Covering the Fire Coverage: A Return to Normalcy?

Above, coverage of the San Diego fires from that market's CBS affiliate, KFMB Channel 8.

As San Diego becomes the focal point to the fire disaster, Los Angeles’ TV stations are finally pondering a return to normal programming.

KABC, for example, is expected to return to “Good Morning America” this morning for the first time this week. But every station is still likely to go back on the air this morning at 4 a.m. with the latest local coverage.

Stations again spent much of Tuesday commercial-free, broadcasting non-stop news as the Southern California inferno got more out of hand. With nearly 1 million people evacuated from their homes, the story continued to grow in scope.

One local TV general manager I spoke to said he knew exactly how much money he had lost so far — “down to the penny” — by dumping commercials. But in cases like this, it’s important to take a leadership role — partly because community service is still a factor in TV licenses, and partly because it brands you as the go-to TV station in times of crisis.

Meanwhile, over at KNBC, the station once again bucked the trend and kept much of the “Today” show on the air — while KABC jettisoned “Good Morning America” (actually, it ran “GMA” on its digital sub-channel) and KCBS pre-empted “Early Show.” Why? According to KNBC news director Bob Long, he’s trying to send a message to the East Coast “Today” show folk, who were already producing a special live west coast edition. By airing “Today,” which was pretty much wall-to-wall fire coverage anyway, Long is still trying to get the New York news operations to pay more attention to the world out west.

In radio, L.A.’s all-news KNX and KFWB stuck to the story, but for the most part kept their ads (after all, this is more their usual duty). In evening, however, the fire coverage waged enough out of the control.

In San Diego, radio stations banded together to share resources and simulcast feeds, much like the New Orleans radio stations did in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. All of the Clear Channel stations, for example, went with one feed, from news/talk KOGO. Also, in the spirit of cooperation, alternative rocker FM 94.9 turned its signal over to public broadcaster KPBS, after the station’s transmitter was shut down by the fires.

Covering the Fire Coverage: A Return to Normalcy?

Above, coverage of the San Diego fires from that market's CBS affiliate, KFMB Channel 8.

As San Diego becomes the focal point to the fire disaster, Los Angeles’ TV stations are finally pondering a return to normal programming.

KABC, for example, is expected to return to “Good Morning America” this morning for the first time this week. But every station is still likely to go back on the air this morning at 4 a.m. with the latest local coverage.

Stations again spent much of Tuesday commercial-free, broadcasting non-stop news as the Southern California inferno got more out of hand. With nearly 1 million people evacuated from their homes, the story continued to grow in scope.

One local TV general manager I spoke to said he knew exactly how much money he had lost so far — “down to the penny” — by dumping commercials. But in cases like this, it’s important to take a leadership role — partly because community service is still a factor in TV licenses, and partly because it brands you as the go-to TV station in times of crisis.

Meanwhile, over at KNBC, the station once again bucked the trend and kept much of the “Today” show on the air — while KABC jettisoned “Good Morning America” (actually, it ran “GMA” on its digital sub-channel) and KCBS pre-empted “Early Show.” Why? According to KNBC news director Bob Long, he’s trying to send a message to the East Coast “Today” show folk, who were already producing a special live west coast edition. By airing “Today,” which was pretty much wall-to-wall fire coverage anyway, Long is still trying to get the New York news operations to pay more attention to the world out west.

In radio, L.A.’s all-news KNX and KFWB stuck to the story, but for the most part kept their ads (after all, this is more their usual duty). In evening, however, the fire coverage waged enough out of the control.

In San Diego, radio stations banded together to share resources and simulcast feeds, much like the New Orleans radio stations did in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. All of the Clear Channel stations, for example, went with one feed, from news/talk KOGO. Also, in the spirit of cooperation, alternative rocker FM 94.9 turned its signal over to public broadcaster KPBS, after the station’s transmitter was shut down by the fires.

Radio Waves: The Return of Two Big Names to L.A. Radio?

Local talk radio legend Michael Jackson is about to make another run on the airwaves. According to his website (and as first reported by LARadio.com), Jackson will air from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Saul Levine’s KMZT-AM (1260), which is about to switch to an all-talk format as KGIL-AM. Jackson writes:

The station is in Los Angeles and they are chaninging their call-sign from K-Mozart to KGIL. That’s a call sign which had a fine reputation for many years. We’ll be on the AM band at 1260, and as the newsreport had it, I’ll be filling some very familiar hours; 9-11 a.m. There’s a possibility, to be confirmed in a few days, that the program will be repeated between 4.00 and 6.00 pm. There’s lots to tell and as I learn more I’ll pass it on.

1260 AM has been playing classical music since February, when Levine flipped his FM station (105.1, now KKGO-FM) from classical to country. In the process, Levine moved the classical format to the 1260 AM signal.

But 1260 AM is hard to hear in much of Los Angeles county, and AM radio isn’t ideal for classical music anyway. 1260 AM has seen many format changes in recent years, from adult standards to showtunes to all-Beatles to news to country.

As for Jackson, the host most recently conducted a wide variety of interviews for all-news KNX, but ultimately left the station when he wasn’t given his own timeslot. He’s still best known for his unprecedented 32-year run on KABC-AM, as seen above in that promotional ad.

Meanwhile, another question making the local radio rounds: Is Los Angeles ready for the return of Don Imus?

Of course, the other question is, does Los Angeles care?

As talk of Imus’ return to radio continues, here in L.A. the buzz on radio boards has been a potential timeslot on KABC-AM. But that’s far from a sure thing — particularly because Imus doesn’t have a great track record in Los Angeles. His last syndicated stop here didn’t make any noise. And by the time he was forced off the air — for using a derogatory comment — Imus was only heard in the region on a tiny Inland Empire station.

KFWB Broadcast Tower? CBS Broadcast Center? Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off

They’re located 10 steps from each other, but to hear newsradio outfits KFWB and KNX give their weather reports, you’d think they were in completely different complexes.

When it comes time to give the temp, I heard one KFWB anchor say, “It’s (blank) degrees at the KFWB Broadcast Tower.” KNX, on the other hand, has its anchors say, “It’s (blank) degrees at the CBS Broadcast Center.”

Both are totally made-up names, so I guess it doesn’t matter. The truth is, both are located in the Wilshire skyscraper right next door to Variety (where E! Entertainment Television once resided, before joining Variety in the Wilshire Courtyard complex).

But I love that KFWB goes beyond exaggeration (not only are many CBS radio stations in the tower, but CBS Radio is just one of many, many tenants in the tower) while KNX is a bit more modest.