From 1972 to 1984, WTVD used the "Eyewitness News" brand for its newscasts, though its format was very similar to the "Action News" format pioneered by sister station WPVI-TV in Philadelphia. The arrangement was similar to those used at WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York and KFSN-TV. For a time, all three stations used the same theme song, "Move Closer to Your World," and a nearly identical opening sequence. WRAL was also using the "Action News" brand during that time period. It called its newscasts simply "WTVD 11 News" from 1984 to 1993. WTVD called itself "NewsChannel 11" from 1993 to 2000, when it changed back to "Eyewitness News". WTVD was among the last stations to use the "Cool Hand Luke" Tar Sequence theme in its broadcasts (which was also used on WRAL for a period in the 1970s). However, the station debuted the theme soon after the Capital Cities/ABC merger and retired it in 1993. Like sister stations WABC, KABC, and KGO-TV, the theme was used only in the opens.