Los Angeles Area Fires & Coverage

[MD TV 233]

3 hours ago, hfiles said:

Did they have a "Previously Recorded" on the broadcast? There wasn't one on the live stream.

Didn't see one. There was no time and temperature either.

[T.L. Hughes 834]

5 hours ago, MD TV said:

KABC did take a break from 2-4am PST and is airing commercials now during their regularly scheduled newscast.

I’m assuming they ran World News Now (and possibly GMA First Look) during that time.

Edited January 9 by T.L. Hughes

[DENDude 197]

The Eaton fire is currently threatening Mt. Willson & the TV Transmitter sites for KNBC,KABC, KCBS, KKTV, KTLA, & KCAL.   And probably transmitter sites for local radio stations.

 

So quick question: where is the backup site for the L.A. TV stations?   Thanks..

[MD TV 233]

The Eaton fire is spreading towards Mount Wilson. That's where basically all of LA's tv signals are:

 

https://ktla.com/news/california/wildfires/live-view-of-the-eaton-fire-from-mt-wilson/

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/california-wildfires/eaton-fire-mount-wilson/3599568/

 

Edited January 9 by MD TV

[Chicago2008 16]

Lexi Sutter from WMAQ/NBC5 Chicago was sent to assist NBC4 LA with coverage. On a separate note I was in that area for my Cousin's wedding in September. Allot of what I saw on the Pacific Coast Highway is now gone. 

[24994J 5457]

Liz Nagy from WLS is headed out, too. KABC also had a KTRK reporter assisting, last night, in addition to the help from Fresno and the Bay Area.

[FiveNews 357]

Let me be clear: the most important thing is broadcasting up to the minute information to keep the community safe. With that said I do have a few questions...

 

• Most if not all LA stations have been on the air wall to wall since Tuesday morning without any breaks. How does that impact the studio equipment? Curious if there will need to be updates to monitors, cameras etc when this is all under control. Especially for a high use studio like KTLA.
• We will never know, but I'd like to know how much money is lost due to stations not broadcasting commercials. Again, in the grand scheme of things (lives lost, keeping people safe) it isn't important, but I know it is something that will be looked at by station management.

[MD TV 233]

1 hour ago, Chicago2008 said:

Lexi Sutter from WMAQ/NBC5 Chicago was sent to assist NBC4 LA with coverage. On a separate note I was in that area for my Cousin's wedding in September. Allot of what I saw on the Pacific Coast Highway is now gone. 

I saw WNBC's Sarah Wallace report for them.

[mrschimpf 2287]

Everything has been sterling about KABC's coverage, but what I dreaded the most about the 'live view' element in the new opening has been happening through this and I wish they'd just turn the weather ticker pane off or fill it with 'Continuing Coverage', 'Red Flag Warning' or any other filler text because a general forecast is just not working right now.

Edited January 10 by mrschimpf

[GraphicsMan 68]

12 hours ago, MD TV said:

KABC did take a break from 2-4am PST and is airing commercials now during their regularly scheduled newscast.

WABC did take a break in the overnight hours when 9/11 happened. In fact they weren’t even on 24/7.

2 hours ago, FiveNews said:

Let me be clear: the most important thing is broadcasting up to the minute information to keep the community safe. With that said I do have a few questions...

 

• Most if not all LA stations have been on the air wall to wall since Tuesday morning without any breaks. How does that impact the studio equipment? Curious if there will need to be updates to monitors, cameras etc when this is all under control. Especially for a high use studio like KTLA.
• We will never know, but I'd like to know how much money is lost due to stations not broadcasting commercials. Again, in the grand scheme of things (lives lost, keeping people safe) it isn't important, but I know it is something that will be looked at by station management.

Yeah a lot of money will be lost in ad revenue. But they have big budgets though this ain’t some smaller market station.

[mrschimpf 2287]

44 minutes ago, GraphicsMan said:

WABC did take a break in the overnight hours when 9/11 happened. In fact they weren’t even on 24/7.

Yeah a lot of money will be lost in ad revenue. But they have big budgets though this ain’t some smaller market station.

You can see that in that they carried the Spanish statements with captioned Spanish even as other EN stations just broke off from the latest combined LA metro conference.

[GraphicsMan 68]

7 minutes ago, mrschimpf said:

You can see that in that they carried the Spanish statements with captioned Spanish even as other EN stations just broke off from the latest combined LA metro conference.

Yeah that’s commitment right there. They always outdo themselves.

