Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1521715
Summer 2024 – LOCAL695.COM 13 KTLA broadcasts the atomic bomb explosion from Nevada Plenty of people were upset when one of the NFL play- off games aired exclusively on Peacock, a pay stream- ing service owned by NBC. We chose to watch the game which cost just a few pennies more than a Grande Oy Veh Latte at your local coffee vendor. It was not our first venture into the Peacock world. We are big fans of the Tour de France, an amazing bike race and an equally special television broadcast. NBC teased us with a few days free, then streamed the rest of the twenty-one days of competition on Peacock. Of course, like so many in our business, I had plenty of time to watch the tour last year. In a business that can be tenuous in normal times and was very difficult in COVID times, the complications of dealing with the emotional and financial ramifications of strikes by the actors and writers brought unprecedented challenges with few simple answers. Our business is changing and I'm not ashamed to say that I'm glad to be near the end of my tenure rather than just starting out. I've only walked a picket line on one strike. In 1985, the bar- gaining unit at KTLA, represented by Local 695, was not able to reach a contract with management. Negotiations were con- tentious, and eventually, time ran out. We carried our signs across the studio entrance/exit on Bronson Avenue from early in the morning until after the KTLA News at 10 was finished, and the parking lot had emptied. Memories are scarce from that long ago, but I do remember one evening I was picketing with a couple of engineers who told stories about being part of the team that covered the atomic bomb broadcast in 1952. The government and the networks enlisted television pioneer Klaus Landsberg who, along with John Silva, the inventor of the Telecopter, planned and implemented the setup of micro- wave hops from the Nevada desert to Mount Wilson. Some locations were not reachable except by helicopter. Engineers were flown in and camped out. With little preparation time, they successfully broadcast the bomb test not only on KTLA but shared with all the networks that provided nationwide coverage (where available). The one location where you couldn't see this live event was nearby Las Vegas, where television was still a year away. It's true that I've had more than my share of storied tales, but nothing like that jaw-dropping adventure. After picketing for a month or so, our strike was settled, but by then, I had made the difficult decision to leave my staff job and try the freelance life. The experiment is still in progress, I'll let you know. Ric Rambles by Ric Teller More From the Wayback Machine. One day, exactly forty-some years ago, Hector Highton, who was in charge of sports and stagecraft at KTLA (Channel 5), took me aside and told me that almost all that I needed to know to do my job, I would learn while working. He was a professional hockey player who had a proverbial cup of Tim Horton's coffee, playing goalie for the Chicago Blackhawks. The story I heard was that Hector came to KTLA to work on an ice skating show called Frosty Frolics, but that was before my time. Actually, it was before my birth. He believed education could be helpful, but our work is so specific that gaining knowledge from experienced coworkers would be most important. In 1979, the education I brought to KTLA consisted of some music classes and a couple of years as a part-time student in the recording engineering program at Golden West College in Huntington Beach. In some ways, Hector was absolutely right. I had no television knowledge, the only time I had been in a studio was to see all-