KCBS’ 50 NOMINATIONS LEAD EMMY COMPETITION : KCBS LEADS IN EMMY NOMINATIONS

KCBS-TV Channel 2 again grabbed the lead in competition for Los Angeles area Emmy Awards, picking up 50 of the 189 nominations announced Friday including 19 for its magazine series “2 on the Town.”

KNBC Channel 4 collected 39 nominations, while KCET Channel 28 got 21 and KABC-TV Channel 7 and KHJ-TV Channel 9 drew 20 each.

The awards, honoring the best Los Angeles and Orange County programs and production personnel of 1985, will be handed out by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences at a dinner May 3.

Last year KCBS was nominated for 64 local Emmys and wound up winning 14, double those for its principal rivals, KABC and KNBC. Channel 2 also led in 1984 with 16 Emmys.

“2 on the Town” was nominated as best information series, along with KNBC’s “Ag-USA” and KABC’s “Hollywood Closeup,” and also collected two nominations for host Melody Rogers--as best host and best performer. She won in both categories last year.

“2 on the Town” picked up additional nominations for individual episodes and segments, including two for best information special, three for best public affairs special, one for best entertainment special and one for best sports special.

Other stations collecting nominations were KTTV Channel 11 with 15, KTLA Channel 5 with 7, KCOP Channel 13 with 6, KOCE Channel 50 with three, KLCS Channel 58 with two and KSCI Channel 18 and the Orange Coast Community College District with one apiece. In cable categories, Group W received two nominations, Heritage and ATC one apiece.

Among the three network-owned stations, the nominations for best public affairs series went to KCBS’ “Channel 2 Digest,” KNBC’s “Headlines on Trial” and KNBC’s “Fight Back! With David Horowitz.”

In separate categories for independent stations, best public affairs series nominees were KCET’s “KCET Journal,” KHJ’s “Off-Hand” and KHJ’s “School Beat.” Their best information series nominees were KHJ’s “Camera Nine,” KCOP’s “In Studio,” KOCE’s “Radio Collector” and KHJ’s “Mid-Morning Los Angeles.”

Three programs were nominated as best news special: KNBC’s “Walk-In Killer Capture,” KCBS’ “Mexico City: A Lesson for L.A.,” and KHJ’s “Our Children: The Next Generation.”

Besides Rogers of “2 on the Town,” nominations for best host or moderator went to Doug Barr of “2 on the Town,” David Horowitz of KNBC’s “Fight Back! With David Horowitz,” Howard Stevens of KCBS’ “Friday at Sunset,” George Fenneman of KCET’s “On Campus” and Meredith MacRae and Geoff Edwards of KHJ’s “Mid-Morning Los Angeles.”

Nominations for best news commentary went to Bill Stout of KCBS, who won last year, and to Bill Press of KABC and Jack Perkins of KNBC.