Robert W. Breckner; Helped Sign On TV Station KTTV in 1948

Robert W. Breckner, a veteran radio and television executive who was one of the handful of men who helped sign on television station KTTV in Los Angeles in 1948, has died of cancer.

Breckner, who was credited with creating the old “Divorce Court” series on Channel 11 and helping develop such TV personalities as George Putnam, (Sheriff) John Rovick and Bill Welsh was 68 when he died at his Brentwood home on Sunday.

A member of Adm. William F. Halsey’s South Pacific staff during World War II, Breckner joined radio station KNX after the war where he became a program producer.

He moved into the new medium of television shortly before KTTV, then owned jointly by CBS and the Times-Mirror Co.--parent company of The Times, went on the air.

Other Positions

He subsequently was producer-director, a program director in 1952, vice president in 1955 and president and chief executive of KTTV in 1962. During his tenure the station entered the era of videotape production and syndication.

Welsh recalled how the station in the 1950s received permission from USC and UCLA to cover their football games when they played away from home and then air them the following day.

“Today it wouldn’t be much of anything,” the veteran broadcaster said. “But in those days it was really something.”

Breckner left the station after Times-Mirror sold it in 1963 and became active in cable and radio consulting including a stint as president (1970-72) of TM Communications, the Times-Mirror Co.’s cable subsidiary.

Most recently he had owned radio stations KTHO AM/FM in South Lake Tahoe.

Survivors include his wife, Sally, and a daughter. The family suggests donations to the Michael Burke Foundation at St. John’s Medical Center in Santa Monica. Breckner had been president of the foundation, named in memory of the son of songwriter Sonny Burke.