Chemical Blast Is a Test for Live TV
A chemical blast at the O’Connor Electro-Plating Co. ripped through a four-block area on Pico Boulevard between Stanford Avenue and Paloma Street, leaving 17 dead and 150 injured and opening a crater 22 feet wide and 6 feet deep. The disaster became a proving ground for live television when Klaus Landsberg, KTLA’s pioneering founder, dispatched a mobile unit and reporter Dick Lane to broadcast from the scene. At the time, there were only 350 home TV sets in Los Angeles.
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