This Just in From a News Leader in Los Angeles

[michael hagerty]

Now i understand why KABC and WABC are more Tabloidal than KGO. one WABC and KABC have to compete against Local Fox O&O's like WNYW and KTTV where they have to bow down to tabloidalism while KGO competes with a local fox affilliate that is not a Fox O&O like KTVU where that station is the most respected Fox station in the country.

Except that NY and LA were like that long before FOX...as was KGO (which people used to joke stood for "Kickers, Guts and Orgasms").

Llew hit on the reason KGO isn't like that anymore...it stopped working. The news viewing audience, better educated than in most cities, opted for trust with guys like McElhatton, Wilson and Richmond. I doubt FOX could do their standard newscast in SF if they wanted to...the audience just isn't there.

But in the 70s, when the suburbs of the Bay Area were filled with working-class and middle-class uinon members and the City was rocked by the Mitchell Brothers, Anton LaVey, the Zodiac killer, Jim Jones, Dan White and the SLA, when SF seemed like a real-life Dirty Harry movie, KGO's tabloid approach was perfect.

 

[LKellerIII]

Now i understand why KABC and WABC are more Tabloidal than KGO. one WABC and KABC have to compete against Local Fox O&O's like WNYW and KTTV where they have to bow down to tabloidalism while KGO competes with a local fox affilliate that is not a Fox O&O like KTVU where that station is the most respected Fox station in the country.

Except that NY and LA were like that long before FOX...as was KGO (which people used to joke stood for "Kickers, Guts and Orgasms").

Llew hit on the reason KGO isn't like that anymore...it stopped working. The news viewing audience, better educated than in most cities, opted for trust with guys like McElhatton, Wilson and Richmond. I doubt FOX could do their standard newscast in SF if they wanted to...the audience just isn't there.

But in the 70s, when the suburbs of the Bay Area were filled with working-class and middle-class uinon members and the City was rocked by the Mitchell Brothers, Anton LaVey, the Zodiac killer, Jim Jones, Dan White and the SLA, when SF seemed like a real-life Dirty Harry movie, KGO's tabloid approach was perfect.

I think that's a fair assessment, Michael, though the Bay Area is probably still more working- and middle-class than people realize...despite the fact that the NUMMI factory closed last week and 4,000 more manufacturing jobs evaporated. Even now, though, the Bay Area is not all well educated Silicon Valley elite by any means. I'll note that Michael Savage became very popular here locally before he went into syndication - he filled a need for a small but frustrated and unrepresented minority here.

We should probably turn this thread back over to LA TV - Jim Murray* is probably rolling in his grave right now.



*Explanation for the non-old. Jim Murray was the LA Times columnist who was always feuding with San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen over which city was superior.

 

[michael hagerty]

We should probably turn this thread back over to LA TV - Jim Murray* is probably rolling in his grave right now.



*Explanation for the non-old. Jim Murray was the LA Times columnist who was always feuding with San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen over which city was superior.

Okay. I'll start.

Tawny Little.

There. I said it.

 

[LKellerIII]

We should probably turn this thread back over to LA TV - Jim Murray* is probably rolling in his grave right now.



*Explanation for the non-old. Jim Murray was the LA Times columnist who was always feuding with San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen over which city was superior.

Okay. I'll start.

Tawny Little.

There. I said it.

I'll see your Tawny Little, and raise you a Terilyn Joe.

(You don't want to know)

 

[recto101]

Now i understand why KABC and WABC are more Tabloidal than KGO. one WABC and KABC have to compete against Local Fox O&O's like WNYW and KTTV where they have to bow down to tabloidalism while KGO competes with a local fox affilliate that is not a Fox O&O like KTVU where that station is the most respected Fox station in the country.

Except that NY and LA were like that long before FOX...as was KGO (which people used to joke stood for "Kickers, Guts and Orgasms").

Llew hit on the reason KGO isn't like that anymore...it stopped working. The news viewing audience, better educated than in most cities, opted for trust with guys like McElhatton, Wilson and Richmond. I doubt FOX could do their standard newscast in SF if they wanted to...the audience just isn't there.

But in the 70s, when the suburbs of the Bay Area were filled with working-class and middle-class uinon members and the City was rocked by the Mitchell Brothers, Anton LaVey, the Zodiac killer, Jim Jones, Dan White and the SLA, when SF seemed like a real-life Dirty Harry movie, KGO's tabloid approach was perfect.

Didn't Roger Grimsby say KGO stood for "Kickers, Guts and Orgasms" before he was moved to WABC due to his criticism of KGO management and Grimsby was fired again in 1986 for going after WABC management. Look at KTLA news Hal Fishman, Larry McCormick and Jann Carl era on Youtube in the 1970's up to early 1990's was more formatted to be like KTVU News in the Dennis Richmond era. Until the 2000's when KTLA started to bow down to the Fox News audience.

