...over on YouTube, somebody posted a video aircheck of KGO-TV/7's local coverage (just the first 40 minutes or so) of the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake that interrupted the World Series that year. Watched it this morning. And it made me wonder -- I have a DVD of someone flipping between KGO-TV/7, KPIX-TV/5, KRON/4 and KTVU/2 for two consecutive hours that evening, so I know they all went to wall-to-wall coverage. But what of the English-language UHF independents of the Bay Area at the time -- KOFY-TV/20, KICU-TV/36, KBHK-TV/44, and KFTY-TV/50? Did they go to their own wall-to-wall coverage, or perhaps rebroadcast the coverage of one of the VHFs?...
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San Francisco indies during the Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989?
- Thread starter Ultimajock
- Start date
Many of the TV stations, and most of the radio stations were down due to lack of electricity, and San Francisco was dark for over 24 hours. I didn't have electricity either, so I was listening to a battery operated radio. I remember that All News KCBS had the foresight to have a back-up generator, so they were on the air, and were the station of choice for most San Franciscans. It was an embarrasment for "NewsTalk" KGO, because they were off the air.
I know that isn't what you asked, but that's all I've got. I'd guess that most of the TV indies were off the air, too. Why spend money on a backup generator if you have no news department? It's not like viewers want to see reruns of Barnaby Jones during an apocalyptic emergency.
I know that isn't what you asked, but that's all I've got. I'd guess that most of the TV indies were off the air, too. Why spend money on a backup generator if you have no news department? It's not like viewers want to see reruns of Barnaby Jones during an apocalyptic emergency.
In all fairness, two of the KGO 810 towers collapsed so I don't know if I'd label that as "embarrassing" but I get your point.
I too am curious about what other stations in San Francisco did. I lived in the Bay Area at the time but like others, had no power for a few days are relied on KCBS and KGO.
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I know I was not particularly a KCBS listener up to that point, but became at least an occasional listener after that in gratitude for their excellent quake coverage. IIRC, Jan Black (Ronn Owen's wife, who he met at KGO), had just moved over to KCBS and anchored most of the coverage - especially that first (dark) night.
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I too became a KCBS listener that dark night. The coverage they provided was amazing.
Sacramento TV stations were one of the first to cover the Loma Prieta Quake but at the first they didn't have verification on where the epicenter was went they went on the air or how severe yet until they got reports from San Francisco and ran with a combination of Local reporters and borrowing Bay Area feed to get a picture on how severe the quake was at the time.
And here is a rare aircheck of KABC-TV Los Angeles doing the local dub for parts of the Loma Prieta Quake coverage between segments of ABC News and KGO-TV. This is due to Parts of the San Fernando Valley reportedly feeling the Loma Prieta Quake and then Caltech had to verify that story with Loma Prieta data.
I became a KCBS listener that first (dark) night through a simulcast of All News 74 on WCBS. It was peculiar to hear live Bay Area traffic and weather reports in New York.
I was in Davis when that happened and got home just in time to tape this:
KTVU had been knocked off the air but came back on with color bars and then a live report from outside. Sadly I used a movie tape which had just those 22 minutes at the end, in hindsight I wish I had filled up an entire tape with it. I recorded KRON on a 2nd VCR also where they were inside in mostly dark, and held a microphone up to a portable radio to figure out what was going on, but that tape has since gone missing. Reception wasn't the best where I was but I'm pretty sure the smaller stations like 20 were still off the air or at least on lower power.
KTVU had been knocked off the air but came back on with color bars and then a live report from outside. Sadly I used a movie tape which had just those 22 minutes at the end, in hindsight I wish I had filled up an entire tape with it. I recorded KRON on a 2nd VCR also where they were inside in mostly dark, and held a microphone up to a portable radio to figure out what was going on, but that tape has since gone missing. Reception wasn't the best where I was but I'm pretty sure the smaller stations like 20 were still off the air or at least on lower power.
KSFO and KNBR were on the air as well, going from World Series pregame programming (the A's on KSFO, the Giants on KNBR) to quake coverage. I've lost the link, but KSFO broadcast for quite a while from the booth at Candlestick, with Bill King reading the what-to-do information out of the phone book. KNBR had some semblance of a news staff then (before going all-sports), so had reporters checking in and, IIRC, Leo Laporte and C.J. Bronson in-studio. I also remember working my way down 101 South and one of the few lighted billboards was at the then-KKHI transmitter building.
KNBR's sale to (then) Susquehanna had been finalized that summer, and C.J. Bronson, along with the news guys, had departed months before the earthquake.
I don't actually remember listening to KNBR after the quake, but recall reading a mild criticism that they were in 'baseball rain delay mode' while Bill King was providing the phone book instructions on KSFO.
One thing I recall from the following morning was KNBR's morning show(with Frank Dill and Mike Cleary) was simulcast on sister station KFOG.
I don't actually remember listening to KNBR after the quake, but recall reading a mild criticism that they were in 'baseball rain delay mode' while Bill King was providing the phone book instructions on KSFO.
One thing I recall from the following morning was KNBR's morning show(with Frank Dill and Mike Cleary) was simulcast on sister station KFOG.
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