KTLA's News at Ten: 60 Years with Stan Chambers [Paperback]

Stan Chambers (Author), Hal Fishman (Foreword), Tom Brokaw (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2008

For sixty years Stan Chambers, KTLA s Channel 5 News most beloved reporting icon, has come into Southern California s (and sometimes the nation s) homes. From KTLA s inception as the first commercial TV station this side of the Mississippi to KTLA s first news telecopter, Stan Chambers was an integral part of those achievements. His over 22,000 stories include the Bobby Kennedy assassination, the 1984 Olympics, the Watts riots, the Baldwin Hills dam disaster, and the devastating Northridge quake. Stan and KTLA were the first to break the Rodney King beating that sent Los Angeles into turmoil. Stan is also involved with the Stan Chambers Journalism Awards, an annual essay competition that awards senior high school students interested in journalism careers with cash awards. Other honors include several Emmy and Golden Mike awards, the Sigma Delta Chi Broadcaster of the Year award, the Governor's Award from the Television Academy, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, an L.A. Press Club Award, L.A. City and County proclamations, and from his alma mater, the USC Alumni Association Award. The Associated Press Television-Radio Association of California-Nevada also annually presents the Stan Chambers Lifetime Achievement Award. He s still out there, mic in hand, sixty years after covering his first big story, the rescue efforts of the Kathy Fiscus case in Pasadena. As Chambers puts it, When you report news in Los Angeles, you are broadcasting to the biggest hometown in America.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Stan Chambers: For sixty years Stan Chambers, KTLA’s Channel 5 News most beloved reporting icon, has come into Southern California’s (and sometimes the nation’s) homes. Stan’s career mirrors the birth of the first commercial TV station west of the Mississippi.

Backed by the driving force of KTLA’s ground breaking station manager, Klaus Landsburg, Stan covered some of the biggest stories to affect Los Angeles and the nation. It began with the Kathy Fiscus tragedy in 1949, where he covered the story live for 27 straight hours – the first reporting of its kind – to breaking the monumental Rodney King beating story that rocked the nation.

For the first time, Stan Chambers comes out from behind the camera and shares his thoughts behind his enduring career and highlights some of his over 22,000 stories. He’s still out there, mic in hand, because, as Chambers puts it, “When you report news in Los Angeles, you are broadcasting to the biggest hometown in America.”

Hal Fishman: Hal Fishman was the lead news anchor at KTLA Channel Five News up to his death in 2009.
Tom Brokaw: Tom Brokaw is an American television journalist and author best known as the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News from 1982 to 2004. He is the author of The Greatest Generation (1998) and other books and the recipient of numerous awards and honors. He is the only person to host all three major NBC News programs: The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, and, briefly, Meet the Press. He currently serves as a Special Correspondent for NBC News and works on documentaries for other outlets.

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Behler Publications; First Edition edition (February 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933016507
• ISBN-13: 978-1933016504
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #797,986 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good history, July 19, 2010

By 

Marc R (NH) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: KTLA's News at Ten: 60 Years with Stan Chambers (Paperback)

A good first person account, I highly recommend for anyone doing a history in TV news.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent History of KTLA, August 13, 2008

By 

Mike Femyer "M.O.R. Collector" (Phoenix AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: KTLA's News at Ten: 60 Years with Stan Chambers (Paperback)

I 've always wanted to be in broadcasting, but in the great scheme of things I was destined to get a job that was dependable and not interesting.

Growing up in the midwest radio and TV stations were copying things that "big city" stations accomplished first...but on a smaller scale.

One of those big city stations that did things on a grand scale was KTLA-TV. It was not the first experimental station in los Angeles, but it was the first commercial TV station west of the Mississippi River.

A friend of mine whetted my appetite for KTLA by sending me a copy of the station's 40th Anniversary program back in 1987. I was floored by the things they did. Starting with on the spot news coverage for events that would last several hours, which in those days meant taking a big van with several cameras and associated video equipment out to a scene and showing the viewing public what was going on.

KTLA recorded live entertainment TV programs on kinescope so that stations in other cities could have high quality programming. There was the live coverage of an atomic bomb test that was fed nationwide that would not have been coovered if not for ingenuity of the station's founder, Klause Landsberg.

The phone company wanted several months to construct the relay, but Klause only had a few weeks. By studying topographical maps he found a way to microwave the TV signal to Los Angeles and the networks then carried the signal across the country. Granted, an atomic bomb test may not be your cup of tea, but the fact that a major problem was solved in a hurry was most interesting.

The book, "KTLA's News at Ten: 60 years with Stan Chambers," covers the entire history of KTLA mainly because the author has been at the station since late 1947. It is a very good book, and a good addition to the other Stan Chambers book about KTLA printed ten years ago. The two books complement each other in that a lot of the same subjects are covered by vastly reworded.

If you are as interested in broadcasting history as I am then this book is a must for your library. It's easy and pleasant to read and impossible to put down. (You can take that two ways: you'll want to read it cover to cover in one sitting and you'll never say anything bad about it.)

I highly recommend this book and its predecessor. (DISCLAIMER: I receive no compensation to say that, nor do I have an interest in the book publisher.) The TV stations on the east coast may have similar stories and people to tell them, but my heart tells me these books are the very top. Everything else is a distant second.

Happy reading.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stan., June 7, 2008

By 

R. L. Smith (Lynwood, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: KTLA's News at Ten: 60 Years with Stan Chambers (Paperback)

A well known, loved, and respected

TV Journalist here in the Los Angeles area.

Have watched Stan most of his 60 year career,

reading this book brought back a lot of memories.