Kabc Television Station

Even without George W. Bush or Al Gore saturating California's airwaves with campaign commercials, Los Angeles' three network affiliates rank among the top 10 stations in the country for revenue from this year's political advertising, according to a report released Thursday.

KABC-TV Channel 7 in Los Angeles was knocked off the air for more than three hours Sunday by a power outage at its Mt. Wilson transmitter. William Burton, vice president of programming, advertising and promotion, said the outage from about 1 to 3:30 p.m. affected all but direct satellite viewers of the station. "There has been some ongoing power maintenance" at Mt. Wilson, Burton said, "and somehow the backup equipment did not kick in as it is supposed to."

A veteran television news reporter assigned to cover a news conference in Hollywood was seriously burned Monday when the microwave transmitter extending from a KABC van came too close to a 34,500-volt power line and caused an explosion. The reporter, Adrienne Alpert, 48, was airlifted to Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks, where doctors performed emergency surgery to restore blood flow to burn areas over 25% of her body.

Johnny Mountain, who spent 27 years delivering the weather at KABC-TV Channel 7, will be doing his forecasting at KCBS-TV Channel 2 starting Sunday. Mountain will appear on the 11 p.m. newscast that day, then will move into his regular duties the next day, providing weather updates on KCBS' 5, 6 and 11 p.m. weeknight news shows. Mountain, who left KABC last January, will be reunited at Channel 2 with former Channel 7 colleagues Laura Diaz, Ann Martin, Harold Greene and Jim Hill.

It's considered impolite to kick someone who appears to be down. Yet no one merits kicking more than the host of shrill, obnoxious "Carnie," whose ratings--despite being best among new daytime talk shows this season--still may not ensure its survival, so high are audience demands and fiscal stakes in this arena. The show's distributor says its fate is still undecided. Yet word from "industry sources," reports Broadcasting & Cable magazine, is that "Carnie" will be yanked by Warner Bros.

Ann Martin, who has been a mainstay reporter and news anchor at KABC-TV Channel 7 for 18 years, has jumped stations and will land at KCBS-TV Channel 2 in what insiders are calling the most lucrative deal ever for a local television news anchor. Martin will join KCBS' "Action News" on May 16, anchoring the 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts along with current anchor Michael Tuck, the CBS-owned station said Tuesday.

The propriety of KABC-TV's decision to permit political commentator Bill Press to bid farewell to his television audience the day after he announced that he was running for the 1988 Democratic nomination to the U.S. Senate has been questioned by the director of a political watchdog organization that lobbies for campaign reform and ethics in government.

Lisa McRee, a news anchor at KABC-TV Channel 7 for the last three years, was named Tuesday to replace Joan Lunden as co-host of ABC's "Good Morning America" this fall. McRee, 35, known for her poise and statuesque good looks, will start on the ABC morning information show in September, when Lunden, 46, steps down after a 20-year run.

Life is so confusing. Whom do you trust, for example, an Oscar-nominated Brazilian movie or a low-IQ newscast in Los Angeles? Which is the real Rio de Janeiro, in other words, the gray, smudged, impersonal urbanscape of "Central Station" or "the sexiest city on Earth" touted by KABC's "Eyewitness News"? And finally, what does one heavily promoted three-minute story, inserted to snag a larger ratings sweeps audience, say about stereotyping of foreigners in local newscasts?

Channel 7 has told sportscaster Todd Donoho to "take a hike." Donoho and his "take a hike" signature phrase will be leaving the station around the end of September, along with colleague Rick Lozano. Their contracts are not being renewed. The station is bringing in Chicago sportscaster Bill Weir to replace Donoho on the weeknight 5, 6 and 11 o'clock news, as well as the highly rated "Monday Night Live" show. Lozano's 4 p.m. sports spot is being eliminated.

KNBC-TV Channel 4 and KABC-TV Channel 7 continued to fight for dominance in local ratings in the just-concluded May sweeps, with KNBC retaining its long-standing dominance of the 11 p.m. news, KABC-TV remaining first in the evening newscasts, and both stations in a virtual tie in the early morning. Fueled by NBC's strong network performance, KNBC rebounded in the morning, inching out KABC by .01 of a ratings point to reclaim its top position at 5 a.m. The stations deadlocked at 5:30 and 6 a.m.

The election of Arnold Schwarzenegger as California's governor has prompted four Los Angeles television stations to reopen their bureaus in Sacramento. It has been about 20 years since any Los Angeles station had a permanent bureau in the state capital. The first in place is Nannette Miranda, a former reporter at WFTS-TV in Tampa, Fla., who has been named Sacramento bureau chief for ABC-owned stations in California, and who already is reporting from there.

Channel 7 sports anchor Bill Weir has confirmed that tonight will be his last broadcast for the station. Weir had announced in May that he would not be renewing his contract, which expires in September, and would be pursuing other interests. Rob Fukuzaki will replace Weir as the No. 1 sports anchor and Curt Sandoval will move up to Fukuzaki's weekend spot. Fukuzaki will replace Weir as the host of "Monday Night Live."

Laura Diaz, KABC-TV's lead female anchor on "Eyewitness News" and a mainstay at the station for nearly two decades, will join rival KCBS-TV in September in what is being called a key component of the merger between KCBS and KCAL-TV. "Laura is absolutely the No. 1 female anchor in Los Angeles, and we have lured her to become the cornerstone in building the biggest duopoly in the nation," said Don Corsini, general manager of the two stations.

The three local 11 p.m. English-language newscasts received fair to poor marks in a national study released Wednesday examining 43 television news operations. KNBC-TV had the highest-quality 11 p.m. newscast of the three network-owned stations in Los Angeles, according to the study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, which is associated with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Major anchor changes, format shifts and fiercely fought newscast battles marked the just-completed February sweeps, with KNBC-TV continuing its dominance of the important 11 p.m. slot, and KABC-TV staying on top of the afternoon news race, according to local Nielsen figures released Thursday. Hotly contested races included the traditional 10 p.m. face-off between KTLA-TV and KTTV-TV.

The KABC-TV Channel 7 news reporter severely burned last week when the microwave antenna of a broadcast van came near a power line will have to undergo a partial amputation of her right foot, doctors said Tuesday. Adrienne Alpert, 48, who also underwent a nearly two-hour surgery Tuesday, remained in critical but stable condition at the Grossman Burn Center at Sherman Oaks Hospital and Health Center.

Christine Lund will be returning to her former news anchor job at KABC Channel 7 after a four-year absence, station executives confirmed Thursday. Lund, an integral element in KABC's dominance in the local ratings race for most of the 1980s, will co-anchor the 4 p.m. newscast alongside Harold Greene, beginning about Nov. 1, said Terry Crofoot, the station's general manager. November is one of three key ratings "sweeps" periods.

State officials cited KABC-TV Friday for safety violations that could cost the station close to $30,000 in fines for the accident that critically injured reporter Adrienne Alpert. Of the three citations issued by Cal/OSHA, the one carrying the largest penalty, $25,000, cited KABC-TV for failing to maintain proper clearance when erecting the van's 42-foot microwave mast.

Even without George W. Bush or Al Gore saturating California's airwaves with campaign commercials, Los Angeles' three network affiliates rank among the top 10 stations in the country for revenue from this year's political advertising, according to a report released Thursday.