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ChineseRemembering Hal Fishman
[tags]los angeles, television, news, media, ktla, hal fishman[/tags]
Click to go to KTLA.com’s story and photo gallery remembering longtime anchor Hal Fishman.
This item in particular does not deal with public transportation. It’s a deviation from the site’s content focus, mainly because of the news of the event and the person involved. So this platform takes time to celebrate the life and accomplishments of one of Los Angeles’ most important journalists and public figures. And personally, I started watching his newscasts at the age of 6, and he helped spring a life-long interest in current events local, national and international.
Hal Fishman was the anchor of KTLA’s 10 p.m. news program. Beyond that, he has been at that post for 32 years and with Channel 5 for over 40. His first career had been a scholar of political science, and while it was another station that put him before the cameras, he will best be remembered for bringing the news to Southern California live from Sunset Boulevard and Van Ness Avenue.
When the cameras were off, Fishman made his mark in the aviation world. He was a pilot and holder of a dozen aviation records. Like many other Angelenos, he had come from New York to became famous out west. Only, it would have been a career in academia. It was a televised political segment that led him to become an institution in Los Angeles news.
At KTLA, he would be its most familiar face for over half of its 60 years. And he worked alongside Channel 5’s other mainstays, including the late, great Larry McCormick and TV news’s most dedicated worker, Stan Chambers, who is still going.
It will be hard not to hear, “Good evening, I’m Hal Fishman” at 10 p.m., what millions of Angelenos have heard for over three decades. But, Mr. Fishman, thank you for keeping us informed.
Discussion
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Please keep discussions civil: exercise Troll Controll.
Watch the parade of colleagues try to position personality traits like “curmudgeonly” and “selfish” as “traditional” and “principled.” Hal didn’t seem to be a big fan of female co-anchors.
Hal Fishman had a reputation 180 degrees from what he was described as on Prime News last night.
But is his death the most appropriate time to reflect on that side of him? No.
(This, of course, is not universal. Wrestling fans had to go through the death of Chris Benoit this summer. And he was widely admired in life, but it did not matter when it was revealed what he did in his last days.)
What KTLA did was an all too human reaction at the loss of someone very close, and very important to the people who worked with him over the years. Maybe, for the hard time he gave the station over the years, people can still look beyond that and still respect and have fond memories of working with him.
Right, he ran through female anchors like (insert metaphor here). Hal Fishman’s death is nowhere as imprtant to Southern California than, say, Pete Wilson was to the Bay Area.