This is the first in a series of in-depth reports focused on local television news coverage in Los Angeles of the Palisades, Eaton, and Kenneth Fires, which have transformed portions of Southern California over the last week, leaving thousands homeless and in need. With high winds again forecast to increase on Monday evening, we will continue to monitor the events across the Southland.
SANTA MONICA, CALIF. — For decades, 1999 South Bundy Drive, on the northwest corner of busy Olympic Blvd. and in recent years steps away from a Metro station, has been the hub for one of Southern California’s most-watched TV stations.
Thanks to the success of Good Day LA in the mid-1990s and continued investment in the news from Fox Television Stations, led by CEO Jack Abernethy, KTTV “FOX 11” continues to be a go-to destination for news and information — especially when disaster strikes.
That’s exactly what transpired on January 7, when word first surfaced in the 11am Pacific hour that a potentially devastating situation was unfolding for Pacific Palisades, Calif., a tony community nestled between Topanga and Temescal Canyons uphill from Malibu and adjacent to Santa Monica.
Local TV stations went into overdrive. For FOX 11, flames could soon be seen from its rooftop, bringing an unfolding story perhaps too close for comfort.
Steve Carlston has served as Senior VP/General Manager of KTTV and sister KCOP-TV “My13” in Los Angeles since October 2022. In June 2023, he tapped Bobbi Gearhart to serve as VP/News Director of FOX 11.
On the morning of January 7, at approximately 10:43am local time, Carlston received an email from a friend who works at a Mid-City L.A. highrise. He saw a plume of smoke. Carlston recalls, “We were already ready and had forecasted that there were going to be wind events.” Indeed, Sunday newscasts warned viewers of significant wind on the way. “Obviously, we could never have been prepared for what then happened.”
By Noon that Tuesday, Carlston convened with Gearhart and knew that a major event was unfolding. Little did anyone know that roughly eight hours after the start of the Palisades Fire, the Eaton Fire would unfold and bring equally devastating havoc to communities above Pasadena. Using football terminology, Carlston says this was the equivalent to when a quarterback snaps a ball to begin a play with no clear conclusion to how it will play out. And that’s how FOX 11 went into nonstop fire coverage.
“We made a decision early on to stay on this until … forever,” Carlston says. “I think we were close to 60 hours straight, all hands on deck … everyone chipped in. And everybody wants to be a part of helping the community.”
When a decision to pre-empt all programming indefinitely for continuous news coverage is made, there’s not necessarily an action plan; Carlston likened the situation to an unscripted production, requiring a team to come together while leaders direct. That’s what his team did. And, those that noticed included the Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Fox Corporation himself, Lachlan Murdoch, eagerly awaiting news that would directly impact him and his family, too.
“We made a decision early on to stay on this until … forever. I think we were close to 60 hours straight, all hands on deck … everyone chipped in.” — KTTV “FOX 11” in Los Angeles SVP/General Manager Steve Carlston
Carlston comments, “Everybody has an emergency plan for a lot of things, whether it is an evacuation or a go-to-home order as was seen in COVID times, but it works top-down and bottom upside in. It is all hands on deck. The assignment desk monitors the police scanners and we rely on people in the field. As GM, Bobbi and I work hand in glove on who to call in and what gets covered.”
Officially, Carlston is the one that gets the formal sign-off on going all-news. But, he says, “it is a no-brainer as far as staying on. We just need to be prepared at a moment’s notice and where to go, such if our tower burns down.”
That possibility came last Friday, when flames from the Eaton fire neared the famed Mt. Wilson tower array, briefly impacting KABC-7.
For four consecutive days, it seemed new fire threats were emerging day and night. The FOX 11 team, like their peers at other radio and TV stations across L.A., didn’t rest until told to. Those in immediate danger, with family in evacuation zones that kept changing by the hours, were told to tend to their families. “We can miss a live shot,” Carlston says. “That doesn’t bother us at all.”
If one tuned to FOX 11 between 11:30am and Noon on Monday (1/13), they would have seen GDLA+, a lifestyle-focused extension of Good Day LA. The three female anchors of the program focused their discussion on recovery efforts, donation centers and used a comforting tone — a gentle information-filled respite from the soul-weary coverage of flames, destruction and new advisories.
“Broadcasting was set up and is licensed to serve the community, and we are here to serve, protect and prepare people for these kind of moments.” — KTTV “FOX 11” in Los Angeles SVP/General Manager Steve Carlston
While the subject matter is somber, Carlston is proud of how FOX 11 and all of L.A.’s broadcast stations have come together to demonstrate how radio and TV lead in a time of need.
“Broadcasting was set up and is licensed to serve the community, and we are here to serve, protect and prepare people for these kind of moments,” Carlston says. “And the public still knows that when it comes to disasters, they come to local broadcasters. They know we are trusted and we are proud of how our bosses supported us, with Lachlan Murdoch coming to our newsroom to thank people for what they had offered to viewers including him and to prepare their family, too. If that doesn’t set the tone for the company we have … he was ensuring that our staff was getting home and taken care of. You don’t see the other sources of streamers and social media with guard rails and a decorum of the process doing that.”
VERIFIED AND TRUSTED
On the evening of January 7, FOX 11 viewers could see a reporter live on the air in Pacific Palisades sharing the news that Palisades Charter Elementary was engulfed in flames. No emergency vehicles or fire crews were within her vicinity; she noted that she had to rely on Google Maps to determine what structure she was seeing in flames.
Keeping the facts straight when pressed with delivering a live report in an emergency isn’t easy. But, it demonstrates why local broadcasters are perhaps the top source to rely on when accuracy matters most. “We are double-sourced verified even when we are out in the field,” Carlston says. “If we are behind a hill and there’s a plume of smoke we can’t say there is a fire. All we know that there is a puff of smoke.”
As of midday Monday, 90% of Altadena, Calif., was lost; 70% of Pacific Palisades was no more. Popular eateries including Gladstones, Moonshadows and Reel Inn along the Malibu coastline were among those noted as damaged or totally destroyed. For some, the reality of it all could prove overwhelming, in particular in the newsroom. That’s where Carlston comes in for the FOX 11 team.
“You have to be here,” he says. “You have to be on deck and be the cheerleader. I went out in the field this week to help someone who needed it. I’d love to be out there helping as much as I could, because they needed a new satellite dish, you see what they are up against. There are roadblocks. The National Guard are now here. You realize you can’t get a feed out of these canyons without a satellite dish, and now we have Starlink to get a good, clear signal. But a news room coalesces by history, of all who are there and who have covered news stories like these before, and when these things happen, it becomes an environment where the News Director, Assistant News Director and assignment desk orchestrate the movements to put everything in place.
“I know you’ve watched all of the newscasts and the biggest testimonial in these types of events is that we are all coming together and helping the communities in need,” Carlston concludes “This is a testament to the power of local broadcasting. I can’t be more proud to be in broadcasting, as these are the things that galvanize and lift up the community.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Across the week of January 6, RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson has kept a watchful eye on Southern California, his former home. A close friend lost her home in Pacific Palisades. Family members were placed on alert.
A host of charities are accepting donations for Los Angeles Wildfire Relief, including the American Red Cross, Baby2Baby, California Community Foundation, California Fire Foundation, Center for Disaster Philanthropy, Convoy of Hope, Community Organized Relief Effort, Direct Relief, Entertainment Industry Foundation, Global Empowerment Mission Inc., GlobalGiving, Los Angeles County Animal Care Foundation, Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation, Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, Pasadena Humane, United Way of Ventura County, and Ventura County Community Foundation. Veteran media and marketing consultant Shelly Palmer offers a convenient webpage with further information on these charities.
