Shooting at KGTV Leaves Police Puzzled, Staff Upset

Investigators have learned little about the motives behind the May 9 shooting at the KGTV (Channel 10) parking lot that left a station engineer wounded. But they have pieced together enough evidence to suggest that the incident was something more than a random shooting.

According to Pat Kelly, manager of corporate security for McGraw Hill Broadcasting, which owns Channel 10, detectives do know that at least six shots were fired at 5:10 p.m. from behind the chain-link fence that separates the station’s parking lot from California 94, just east of Interstate 805. Due to the angle of the shots, Kelly believes the bullets were not fired from a car. Either they came from a tall truck or from someone standing behind the fence, he said.

According to witnesses, the shots came in two volleys. There was a 30 to 40 second gap between volleys, which could mean that the shooter either used two guns or reloaded and started shooting again, Kelly said.

The shooter (or shooters) took so much time firing that Kelly doubts the shooting was gang related, as some originally believed. Gangs usually fire only one or two shots and have a specific target in mind, Kelly said.

No group has taken credit for the incident, and there have been no specific recent threats against the station. Among other theories, investigators are looking into the possibility that the shooting may be connected to a commentary by Channel 10’s Herb Cawthorne that aired the night before the incident. Cawthorne, who is black, did a “Perspective” piece on White Supremacist Tom Metzger, suggesting that Metzger should be forced to repair the television sets of all the black people in Portland, Ore., as punishment for his role in the killing of a young black man there. Metzger was recently ordered to pay more than $12 million in damages in the case.

In the past, the station has received racist hate mail targeting Cawthorne.

“We have to explore every avenue,” Kelly said. But he has found “no linkage at this point” to any of Metzger’s followers and the shooting.

Kelly and the San Diego Police Department both say they don’t believe there is any connection between the shooting and an incident a week earlier, in which a man spread feces over parts of the station’s security gate.

“One is a case of malicious mischief and the other was a depraved act,” Kelly said.

Station detectives do have a suspect in the vandalism incident. Witnesses saw the man and recorded a license plate. But there has been little progress in the investigation, and there was no formal police report made when the incident occurred, Kelly has since learned.

Meanwhile, a psychiatrist was brought into the station last Thursday to talk to staff members, many of whom have experienced nightmares since the shooting. In addition, new guards are patrolling the parking lot, and extra security measures will be taken, including the installation of a new wall that will separate the parking lot from the nearby freeway.

Tyler Davis, the engineer who was shot in the hip, left the hospital Thursday and is expected to make a full recovery.

The rhetoric is flowing from the management of XTRA-AM (690) and KFMB-FM (B100) after both stations abruptly lost a key staff member.

According to a press release, XTRA-AM General Manager Judy Carlough has “stepped down” for “personal reasons” after less than a year. But she will continue to work as a “consultant to the station.”

XTRA was Carlough’s first experience as a general manager, and she often seemed to be in over her head, especially considering the volatile nature of the Noble Broadcasting management team.

Far more surprising was the sudden departure last Monday of B100 program director Mike Novak. According to station management, Novak left because of “philosophical differences,” which could mean anything from that he disagreed with the color of the carpeting in the office or that he and the management had reached the point were they were ready to settle differences with hatchets.

Although there had been rumors about Novak’s future, there was little inkling of problems until Novak abruptly left the station Monday afternoon. Novak insists there was nothing dramatic about his departure. Asked if he was aware he was going to leave when he went to work Monday morning, Novak replied, “It was probably in my mind. I had thought about it long and hard over the weekend.”

Several months ago, the rumor mill had Novak heading to San Francisco. But he decided to stay, after talking with B100 management. Clearly, something changed between then and last Monday.

Novak would say only that he wanted to go in a different direction in his career.

Much less of a mystery is the news that Ted Edwards is leaving the job of program director at KGB-FM (101.5) to take a similar post with KLOL-FM in Houston. Edwards has been at KGB for more than eight years, and he’s well respected within the industry. His name has been linked to several jobs in the past fews years, and most industry observers agree that it is the right time for Edwards to move on.

Houston is a bigger media market than San Diego, and he’s moving to a well-established station. Edwards said he is looking forward to a new challenge.

“Sometimes change is good,” Edwards said. “I’m excited by the possibilities, and at the same time I’m melancholy about leaving.”

Former “P.M. Magazine” co-host Pat Brown is featured on the cover of the current issue of the North County Entertainer, promoting something called “San Diego Weekend Magazine,” described in a press release as “an exciting preview of some of the wonderful businesses, events, people, and places that are little known to those who live here.” Brown will host the show, which begins airing on cable systems around the county at 7 p.m., May 25.

The show is produced by Affiliated Marketing Services, which is buying time to air the show on the cable systems (Channel 4 on Cox Cable and Southwestern’s Channel 11), just like all those tacky “infomercials.” AMS also happens to own that bastion of independent journalism, the Entertainer.