On Wednesday afternoon, KABC Los Angeles anchors David Ono and Ellen Leyva stood on the grass outside its Glendale, Calif., facility and were dressed more casually than usual on a 90-degree day, using trucks to broadcast as though they were reporters in the field, following a bomb threat.
DMA 2: LOS ANGELES
KABC Airs From Lawn After Bomb Threat
GLENDALE, Calif. (AP) — Southern California TV station KABC-TV had to air its Wednesday afternoon newscast — weather, sports and all — from the building’s front lawn after a bomb threat.
Anchors David Ono and Ellen Leyva stood on the grass and were dressed more casually than usual on a 90-degree day, using trucks to broadcast as though they were reporters in the field.
“In 20 years, David, I’ve never had this before,” Leyva said.
“It’s a highly unique situation,” Ono replied.
Glendale police said they received a call from an anonymous man who said there were multiple bombs inside the building, though none was found.
The KABC newscast included shots of the empty newsroom from an unmanned camera. The station’s helicopter hovered overhead and showed the surreal scene of the makeshift newsroom on the grass.
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With limited resources, the newscast focused mainly on the threat itself and included interviews with police and a dog-wrangling member of the bomb squad.
Still, the mood was largely light-hearted.
Meteorologist Dallas Raines, whose slick hair and sunny personality have made him a local celebrity, wore sunglasses and used an iPad to show his five-day forecast.
“It’s neat not to just forecast the weather, but to be in it,” Raines said.
The station’s sports and entertainment reporters also appeared on the lawn in their usual timeslots.
KABC’s offices are also the home of West Coast operations for ABC national news. The building, along with several others in the area, is owned by Disney, though no others were evacuated.
After the bomb squad gave the all clear, the station’s news staff could be seen pouring back into the building to pull together the rest of the evening’s newscasts.
Comments (1)
GLENN COLEMAN says:
October 6, 2015 at 12:23 pm
Happened at KCAL in 1997…. From The Daily Bruin:
Bomb threat suspect pleads innocent
A man whose phony truck bomb claim forced the evacuation of a
Hollywood neighborhood pleaded innocent to making a terrorist
threat.
Abram Nacham, 64, of Long Beach, entered pleas on Tuesday in
Superior Court to that count and to charges of possessing a false
bomb and making a false bomb threat. His bail was reduced from $1
million to $500,000 but he remained jailed pending a scheduled Feb.
4 bail review hearing. Nacham’s lawyer, Stuart Carroll, did not
immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Nacham, who owns an auto body shop, was arrested on Saturday
after an hours-long standoff outside of Paramount Studios. He had
parked a truck in front of the Melrose Avenue gate of KCAL-TV,
which has offices on the studio lot. A banner draped on the truck
read: “AAA damaged my Reputation … I want restitution for
millions … Don’t shoot … 5,000 lbs of dynamite.”
Police sealed off nearly 400 square blocks in Hollywood during
the standoff. Nacham left the truck and surrendered at midday, but
police were not satisfied that the truck did not contain explosives
for another five hours.
Nacham, a Ukrainian immigrant, unsuccessfully sued the
Automobile Club of Southern California in 1990, claiming that it
had launched a personal vendetta intended to ruin his Signal Hills
business, his son, Gary Nacham, said.
Automobile Club spokeswoman Layna Browdy said the agency
cautioned members about the business after receiving several
complaints that the work was substandard.
The Automobile Club of Southern California is an affiliate of
the American Automobile Association.