[MediaZone4K 1937]

17 hours ago, GraphicsMan said:

WABC did take a break in the overnight hours when 9/11 happened. In fact they weren’t even on 24/7.

Yeah a lot of money will be lost in ad revenue. But they have big budgets though this ain’t some smaller market station.

I was wondering the exact same thing, especially in this era of broadcast cutbacks: How much do no commercials impact them? 

 

Not only that, commercials also serve as a moment for staff to gather themselves and take a breather. But again in the grand scheme of things the fires are more important. 

 

When record keepers say 9/11 had the "longest continuous coverage"  I wonder if they're specifically referring  to the major broadcast television networks, and perhaps the news cable networks.

 

Edited January 10 by MediaZone4K

[NYAZSporty 66]

Amongst the L.A. network affiliated stations, only KABC is airing primetime programming with the other stations still on wall-to-wall coverage, although they did do an update during one of the local station breaks.

[GraphicsMan 68]

1 hour ago, MediaZone4K said:

major broadcast television networks, and perhaps the news cable networks.

Not local definitely none of the New York local news stations except for WNJU stayed on the air commercial free for those 6 days. It was mostly network and cable that stayed on continuously with no interruption. No local station can sustain being on air for that long of a time. When Hurricane Florence hit NC my local stations did maybe 2 1/2 days if I recall for coverage straight 24/7 maybe 3 days. After Hurricane Harvey I heard KTRK did 5 days non stop but 6 days is impossible at some point the GM has to say hey we’re losing to much money, we have to cut off. Keep in mind LA stations are also loaning crews from their sister stations look I have no business or finance degree but that a lot of upkeep.

1 hour ago, NYAZSporty said:

Amongst the L.A. network affiliated stations, only KABC is airing primetime programming with the other stations still on wall-to-wall coverage, although they did do an update during one of the local station breaks.

This is not gonna outdo 9/11, if there already breaking the revolving door will come for the other stations. Tommorow the fire will be manageable.

[MediaCriticLA 1]

KTTV, KCBS/KCAL, KABC all went to normal late night programming early Friday.

 

KNBC stayed on the air live, as far as I know. They've been mentioning how many consecutive hours they've been live, so I anticipate a marketing campaign around that soon.

[TheRolyPoly 2054]

KABC-TV is having signal issues this morning and due to obvious reasons from the Eaton Fire getting close to the TV transmitter tower there at Mount Wilson.

 

Thankfully, we live in an era where if the signal goes out, streaming picks right back up and continues the coverage.

[SDHIll1980 46]

5 hours ago, TheRolyPoly said:

KABC-TV is having signal issues this morning and due to obvious reasons from the Eaton Fire getting close to the TV transmitter tower there at Mount Wilson.

 

Thankfully, we live in an era where if the signal goes out, streaming picks right back up and continues the coverage.

 

As of 3:30pm PT, KABC is back on the air with their over-the-air signal, currently airing World News Tonight as per usual in the timeslot.

 

On a personal note, I'm bit sad because the Palisades fire got parts of my old high school, but the original structures are in-tact. I haven't visited the campus since 2009 (I graduated there in 1998), but it still hurts nonetheless with not only some of the campus gone, but as well as all of the homes in the area that were burned.  We had dozens of wildfires throughout Southern California for as long as I can remember, but this is the most catastrophic event I can remember since the 1994 Northridge earthquake, and we're coming up on the 31st anniversary of that next week.

 

Enjoy though I live in Los Angeles city proper, the fires are at least 15-20 miles or so away from where I currently live, but the air quality all around is terrible...I can smell the smoke in the air, even with the distance away from the fires.  My heart and condolences goes out to those lost homes, and in some cases, lost lives due to these fires.

Edited January 10 by SDHIll1980

[FiveNews 357]

On 1/9/2025 at 7:35 AM, MediaZone4K said:

Has anyone else had trouble accessing KTLA's coverage online? I'm getting a whole bunch of commercials and a logo screen on their webstream, and I'm not seeing a live stream on their YouTube like the other stations. I wonder if this is Nexsar being Nexstar. 

 

Around 7:43 AM PT, I noticed GDLA anchors Melvin Robert and Jen Lahmers getting openly opinionated and frustrated with LA Mayor Karen Bass about the lack of support for firefights and the predictability of this catastrophe. 

Also noticed this as I was listening on the iHeart app. I live in SoCal and wanted to stay on top of developments. The stream on iHeart would go down for several hours before coming back.

[CraigViewer 76]

Although Mt. Wilson is most commonly associated with housing many of the TV and radio towers in L.A., important police and fire communications are transmitted from there, as well.  That could be catastrophic to the region in the event they are destroyed.  Luckily, that doesn't seem to be the case.

