KCAL, Fox Sports tops in L.A.-area Emmys

KCAL-TV and Fox Sports Net were the big winners at the 55th annual Los Angeles area Emmy awards, presented Saturday by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences at the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre in North Hollywood.

KNBC-TV and KTTV Fox 11 also walked off with major awards in the local news categories.

The “KCAL9 News at 10” won for best regularly scheduled daily newscast over 35 minutes, KNBC’s “Channel 4 News” at 11 p.m. took the award for best regularly scheduled daily newscast under 35 minutes, and Fox’s “Good Day L.A.” won for best regularly scheduled daily news (daytime newscast).

KCAL and the Fox sports cable network led the pack of winners with 11 awards each. KNBC nabbed eight awards, while KCAL’s sister station, KCBS-TV, won five. KTTV Fox 11, KTLA-TV, and Spanish-language KVEA came away with four awards each.

KCET-TV earned three awards, and GTV6 and KOCE-TV scored two each. KABC-TV, Hawthorne Community TV, KDOC-TV, KLCS-TV, KMEX-TV, KWHY-TV, L.A. Cityview35, and UPN 13 each received one award.

KNBC’s coverage of last year’s July 4 shooting at LAX won for best live coverage of an unscheduled news event, and the station’s “L.A. Riots: Rubble to Rebirth” also took the award for news special.

The sports reporting awards went to Fox Sports Net and KNBC.

Honors for investigative reporting went to KNBC for its reports on “disciplined doctors” and DPSS fraud and to KVEA for its reports on lakes contamination.

David Goldstein of KCAL won for best hard news reporting, while Chris Blatchford of KTTV took the award for news feature reporting.

KVEA’s report on “The Forgotten” won for best serious news story in the single report category. The Spanish-language station’s “The Other Border” and KABC’s “9/11: America Remembers” won for best serious multireport news story.

KOCE’s “Mendez vs. Westminster: For All the Children” won the award in the arts and culture/history category, while KNBC’s “Journey to Africa” won in the crime/social issues category. KCAL’s “Nine Days That Could Save Your Life” won in the education category.

George Fischbeck, the former weathercaster for KABC, was honored with the Governors Award for lifetime achievement.