Stan Chambers

Stan Chambers covering the Kathy Fiscus tragedy in April 1949

Stanley Holroyd "Stan" Chambers (August 11, 1923 – February 13, 2015) was an American television reporter who worked for KTLA in Los Angeles from 1947 to 2010.[1]

Chambers was born in Los Angeles. His career began shortly after KTLA became the first commercially licensed TV station in the western United States. His April 1949 on-scene 27½-hour report of the unsuccessful attempt to rescue Kathy Fiscus from an abandoned well in San Marino, California prompted the sale of hundreds of TV sets in the Los Angeles area. His report has been recognized as the first live coverage of a breaking news story.[2]

In 1952 Chambers was involved in the first live telecast of an atomic bomb test at the Nevada Test Site. Among other stories he has covered are the 1961 Bel Air fires, the 1963 Baldwin Hills Reservoir dam break, the 1971 Sylmar and 1994 Northridge earthquakes, the 1963 kidnapping of Frank Sinatra, Jr., the 1965 Watts Riots, the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, the Tate-LaBianca murders by the Manson Family, and the Hillside Strangler. Chambers broke the story on the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles Police Department officers.[3]

Chambers earned several Emmy Awards, Golden Mike Awards, LA City and County Proclamations, an LA Press Club Award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His grandson, Jaime Chambers, became a reporter at KTLA in 2003, and now works at KSWB-TV (Fox-5) in San Diego.

Retirement years and Death

He retired on August 11, 2010 on his 87th birthday, marking 63 years as a reporter at KTLA.[4] Chambers died on February 13, 2015, at his home in the Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, the age of 91. Chambers' first wife, Beverly, died of cancer in 1989. But he was survived by second wife GiGi, 11 children, 38 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren. He was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California, buried beside his beloved wife Beverly.

References

  1. ↑ Stan Chambers, KTLA.com, accessed 2013-10-13
  2. ↑ LA news pioneer Stan Chambers retiring, Los Angeles Daily News, August 11, 2010
  3. ↑ Jay Berman, Turning the Tables on Stan Chambers, Los Angeles Downtown News, February 27, 2004
  4. ↑ Greg Braxton, KTLA's Stan Chambers to announce retirement, Los Angeles Times, August 11, 2010
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