Chronicle is an American newsmagazine television program that is produced by two New England television stations owned by Hearst Television: WCVB-TV (channel 5) in Boston, Massachusetts and WMUR-TV (channel 9) in Manchester, New Hampshire. The program premiered on WCVB on January 25, 1982, and the WMUR version premiered in September 2001. It airs weeknights at 7:00 p.m. on WMUR and 7:30 p.m. on WCVB, offering an informative lifestyle, cultural and news-related magazine format, most often covering a single topic within each broadcast.

The introductions of each segment and of the program itself are broadcast live, while on-location material is pre-recorded. On October 25, 2006, the WCVB edition of Chronicle began broadcasting in high definition, airing letterboxed on WCVB's analog signal until its 2009 phase-out, with WMUR New Hampshire edition also following suit. In addition, WTAE-TV (channel 4) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, also owned by Hearst, has produced a series of specials based on the Chronicle format since 2013. Other Hearst stations have since done specials under the Chronicle format including WESH (channel 2) in Daytona Beach, Florida; WXII-TV (channel 12) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and WVTM-TV (channel 13) in Birmingham, Alabama (the latter of which will start in fall 2018).

Synopsis Many of the stories on Chronicle involve those that are of interest to New Englanders, from landmarks, vacation getaways, and the fine arts, to inspirational stories of people who overcame adversity, made an important contribution to society or, those who are currently in the news. However, Chronicle tends to avoid sensational tabloid topics and, since its premiere, has never featured story content that underestimates the intellect of its audience. The program has been highly regarded for most of its existence, and its long-running segments, most notably The Main Streets & Back Roads, have become institutions.

Main Streets and Back Roads Main Streets & Back Roads is Chronicles longest-lasting regular segment; each installment profiles a different rural town from around the region. Interviews with residents, business owners, and anyone else who has significance to the location are featured. Often, the basic lifestyles of the area are covered, but sometimes the legends or famous myths of the city or town are investigated. In 1987, it started featuring correspondent Peter Mehegan's travels in a restored 1969 Chevrolet Impala coupe, which became the most recognizable aspect of the Main Streets episodes.

Special topics In addition to the program's regular segments, other general subjects discussed on Chronicle have included people diagnosed with rare forms of cancer, and other life-threatening diseases. The early stages, treatment, and the effects their illnesses have on their overall life and mental well-being are all depicted. Similar stories even follow people, young or old, who had survived life-threatening accidents and now had to deal with permanent handicaps or altered appearances. While these stories are in no way meant to depress the viewers, they often do not flinch from their subjects' grim realities; at the same time, they are intended to educate and inspire the audience. Certain people who have been profiled over the years have connected with viewers to indirectly teach lessons about the human spirit.

Pop Chron Chronicle has a few other continuing segments running besides the venerable Main Streets & Back Roads. A monthly continuing segment was Pop Chron, an episode devoted to covering the latest happenings in pop culture, from the fine arts to movies; television; literature; fashion and music, among other topics. Nearly all Chronicle regulars had been involved with Pop Chron since its inception in 1997. This recurring episode theme was discontinued in the late 2000s.

On the Road On the Road was a de facto offshoot of Main Streets & Back Roads, with Peter Mehegan driving his Chevrolet Impala to different locations in Maine – where in each segment, Mehegan met up with interesting people, looks in on local issues – and collects stunning scenery from the area. This episode theme was launched shortly before Mehegan's retirement from Chronicle in 2005, but continued as an occasional piece for several years more (with Mehegan returning as a guest contributor).

Guest contributors Guest contributors, mostly on-air talent from WCVB's NewsCenter 5 broadcasts and other programs on the station, have included financial reporter/analyst Mark Mills, who contributed to stories involving the Massachusetts economy. His stories have ranged from the "Great Comeback" of 1984–85, through the 1987 stock market crash to the recession of the early 1990s and its subsequent recovery ("the dot com boom"). WCVB news reporter Chuck Kraemer was an on-location correspondent from time to time. On January 28, 2011, NewsCenter 5 EyeOpener anchor Bianca de la Garza served as co-host and was also featured in a segment with Professor Lyrical, a master hip-hop rapper and professor at Northeastern University. Liz Brunner, who was a member of Chronicles regular reporting staff from 1993 to 2002, had returned to the program as a frequent contributor as well until her departure from WCVB in 2013.

History

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