The television capital of the world is about to lose its TV station. If you live in Los Angeles, you are part owner of LA CityView 35, available on cable in 2 million households, giving the station a potential audience equal to Houston’s. CityView also plays online at LACityView.org.
Los Angeles is a city of 469 square miles, 10 times the size of San Francisco. For 20 years, LA CityView 35 has worked to knit together the diverse parts of our vibrant city. LA’s own TV station is the city government’s most participatory outreach media effort. CityView covers news, and cultural and educational events from the harbor to Granada Hills. It highlights significant issues and actions of city policymakers. All programming is commercial free.
Through the station, viewers can monitor meetings of the Department of Water and Power; the Airport, Harbor and Police commissions; the Community Redevelopment Agency and City Council to see how public money is spent and policies implemented.
When I started at the station, I was also working at Fox 11 News. I soon recognized that LA CityView 35 was the little station that could, still utilizing old analogue Betacam gear, coaxed into performing another day through the diligent tinkering of engineer Michael Flynn. Jim McBride’s bare-bones virtual set looks as sophisticated on camera as a bridge on “Star Trek.” Instead of an assignment desk, there is Leigh Smith. Tony Ighani helms the entire effort with a sure hand.
LA CityView has a minimum staff relying on freelancers who work at below union rates – without time and a half, golden time or meal penalties. Why? At CityView, people stretch. Producers are allowed to edit, writers to shoot. News writers Anita Bennett of KTTV (Channel 11) and Gil Reyes from KTLA (Channel 5) are encouraged to report on camera, where they shine.
One of my savored moments at LA CityView was when director Paul Rogers handed me a video camera with the key to the Watts Towers, telling me to shoot them for a couple of hours as the sun rose. It was an exquisite introduction to Simon Rodia’s lifelong art project.
Unlike on-camera or above-the-line talent at other local stations, most at LA CityView are happy to heft a tripod or set a light. I have never found a more diverse crew, working one shoot with a Korean, Serbian, Iranian, Mexican, and Canadian, while the Americans were a mix of blacks, whites, Latinos and Asians from Chicago, New York, Boston and, yes, even Los Angeles.
The can-do atmosphere has attracted the likes of broadcast veterans Huell Howser from KCET, Dave Bryan of KCAL (Channel 9) and Jack Popejoy from KFWB-AM (980), who host at the station.
My favorite shows include “LA This Week,” with Ellen Cheng, a news magazine covering stories often found nowhere else; Mitch Pomerantz’s “Disability Forum,” a look at handicapped issues hosted by a blind TV personality; and “Aging in L.A.,” hosted by Paul Petersen and directed by Allan Muir, who honed his craft helming Don Kirshner’s rock concerts.
Through the station I’ve gotten to know City Councilmen Bill Rosendahl, Tom LaBonge and Eric Garcetti; Mayors Richard Riordan and Antonio Villaraigosa; as well as fellow native of the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston and Dennis Lehane fan, former Police Chief William Bratton. All recognized the value of city-based TV and were generous with their time.
Gold standard
CityView’s budget is miniscule compared with those of the network giants in town, but the station produces cost-effective quality. The gold standard of television is an Emmy Award. At the recent 61st Annual Emmy Awards, LA CityView won four, trailing only NBC (Channel 4), Fox (Channel 11) and KCET, but besting a dozen other local stations.
Yet the esprit de corps at LA CityView is suffering. In the last two decades, many workers at the station had planted roots in the city. Furlough days have already hit hard. More cutbacks are imminent as the station absorbs a disproportionate share. One staffer about to be laid off told me that he’d have to sell his home and leave Los Angeles because at 63 he’s too old to start anew. An accomplished cameraman, 53, had to move into his van. As Councilwoman Janice Hahn said, explaining her reluctance to endorse city layoffs, “We’re not just letting a worker go. We are impacting a family.”
Although the cuts and layoffs at the station are intended to help balance the city budget, LA CityView 35 is not funded by property taxes, the primary source of city revenue. Instead it is paid for by cable companies themselves through the franchise fee. The money used to be collected and budgeted separately. In recent years, it’s been intermingled with the general fund, making it vulnerable to the budget ax.
Since the station was founded, cable viewers have come to rely on LA CityView as a distinctive source of local information, news and entertainment. Unless L.A.’s number crunchers recognize Channel 35’s unique role in our city, L.A.’s very own TV station is on a fade to black.
