence, after a plagiarism investigation was launched involving several of Barnicle's
Boston Globe articles. Like senior anchor Peter Mehegan, who retired from his nightly work on
Chronicle in 2005, Barnicle has reappeared as a guest contributor since leaving.
Formula for success As
Chronicle flourished, it soon rose to the top of the ratings, beating out the array of competition (from off-network reruns, to
Evening Magazine and
Entertainment Tonight) at 7:30 weeknights. On the heels of its success came the introduction of special continuing segments within-the-show. The first, and ultimately most successful segment was
Main Streets & Back Roads, which first aired on July 8, 1983. The inaugural edition, with Jeanne Blake on location, was about
Mystic, Connecticut. More on-air talent arrived just as the show was reaching new heights of success; 1984 saw a significant change in personnel. First, Jeanne Blake announced her decision to leave WCVB for rival WBZ, and was replaced by another
NewsCenter 5 anchor, Mary Richardson. Andria Hall, a new correspondent, joined in 1985, and within a few years she would also serve as a fill-in anchor. Richardson, who had been anchoring weekday afternoon and weekend newscasts for WCVB since 1980, joined Peter Mehegan, also a
NewsCenter 5 emigre. In time, Richardson and Mehegan became just as dependable and recognizable as channel 5's lead anchor team of
Natalie Jacobson and Chet Curtis. Of course, unlike Curtis during his several months on
Chronicle in 1982, both Mehegan and Richardson never returned to the
NewsCenter 5 broadcasts.
Peter Mehegan debuts "The Old Chevy" In 1987, Peter Mehegan introduced a tradition that continues as a symbol for
Chronicle viewers, and fans of
The Main Streets & Back Roads. Mehegan and his wife kept a rotting 1969
Chevrolet Impala V8 in their backyard garage after inheriting it from an aunt. Rather than have the car decay and get hidden by all the weeds growing in the garage, Mehegan set about to get it restored, hiring auto body specialists that spent months bringing "the old Chevy" back to life. After a complete overhaul and the installation of a new engine, Mehegan decided to share the project in a
Main Streets segment, and then took it out for a spin to the show's next destination. He fell in love with the Chevy so much that he kept it as the principal vehicle for all
Main Streets & Back Roads and (later)
On the Road trips. Although it has been scarcely featured since the early 2010s, the Chevy remains Mehegan's loyal companion in his occasional guest appearances and is an institution for viewers.
Late 1980s/1990s By the end of the decade,
Chronicle had already won several New England
Emmy Awards and countless other accolades. Its critical acclaim got the show picked up for a few national runs, although on a limited basis. In the late 1980s,
Chronicle was seen on cable's Arts & Entertainment Network (
A&E), and later had selected runs on
The Travel Channel. In 1992,
Chronicle won the first of its two
duPont-Columbia Awards. Into the early 1990s, the roster of talent remained stable. No further changes occurred on the program until February 1993, when Andria Hall announced her departure. Hall had been chosen to anchor
Front Page, a prime-time newsmagazine for the
Fox network. In early March, Hall signed off from
Chronicle, and for the next six months, Mehegan, Richardson and Barnicle remained the only marquee regulars on the show. In September 1993, Hall's permanent replacement finally arrived in new reporter Liz Brunner. Like Hall, Brunner became a substitute anchor for Mehegan and/or Richardson whenever she was needed. Soon after her arrival, Ted Reinstein joined the show on a recurring basis as a general features reporter. Previously known for his work as a contributor on WCVB's morning show
Good Day!, and for hosting
Discover New England, specials which WCVB aired once or twice seasonally in
Chronicle's timeslot, Reinstein soon moved into a full-time reporting position, and was credited as a marquee reporter by 1995. Brunner and Reinstein added their own experiences and point of view, sometimes being the subject of stories themselves. In the fall of 1995, as
Chronicle introduced yet another new graphic look and theme song, the show launched a popular ad campaign using the slogan "News You Can Use" (with the lyrics
"Chronicle has got the news, the news you can use!"). The melody, developed as a generic tune by Gari Communications (now Gari Media Group) with vocals partially supplied by singer-songwriter
Jake Holmes, was also in use (with different lyrics) at other stations. While this
Chronicle campaign lasted a couple of years, the instrumental version of "News You Can Use" (in a different arrangement than what was used in promos) became the new theme song, which remained unchanged from its debut in November 1995 until its retirement in March 2008. This
Chronicle theme lasted far longer than the
NewsCenter 5 theme package from Gari Communications that was introduced at the same time ("Image News", which debuted to all Hearst stations beginning in the fall of 1995, was used as the WCVB news package until December 2003). Since March 2008, an instrumental soft-rock tune, dominated by piano, has been used as the theme music. Although WCVB's
Chronicle no longer uses the "News You Can Use" theme, WMUR's
New Hampshire Chronicle has continued to use the theme since the program's 2001 premiere until August 2018.
