So you want to be a network news star? Los Angeles is one of the best places to start just ask Tom Brokaw, Bryant Gumbel or Lisa McRee, all of whom went from local news gigs in L.A. to network stardom.
CBS news reporter-anchor Paula Zahn and “Today Show” news anchor Ann Currie also made it to the network via Los Angeles, as did TV news pioneer Chet Huntley. And prime-time network news shows like “Dateline NBC” are filled with L.A. veterans, including former local news anchors Bill Lagatutta and Keith Morrison.
In the sports world, NBC’s Dick Enberg and MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann (formerly of ESPN) are both alums of KTLA-TV Channel 5.
Off camera, the executive shuffle from Los Angeles to New York is just as impressive. Former NBC presidents Herb Schlosser and Robert Mulholland both worked in Los Angeles before getting promoted to network jobs in Rockefeller Center.
Former CBS President Robert Wood was an executive at KNXT-TV Channel 2 (now KCBS). And Van Gordon Sauter and Ed Joyce, who both were general managers of KNXT, went on to become presidents of CBS News.
Why does the Los Angeles market generate so much heat? For on-air talent, visibility is the keyword. Network bosses in New York frequently visit Los Angeles and when they do, they tune in to the local newscasts.
“It’s the entertainment capital of the world,” said KABC-TV Channel 7 General Manager Arnold J. Kleiner. “More people and decision makers see you.”
On the executive side, running a local station in a market like L.A. is considered excellent preparation for the network big leagues, because local executives oversee sales departments, news, promotion and programming all of which are key divisions at the network level.
Joyce, who also ran the CBS-owned station in Chicago, said that success in other markets doesn’t rival success in Los Angeles.
“If you do a good job in Philadelphia or St. Louis, you just don’t have the same visibility,” he said. “The New York brass is always out here. They might come to those other cities two or three times a year.”
Joyce also points out that because L.A. is the country’s second-largest market, the TV news people here are “at the top of their game.” By the time top reporters, anchors and producers arrive in Los Angeles, they have often attained success in second-tier cities like San Diego or Dallas.
Los Angeles is also one of the busiest towns for news. Consider the events of the 1990s: the videotaped police beating of Rodney King, the riots, the O.J. Simpson trial and the North Hollywood police shootout.
Even the Monica Lewinsky story has an L.A. connection: This is the former White House intern’s hometown.
“There is always something shaking,” said John Culliton, general manager of KCBS-TV Channel 2. “You have the ability to cover everything imaginable. It’s also very competitive. A lot of good news people like to stay in this market rather than travel around the globe.”
Adds Carole Black, general manager of KNBC-TV Channel 4: “These people are honed. When you are seeking talent for a network, they always come to a large metropolitan city like Los Angeles.”
But while network talent scouts may comb Los Angeles for news anchors, very few local newscasters move on to top reporting assignments, such as coverage of the White House or Congress.
“Los Angeles is not a repository of journalism,” said one former network news president. “You don’t come here for journalists. You come here for performers.”
