Ktla Television Station

KTLA-TV Channel 5 is expanding its news operation and is adding more than eight hours of news programming each week, station officials announced Tuesday. The increase, which primarily affects early morning and midday newscasts, is part of a larger strategy begun this year to broaden the station's local news coverage. KTLA, which like the Los Angeles Times is owned by Tribune Co., began a 6:30 p.m. weekday newscast in January.

KTLA-TV Channel 5 laid off a veteran reporter and one of its weekend anchors Monday, part of a handful of cuts at the local station that also included several executives. Weekend anchor Walter Richards and reporter Willa Sandmeyer were let go along with reporter Janet Choi, executive editor of planning Joseph M. Russin and morning news executive producer John Hensley. KTLA, like the Los Angeles Times, is owned by Tribune Co.

Because of problems with its electronic filing system, the Federal Communications Commission is giving people another chance to weigh in on Tribune Co.'s request to continue operating KTLA Channel 5 while owning the Los Angeles Times. The FCC said it was allowing a new 30-day comment period, which began Tuesday, because "malfunctions" last summer may have caused some people to miss its original Nov. 1 deadline.

Jeff Wald, news director at KTLA-TV Channel 5 and an employee at the station for more than 22 years, is stepping down at the end of the month to devote more time to his family. "This all stems from the passing of my wife in December," said Wald, who is now raising his 15-year-old daughter alone in addition to caring for older, ailing relatives. "This has nothing to do with the station, and it's such a bittersweet decision. But it is a reality check.

Hal Fishman, longtime anchor at KTLA Channel 5, was hospitalized with a serious infection after collapsing at his home Wednesday, the station announced at the top of its 10 p.m. newscast Thursday. Fishman, 75, was said to be awake and alert, but no other news about his condition or where he was hospitalized was available, said Rich Goldner, executive producer of KTLA Prime News. Fishman, a news veteran of more than 45 years, has anchored the station's 10 p.m. newscast since 1975.

Hundreds of messages from viewers poured in Friday wishing KTLA-TV Channel 5 anchor Hal Fishman a speedy recovery and return to his 10 p.m. newscast. Fishman, 75, was hospitalized earlier this week after collapsing at his home and has since been diagnosed with colon cancer, station officials said Friday. Doctors were treating Fishman for an infection he suffered after the collapse when they discovered the cancer, which has spread to his liver, said interim news director Rich Goldner.

NEWS anchors just don't hang around for more than four decades anymore -- if they last a contract term or two these days, they're lucky -- which is one reason Hal Fishman's tenure at KTLA-TV was remarkable. Fishman, who died Tuesday at age 75, was the iron horse of Los Angeles broadcasting, the anchor who kept his voice steady and his mien serious even when the television station he called home lapsed into on-air silliness.

The historic former Warner Bros. studio on Sunset Boulevard, now occupied by television station KTLA-TV Channel 5, has been put up for sale by Tribune Co. amid a wave of high-stakes real estate investment in Hollywood. No price has been set for the block-size property at the southeast corner of Sunset and Bronson Avenue that also houses Tribune Entertainment and Tribune Studios.

Carlos Amezcua, the longtime KTLA-TV Channel 5 morning news anchor who was viewed as a potential replacement for the late Hal Fishman on the station's 10 p.m. newscast, has decided to move to rival KTTV-TV Channel 11, station officials said Tuesday. Amezcua, who has been with KTLA for more than 16 years, had been working as the interim evening news anchor after Fishman died this summer. "We had hoped that he would be in that position, but obviously things take turns.

These days, history is sometimes tossed into the back of the closet like an old shoe. But KTLA is going against the norm and celebrating its rich six-decade history with 60 hours of retro TV beginning Friday. The marathon, which will also include retro news stories during the station's news telecasts, features several series that have aired on KTLA.