Sam Zell is at it again! Vinnie Malcolm, the General Manager of KTLA, was tossed out today (Tuesday) one day before Ed Wilson, the new head of Tribune Broadcasting was to pay a visit to KTLA in Los Angeles.
Vinnie Malcolm presided over one of the most spectacular freefalls of a television station in the history of broadcasting. KTLA, at one time, was one of the highest rated television stations in LA. They were also one of the top stations in sales and billing. They had an anchorman (Hal Fishman) who holds the Guinness record for most time in the anchor chair.
Vinnie Malcolm and Hal Fishman
They invented the morning news format for a local television station. They were the first to use a helicopter with a television camera, able to beam back live pictures before anyone even considered such a thing. They were the first station to broadcast an Atomic bomb test in Nevada. They covered the OJ Simpson trial "gavel-to-gavel" and ran everyone else off the air because Channel 5’s rating were so high. Stan Chambers, an LA broadcast institution, has been on the air since the late forties. This is the station that brought you Tom Snyder, Joe Benti and a long list of other journalists over the years. An then…along came Tribune.
Last year Malcolm missed his sales projections by $34-million. Their Morning News is nearly dead last in the ratings. Their "Prime News" struggles to be number three. Only one station bills less in this market: KCOP-TV. They have struggled with scandals (an anchor taking furniture given to her on the Morning show in trade for a story on the showroom) They present a segment on their 10pm news that is paid for by vegas.com and pawn it off as a real news segment. The whole management team got "freebies" to stay at an Indian Resort and Casino and the Morning News then went live from there.
Another LA television executive looking at the ratings at KTLA said today, "The whole thing is sad!"
Malcom’s permanent replacement has yet to be named.
