"live at five" was born of necessity; the 5 p.m. broadcast was part of a two-hour early evening news block called "newscenter 4" which combined features and hard news, and attempted to compete with old movies and syndicated programming that aired on its competitors in the time period. the first anchors of "live at five" were pia lindström and melba tolliver; jack cafferty joined the anchor chair a few months later. when ratings for the news block crumbled in 1980, wnbc decided to pour its resources into its 6 p.m. newscast, which would feature its best reporters, while the 5 p.m. newscast would be more of an interview and lifestyle program with news headlines featured at the top of the show.