[Jase 943]

3 hours ago, SDHIll1980 said:

Enjoy though I live in Los Angeles city proper, the fires are at least 15-20 miles or so away from where I currently live, but the air quality all around is terrible...I can smell the smoke in the air, even with the distance away from the fires.  My heart and condolences goes out to those lost homes, and in some cases, lost lives due to these fires.

I can’t help but wonder if people are taking too big a risk of not wearing a mask at all times. Just because you may not be directly near a fire doesn’t mean the air is safe to breathe in. It would be a different story if it rained at some point to cleanse the air.

 

Plus, I saw a reporter from KTLA touching burnt debris with his bare hands. I can understand getting caught up in the moment, if you will, but people really need to be careful.

[CraigViewer 76]

12 minutes ago, Jase said:

I can’t help but wonder if people are taking too big a risk of not wearing a mask at all times. Just because you may not be directly near a fire doesn’t mean the air is safe to breathe in. It would be a different story if it rained at some point to cleanse the air.

 

Plus, I saw a reporter from KTLA touching burnt debris with his bare hands. I can understand getting caught up in the moment, if you will, but people really need to be careful.

That reporter and some others may care too much with how they appear on camera.  I live nearly 30 miles away to the south in Orange County.  And, while we are not being impacted as severely as those in L.A. County, I am not taking my chances and am wearing an N95 mask when I'm outdoors for now.

[SDHIll1980 46]

12 minutes ago, Jase said:

I can’t help but wonder if people are taking too big a risk of not wearing a mask at all times. Just because you may not be directly near a fire doesn’t mean the air is safe to breathe in. It would be a different story if it rained at some point to cleanse the air.

 

Plus, I saw a reporter from KTLA touching burnt debris with his bare hands. I can understand getting caught up in the moment, if you will, but people really need to be careful.

 

I agree.  I just got out of a hospital stay on Veteran's Day weekend because of a bronchitis issue that greatly affect my breathing.  I won't get into particulars as to why, but I've had some shortness of breath issues on and off since birth, although I've managed to live a normal life thanks to treatments, medicine, and exercise.  Even heading outdoors these few days, I wear a mask each time I'm out and about.

 

Honestly, I really wish we can get some rain out here right now...it's usually this time of year that L.A. gets its share of wet weather, and surely any day soon, it'll come.  Sure as hell would be of some use for these firefighters.

[MediaZone4K 1937]

NBC's Fire and Ash: Devastation in LA was a really comprehensive break down of the entire situation. I especially liked the beginning In which Lesther narrated the timeline of how the fires started and got their names. Keith Morrisons poetic editorial on the magic of LA was especially poignant.

Edited January 11 by MediaZone4K

[roundtown 8]

On 1/9/2025 at 3:18 PM, FiveNews said:

Let me be clear: the most important thing is broadcasting up to the minute information to keep the community safe. With that said I do have a few questions...

 

• Most if not all LA stations have been on the air wall to wall since Tuesday morning without any breaks. How does that impact the studio equipment? Curious if there will need to be updates to monitors, cameras etc when this is all under control. Especially for a high use studio like KTLA.
• We will never know, but I'd like to know how much money is lost due to stations not broadcasting commercials. Again, in the grand scheme of things (lives lost, keeping people safe) it isn't important, but I know it is something that will be looked at by station management.

Variety ran a story today on how the local stations have been covering this. They talked to several reporters and general managers about several topics.

 

Variety | L.A. Reporters Cover Devastation in Their Own Neighborhoods During Wildfires: ‘Feels Like a Nightmare’ and ‘Fatigue Is Setting In’

 

• While ABC's Josh Haskell was reporting Tuesday night, he was also trying to get his parents evacuated out of the area. He's been working 15 hour days and is really worried about breathing in the air/his health but feels it's his responsibility to be reporting
• Enrique Chiabra was on air and announcing the Runyon Canyon evacuations, realized he lived in that zone and walked off the set and headed home
• Stations had started preparing for this over the weekend working out their gameplans
• Station execs estimate they're probably taking a six-figure hit or more between the wall-to-wall coverage and overtime pay. They aren't worried about it right now and expect to make it up over the next 12 months
• KTLA almost had to evacuate during the Runyon fire and if they did, they had a full production truck on standby if needed. Their plan was to stay on tv any way they could
• They noted the long hours and the fatigue that's setting in with everyone and how support from other markets are coming in to help with the load