When the Earth Shakes, KCBS’ Prattle Gets on a Roll

KCBS-TV Channel 2’s “Action News” slips in some good work from time to time, most recently some admirable scoops by its investigative “I Team,” guided by venerable Pete Noyes, and some tenacious reporting by Linda Breakstone concerning those controversial stays in Las Vegas by Los Angeles Police Chief Willie L. Williams and his wife. But otherwise?

Clown call.

Now you take that whopper of a breaking story on Channel 2 last Thursday morning. It knotted your stomach. Raised the hair on your neck. Sent shivers down your spine. Gave you the willies. Cleared your sinuses. Filled your word processor with cliches.

Not the story, the coverage.

A block of babble by people with nothing to say and lots of time in which not to say it.

Live.

The Big Quake, magnitude 3.6.

Anchor Carlos Granda: “Almost a 4.” Which is almost 5. Which is half of 10. In other words . . .

WE ALMOST DIED!

Only on 2.

The quake hit three miles east-southeast of downtown at 8:26 a.m., less than 11 hours, coincidentally, before that night’s CBS retrospective on the career of fabled Walter Cronkite, who since abdicating his network anchor throne in 1981 has been a severe critic of TV news, local newscasts in particular. Obviously he’s misguided, unaware of the journalism that Channel 2 boasts about in its latest TV promo.

“Only on 2: LAPD divers to the rescue! The David Rothenberg interview and a how-to book on murder, revealed! First: O.J. live in London! A satanic teen murder! A home-alone heartbreaker! A bank hostage drama and a gun-toting grandmother! Some newscasts are all talk. Channel 2 takes action! Action News--see us now!”

In contrast were the anecdotes spun on “Cronkite Remembers,” including ones about stories he covered, ranging from World War II and the Nuremberg trials to the space program and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

“The Germans got in among us. . . . I was the first reporter back from the landings in the North Atlantic. . . . I had a seat in the bombardier’s nose. . . . I came home from Russia. . . . We took cameras where they had never been before, into the White House. . . . LBJ called ‘The CBS Evening News’ when I was on the air. . . . The Nixon visit to China. . . . I first met Ronald Reagan. . . . Gov. Wallace ringed a school with troops. . . . From Dallas, Tex., the flash, apparently official. . . . “

Hot stuff. But not as hot as “Action News.”

The Channel 2 morning team of newcomer Granda and veteran weatherman Maclovio Perez was about midway through an “update” when the earthquake struck. They were ordered to remain on the air, preempting lightly watched “CBS This Morning” for about 15 minutes while boldly reading vague and sketchy wire reports cold in front of the camera. They had a job to do--fill time with bunk--and they did it.

Perez: “I’m guessing it’s a 4 here where we are, but who knows? But we definitely had an earthquake here in the Hollywood area, and we certainly felt it, as all of our lights were shaking. And congratulations, Carlos, that’s . . .”

Granda: “Yes, yes.”

Perez: “Your first one.”

Granda: “Yes. It lasted what, about 15 seconds? Ten, 15 seconds.”

Perez: “And 15 seconds here in the Hollywood area. We’ll obviously be on top of this story.”

Still babbling.

Perez: “I’d say three or four minutes ago, a pretty good shaker rolling through the Hollywood area. I would, you know, my estimate from experience . . .”

Granda: “Just guessing about it.”

Perez: “ . . . is something about a 3 or a 4. It wasn’t a heavy jolt, but would you say a freight train . . . rolling?”

Granda: “A freight rumbling by outside.”

Perez: “Rumbling by about a block away.”

Still babbling.

Perez: “Yeah. Damage will be the most important part. Within the first minute or two after it is when we find out what really happened.”

Granda: “Right.”

Perez: “Well, I mean, when we have earthquakes at home, the important thing--you want to stay away from any bookshelves that might fall. You got somebody?”

Granda: “We’re just being told it’s a 3.6 . . . outside downtown L.A. So it was a 3.6. You were pretty close there with . . .”

Perez: “Thank you.”

Still babbling.

Perez: “The worst kind of problem that . . . that I’ve always feared is that a bookcase . . .”

Granda: “Right.”

Perez: “ . . . full of books that isn’t anchored to the wall might fall.”

Granda: “Or an armoire, something like that.”

Perez: “Or an armoire, something like that. I had to go into my kids’ rooms and make sure that the beds were far enough away that if the bookcase fell, even though it’s anchored to the wall, it wouldn’t hit any kind of that situation. Another problem I’ve always noticed is that people have mirrors and pictures hanging over their beds.”

Granda: “No, I don’t.”

Perez: “Good thing.”

Granda: “I made sure not to do that.”

Perez: “You know, when that starts shaking, that might fall on top of you, and fortunately it’s a good hour of the morning where most people are awake. When they happen in the middle of the night is a serious problem. And there’s daylight. When we have daylight, you kinda can see around what’s going on, as opposed to in the middle of the night. . . .”

Still babbling.

Granda: “Probably a lot of people who were on the road at this hour during rush hour didn’t feel it. If you’re driving along on the 101 with all the traffic, you’re stuck there anyway.”

Perez: “Unless you’re standing still and you’re not going anywhere.”

Granda: “Unless you’re standing still, yes.”

Still babbling.

Perez: “Just from living here, a 3.6 probably is not gonna cause a lotta damage, but it will rattle some nerves and shake loose objects. That’s one of the biggest things that we have to deal with, is that we place books, we place bottles and things of that nature.”

Granda: “Everything just creeps along and goes away.”

Perez: “It just creeps along and falls off the edge . . . and so a 3.6, though, is enough to wake you up.”

Granda: “Definitely wake you up.”

Perez: “Remind you that you’re in Southern California.”

Still babbling.

Perez: “But if you are OK at this juncture, past 10 minutes, you know, we’re gonna make it, folks.”

Granda: “You’re OK.”

Perez: “We’re gonna make it. Hold on, we’re gonna make it.”

During this period, meanwhile, the Channel 2 chopper was in the sky, beaming live pictures of the downtown skyline. Yup, still standing.

Much later, Channel 2 led its noon newscast with Granda reporting from the field that the “jolt this morning was very moderate,” and that there were no reports of injuries or damage. In other words, it was quiet. And that was the problem, you see. It was . . .

TOO quiet!

What would Uncle Walter have thought of all of this, or of an 11 p.m. “Action News” promo that ran during a commercial break in his retrospective, with anchor Ann Martin trumpeting: “Did Walter Cronkite inhale? The story and his response at 11.”

It’s true that some newscasts are all talk. “Action News,” on the other hand, is all babble.