Network, local TV crews pull out all the stops in SoCal

Cory Bergman October 23rd, 2007

Brian Williams, Charlie Gibson, Katie Couric, Matt Lauer, Anderson Cooper and Chris Cuomo are among the network news heavyweights in Southern California for the fire, reports Broadcasting & Cable. More details on the network news front on TVNewser here. And local TV stations are blowing out regular programming to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars in preempted revenue. “We’re burning through money here,” said KNBC News Director Bob Long. During Sunday Night Football, KNBC used its “News Raw” online video channel to stay on the story. KABC moved its soaps to a secondary digital channel, reports Variety. “Everybody that is on our list — staff, freelance, anybody who has ever worked for us — is getting a phone call, ‘Hey, can you come in?’ ” said Paul Button, KCBS’ assistant news director. “We’ve got all our live trucks, both choppers out there. Everything feels very, very taxed.”

On the entertainment front, shoots for CSI and 24 were canceled due to the fires.