MSNBC Fail in the 2000-channel media universe
When cable and high power satellite suddenly gave the media and the media consumer as many pathways as they could use to stream content and the 2000-channel universe began, something very important died. The ability to create and broadcast more worthy programming than there was room for in the pipe had an upside.
Before the FCC threw open the floodgates and granted new station licenses with abandon in the 1980s, there were relatively few outlets. Radio stations could employ whole staffs to produce shows that aired once. Sometimes they weren’t aired at all, and their production costs written off.
In the golden days of radio, KFI employed an orchestra whose job was to sit in the studio and be ready to play on a moment’s notice if called upon by the local announcer who was himself standing by in case the network feed failed. News departments at the early television and major full-service radio stations, even into the 80s, were large enough they could take over and feed content 24/7 if a new story caught the public’s attention.
Nothing saves energy like shutting down 2 days/week.
In mid 20th century Los Angeles, brush fires, floods, even a little girl down a well, commanded 24/7 coverage. The stations realized that was a part of their service commitment, and the licenses were so valuable and the renewal process so onerous, that overtime got authorized and journalists went without sleep.
Somehow, we’ve lost that. As Iran explodes in anger, MSNBC cries poor and runs Lockup:Indiana and Sex Slaves-The Teen Trade. Ten years ago that might have flown, but in the face of Twitter and Facebook’s minute by minute coverage, MSNBC looks out of touch. CNN cycles old programming, even though CNN International could be switched live to US Domestic viewers, but that brings up commercial concerns.
But last night, an isolated live CNN origination of Larry King Live with Christiane Amanpour crackles across twitter, and numbers soar. Today, CNN is in high gear doing live focused coverage. Perhaps this will convince MSNBC that news is important, even if its not something you can easily cover at a time when you don’t want to spend money. Or perhaps, like radio, NBC/Universal realizes the golden days of cable are numbered and you’re best to take every last dime out before the roof falls in.
Now just a minute my dear sir – I’m the first to lament the demise of venerable institutions, but neither KFI or anyone else in old time radio had in-studio orchestras on standby in case the network feed failed!
KFI in its heyday certainly did have musicians associated with the station. Before its NBC affiliate dsys it regularly scheduled school and church choral groups in the early twenties. Station owner and early NAB President Earle C. Anthony was himself a player in the Packard 5 band on the station circa 1926-28 (he was also the California Packard distributor). Later KFI had an in-house organ in its Vermont Ave studio, as well as an award winning boy’s choir.
From the beginning KFI and other stations festured big band remotes. They had to – pre-WW2 recording quality didn’t play well on the air. If a station did music it had to be live in those early days. Edison is quoted as having said that if a phonograph really as bad as rendered on radio he would disown his own invention. KFI’s co-chief engineer Headly Blatterman spent many hours in the KFI research lab at the La Mirada transmitter developing recording heads and techniques to improve the situation.
Even after recorded music became practical live music continued – and by union rules frequently with on-air homage to James C. Petrillo, president of the American Federation of Musicians. You can find out more about him on Google.
Live music? Certainly – but an entire orchestra on standby? Sorry – an urban legend.
That’s not how I understand it, during prime time there was an orchestra. (Not a symphony orchestra, of course. An orchestra in the later days of broadcasting was the kind of thing Doc Severinson conducted.) The musicians were in the middle studio at the back. (Don’t recall which color, as the studios all had exotic color names).
The musicians milling around were sometimes an annoyance to ECA, who had a light placed at his door to warn people whether or not he was receiving visitors.
His office was in the left hand rear of the main studio complex as viewed from the street (near the auditorium). Its a shame that building wasn’t able to be saved before the school board tore it down.
You are right about KFI-TV being channel 9 (in your comments on the ECA tribute). It wasn’t until it was sold to Don Lee that channels 9 and 2 were swapped.
While we’re telling stories, at the time the Vermont Avenue studios were sold to the Korean-language newspaper I was involved in an English-language Korean newspaper in LA and was able to get a tour. He was about to remove all the legacy gear, and I asked him what he wanted for it.
He told me to make him an offer, so I did: $500, which made him notoriously angry.
Apparently the realtor never told him that 500 ohm balanced mixing consoles with tube amplifiers in racks were state of the art in the 30s and early 40s, but not worth much in the solid state era.
I don’t know what happened to the gear, but I don’t imagine its been saved.