2000–present Chronicles ability to maintain a stable roster of talent continued. After the permanent addition of Liz Brunner and Ted Reinstein, the team saw no more changes for the rest of the 1990s. After 2000, there would be shakeups, as WCVB as a whole saw many prominent personalities leave the station or switch positions. With the departure of
Heather Kahn from
NewsCenter 5 in 2000, Liz Brunner expanded her news duties by taking over Kahn's former role as co-anchor of the 5:30 p.m. newscast. Later that same year, she also began co-anchoring the 11 p.m. newscast. However, for a couple years more, she would occasionally still appear on
Chronicle. She would not have a permanent replacement until 2002, when Karen Holmes Ward, host of WCVB's weekend public affairs show
CityLine, assumed the position. Then in 2005, three correspondents departed
Chronicle. That spring, after nearly 23 years with the program, Peter Mehegan announced he was stepping down as the program's lead anchor and correspondent, although he agreed to still do periodic
On the Road segments; Mehegan's final telecast as a regular aired in September 2005. Shortly thereafter, Ward was dropped as a correspondent and fill-in anchor. In the wake of these departures, Mike Barnicle, who was the only surviving member of the original
Chronicle roster, decided he would look onto new opportunities, and left the regular staff by year's end. As with Mehegan, Barnicle has returned as guest contributor at least a few times a year since. Meanwhile,
NewsCenter 5 lead anchor Anthony Everett, who had often been a
Chronicle substitute anchor in 2005, was slated to be interim male anchor until the producers found a replacement for Peter Mehegan. After deciding that his replacement needed to be a veteran of WCVB with a strong viewer connection, management let Everett stay as full-time anchor alongside Mary Richardson. He continued his role as lead anchor on
NewsCenter 5 while anchoring
Chronicle, which in a sense brought the program full circle. Chet Curtis, who had been replaced by Everett at the news department when he defected to
New England Cable News in 2000, was a
Chronicle anchor in 1982 when the program premiered, while having remained lead anchor at
NewsCenter 5. Liz Brunner was the only non-lead anchor to do both the news and
Chronicle simultaneously; in 1994, a year after joining
Chronicle, she began co-anchoring
NewsCenter 5s early morning
EyeOpener newscast (Brunner was replaced on
EyeOpener in 2000 by Heather Unruh). With the new anchor team in place by the end of 2005,
Chronicle went several more months with a smaller group of regulars. In April 2006, new talent finally arrived; reporter Shayna Seymour was hired away from ABC affiliate
WGGB-TV in
Springfield, Massachusetts. Seymour currently covers general interest stories, but has also garnered a producer credit. On March 26, 2007, Anthony Everett's duties on WCVB became exclusively with
Chronicle. In the time since Everett became a full-fledged member of the program's on-air team, it was station management's plan to phase him out of his demanding news duties and have him focus solely on
Chronicle. Everett had mutually agreed to switch his focus at the station from the daily demands of hard news to specialty stories on the newsmagazine. Like Peter Mehegan before him, Everett left a permanent anchor post at
NewsCenter 5. His position was filled by
Ed Harding, who thus became WCVB's new lead anchor beside
Natalie Jacobson and shortly after with Liz Brunner, who was promoted to female lead anchor when Jacobson retired in July 2007. On March 25, 2010, WCVB announced that after 26 years, Mary Richardson would leave
Chronicle and the station. Richardson's farewell broadcast aired on Friday, May 21, 2010; the following Monday, Everett began anchoring the show alone. On April 8, 2013, after three years as a solo anchor, it was announced that WCVB meteorologist
JC Monahan would permanently join
Chronicle as Everett's co-anchor later in the spring. Monahan was originally slated to start in June, but she ultimately made her debut on May 23, 2013. Former WFXT meteorologist (and close friend of Monahan's) Cindy Fitzgibbon replaced Monahan on the
NewsCenter 5 EyeOpener and
Midday newscasts.
Erika Tarantal, co-anchor of WCVB's
NewsCenter 5 at Noon, became a reporter and fill-in anchor for
Chronicle in 2016. In early 2017, Monahan announced her intention to leave WCVB for other opportunities. While she left her current post as co-anchor of the station's 5:00 newscast in March, she remained on
Chronicle through May 24. The following day, longtime program reporter and producer Shayna Seymour replaced Monahan as co-anchor. ==Regional versions==