Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1433345
24 PRODUCTION SOUND & VIDEO – Winter 2022 EIC was Max Kirkland, a terrific engineer that I knew from his days at KTLA. In Pasadena, the mixer, Jerry Pattison, instructed me to line up the mic-cable port-a-reels and run the lines out to the street for band mics, then run some manner of cables to the KTLA booth "high above Colorado Boulevard" for mics and IFB's to be used by our hosts, Bob Eubanks and Stephanie Edwards (it was their first year hosting together). You must understand that I was completely new to all of this. In retro- spect, I'm sure the audio and maintenance men on the call that year kept close watch so I wouldn't mess things up. I'm pretty sure I didn't, I got asked back the next year. And the next. After a while, I became a regular working on the audio crews and my education continued courtesy of mixers Ken Becker, Dick Sartor, and other terrific engineers. I am grate- ful for my time there and all I learned from John DeMuth and so many at KTLA. All these years later, I still use the lessons afforded me by those men. In 1985, after my fourth parade, KTLA was talking about changing the nature of their business. They had been a bustling production facility, providing stages, equipment, crew, and more, for a widening number of content providers. Now they planned to get out of that part of the business. Sometime that spring, Ken Becker and I were having a chat (possibly at Denny's Bar on Sunset), and this part I remember clearly, he told me to leave my job. It was one of those rare moments that, as you are in the middle of it, you know your decision will affect the rest of your life. To walk away from the steady staff position that paid more than I thought I would make in my life and go test the waters of the freelance market seemed … chancy. This wasn't a dip-your-toes kind of move, it was all or nothing, but Ken had been particularly kind to me. I took his advice to heart and became a freelance member of Local 695. As for the Rose Parade, if all goes well, January 1, 2022, will be parade number forty, not a record but pretty good. So, if Chuck Bauer's cousin had played the cello. If Al Kooper had stayed with The Blues Project. If Straight had kept their other trombone player. If I had worn any other shirt on the whale-watch cruise. If I had not read the Times on the day KTLA advertised for an engineering clerk. I might not be writing this column; I might never have gotten here. I hope some of you will take the time to share your own personal stories. Ken Becker, KTLA Audio Engineer