 

[recto101]

This is the same station that:

1) pioneered "happy talk" news in Los Angeles ("It's not like watching news, it's like watching family.");

2) in 1977 made a week-long series, dramatic music and undertones and all, on their own anchor Christina Lund having a baby;

3) created regional hysteria and a lynch mob mentality due to the sleazy reporting of Wayne Satz on the McMartin Pre-School arrests and trials. Even in the station's advertising on their McMartin coverage, they declared the family guilty. They were ultimately cleared after seven years, 209 counts, God-Knows how many millions in wasted tax dollars, and not one single conviction. Satz quietly slithered over to Channel 13 with his tail between his legs;

4) let the network's Entertainment Division more or less take over the News Dept. and use the newscast to promote and be PR shills for ABC programs. Virtually every KABC-TV newscast winds up being a promo for Oprah or "Lost", or some prime-time programming.

The Sandra Bullock story just adds to the rich history of Eyewitness News doing things like this.

I wondered when someone would have the first post in the month of March in this category.

Remember KCBS in 1990 they were the most tabloidal station in LA at this time callin it Action News before some members of the KABC team moved to KCBS to make the news there less tabloidal for awhile.

 

[recto101]

Now i understand why KABC and WABC are more Tabloidal than KGO. one WABC and KABC have to compete against Local Fox O&O's like WNYW and KTTV where they have to bow down to tabloidalism while KGO competes with a local fox affilliate that is not a Fox O&O like KTVU where that station is the most respected Fox station in the country.

Except that NY and LA were like that long before FOX...as was KGO (which people used to joke stood for "Kickers, Guts and Orgasms").

Llew hit on the reason KGO isn't like that anymore...it stopped working. The news viewing audience, better educated than in most cities, opted for trust with guys like McElhatton, Wilson and Richmond. I doubt FOX could do their standard newscast in SF if they wanted to...the audience just isn't there.

But in the 70s, when the suburbs of the Bay Area were filled with working-class and middle-class uinon members and the City was rocked by the Mitchell Brothers, Anton LaVey, the Zodiac killer, Jim Jones, Dan White and the SLA, when SF seemed like a real-life Dirty Harry movie, KGO's tabloid approach was perfect.

Look at KGO in 1989 we all know that KGO earned its respect for airing Loma Prieta Quake live to the nation via ABC News and KGO's Tabloial phase became forgotten.

 

[michael hagerty]

We should probably turn this thread back over to LA TV - Jim Murray* is probably rolling in his grave right now.



*Explanation for the non-old. Jim Murray was the LA Times columnist who was always feuding with San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen over which city was superior.

Okay. I'll start.

Tawny Little.

There. I said it.

I'll see your Tawny Little, and raise you a Terilyn Joe.

(You don't want to know)

Oh, I know Terilyn Joe. But I'd rather be stuck in a pagoda with Tritia Toyota http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYvt4I52wgQ .

 

[michael hagerty]

Look at KTLA news Hal Fishman, Larry McCormick and Jann Carl era on Youtube in the 1970's up to early 1990's was more formatted to be like KTVU News in the Dennis Richmond era. Until the 2000's when KTLA started to bow down to the Fox News audience.

Demographics. Those old-line independent newscasts skewed older. People in their 50s and older made up a large part of the audience for those newscasts in the 70s.

Flash forward to the 2000s and those viewers are in their 80s or older or....well, dead. And while you could make ad sales for the upper demos back in the day, you can't now. It's like radio. 25-54 rules.

So to get a 39 year old to switch away from network prime or cable and watch your newscast, you've got to do it differently. Especially in L.A.

 

[ShawnHill1]

Remember KCBS in 1990 they were the most tabloidal station in LA at this time callin it Action News before some members of the KABC team moved to KCBS to make the news there less tabloidal for awhile.

Yeah, for awhile I was referring to KCBS as "CBS 2 Eyewitness News"...with so many KABCers working over there at 2.

 

[recto101]

Look at LA TV News I noticed that they are well known for getting stringer video from OnScene and RMG News
with Gang Shootings and high speed chases from the Late Night Hours. I noticed that there's a conspiracy theory that Stringers are accused of being propagandists for gangs or the police.

 

[michael hagerty]

I noticed that there's a conspiracy theory that Stringers are accused of being propagandists for gangs or the police.

Probably a pretty good indication that they're neutral.

 

[recto101]

Look Tabloidalism is not just a USA TV news issue it happens in other countries too. Look at ABS-CBN they have a newscast that is very Tabloidal and its called TV Patrol they have Sensationalism on Politics and Gossip presented in a Fox News way. While ABS-CBN's late night news under the ANC Flag called "The World Tonight" presents its news more like ABC World News under the Peter Jennings to Charlie Gibson era. ANC's World Tonight shows politics in the Philippines and Global Politics and disasters.