MEDIA / KEVIN BRASS : Pros and Cons of Sending S.D. Crews to Cover Quake

After surviving the earthquake, Bay Area residents were forced to endure a locust-like onslaught of journalists. San Diego television stations were there in force, too, looking for any possible local angle.

Officials at KGTV (Channel 10)--which did not get to fly up to San Francisco on Joan Kroc’s jet, as Channel 8’s team did--estimate the station spent more than $10,000 for transportation, satellite time and miscellaneous expenses. The day after the earthquake, Channel 10 had to charter a jet out of Las Vegas to get Jack White and his crew back to San Diego.

The quake gave KNSD-TV (Channel 39) a chance to really take advantage of its expensive new satellite transmission truck, which was used to send out more than 250 live shots or tape feeds to stations around the country.

Normally, local television coverage of national events is gratuitous, nothing more than a chance for the local stations to provide a “local presence.” Beyond any actual news value, the stations believe it is important to show advertisers and viewers that it has the resources to go places and provide coverage of big events.

The reporting by local reporters is often mediocre at best. Meaningless stories are tossed on the air simply because there are remote San Diego twists.

Equal or better coverage usually can be provided by the network or other stations. For example, a few days after the quake, Channel 39 was using a reporter from its Sacramento sister station, which was just as good as having one of its own “news personalities” at the scene.

For news operations that constantly complain about budget restraints, it seems a waste of money to send reporters to cover stories being covered by dozens of other reporters.

But in this case, it is hard to argue with the coverage. San Francisco is, in many ways, a sister city to San Diego. The San Diego stations certainly went overboard, but they were at least able to mold the coverage to San Diego.

“It’s not like these things were happening in Orlando or Chicago,” said Channel 10 news director Paul Sands. “We were able to do things the networks couldn’t provide.”

If nothing else, by sending their own crews the local television stations were able to choose the information they wanted to cover, and go in-depth when necessary. Certainly, subjects such as freeway safety and earthquake preparedness are of more concern to San Diegans than to people on the East Coast, who are busy trying to deal with the quirks of hurricanes.

All three local stations were able to send reporters familiar with the Bay Area, so the coverage was as solid as any of the San Francisco stations. But it did seem a little strange for KFMB-TV (Channel 8) to repeatedly show a still photo of reporter M.G. Perez while he did phone reports from the scene, just so he could parrot the reports of every other reporter at the scene.

Much of the coverage was superfluous, nothing more than local reporters standing in front of rows of satellite trucks, which were beaming the same stories done by different reporters around the country.

But at least the local stations were on the scene. Now if they’d only show the same enthusiasm for covering the day-to-day news in San Diego.

A persistent rumor has Los Angeles’ KCBS (Channel 2) anchor Jim Lampley heading to New York to rejoin ex-KCBS producer Erik Sorenson on CBS’ struggling “This Morning,” with Channel 10’s Michael Tuck moving to KCBS to reunite with ex-KGTV partner Bree Walker. Tuck’s agent refused to comment, but Channel 10 news director Paul Sands said Tuck’s contract with Channel 10 runs until September, 1990, and there has been no discussion about releasing him from it. “Nor will there be,” Sands said. Tuck declined to comment on reports that he has talked to KCBS. “I still have 10 months left on my contract, and this is the best station I’ve ever worked for,” he said. . . .

KGMG-FM (Magic 102) has asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to move its transmitter from Vista to San Marcos, which would boost its signal to the city of San Diego. But first it had to ask permission from its nearest competitors on the dial, KGB-FM (101.5) and KMPC-FM (101.9) out of Los Angeles. The predictable answer: no. Both stations have filed protests with the FCC, asking the commission to deny Magic 102’s request.

“Our contention is that there is no interference caused by the switch, therefore there is no reason to prevent us from moving the transmitter,” said KGMG General Manager Steve Jacobs. . . .

San Diego’s hustling cinema entrepreneur, Andy Friedenberg, the man behind the Cinema Society, has a new gimmick. It’s called Singles Cinema, apparently an attempt to have movies replace coin laundries as the hot pickup spots. The first edition of the concept will take place Nov. 14. . . . In lieu of the usual post-movie guest speaker, Friedenberg commissioned the San Diego Wild Animal Park to bring a real bear to the theater after the San Diego Cinema Society screening of “The Bear” last week. . . .

Channel 8 news director Jim Holtzman hates the Emmys and refuses to do anything beyond token participation in the annual awards competition. “I don’t know that it is always set up or judged in the right way,” he said before this year’s ceremony. But the station’s promotions department has a different perspective. The station’s current commercials relentlessly tout the Emmy the station won this year. . . .

The shake-up at XTRA-AM (690) continues. The latest victim is the producer of Steve Garvey’s morning show, Jackie Gladfelter, who was told her position had been eliminated. XTRA has hired additional personnel for the news department and Mark Zegan, a local radio veteran who was serving as the soundboard operator for Garvey’s show, has been promoted to program coordinator. Meanwhile, ex-program manager Terry Pickard, who left in September in a contract dispute involving his job description, has hired an attorney to discuss his contract with the station. . . .

KTTY-TV (Channel 69) received a few phone calls accusing the station of insensitivity for running the movie “San Francisco,” about the 1906 earthquake, just a few days after the Bay Area earthquake. But the station has learned a lesson. It was planning a big promotion campaign with Universal Studios around a Nov. 17 screening of “Earthquake. “We’ve decided to push it back to February and hope there isn’t another earthquake,” said station spokeswoman Judy Albrecht. . . .

It seemed more than a little strange that Channel 10 opted to cover KGB’s moment of silence for victims of the earthquake--live. There was Jack White dramatically providing narration as the moment of silence began. KGB disc jockey Sue Delaney solemnly bowed her head. White breathlessly described the scene.