KTLA…Covering The Rose Parade Since 1947
KTLA…Covering The Rose Parade Since 1947
Covering the Rose Parade has been a great KTLA tradition that continues today. Bill Welsh and Dick Lane announced the first telecast in 1947.
In 1953, before videotape made such things easy, KTLA found a way to air the parade twice. They televised the parade once at the beginning and once as it neared the end. KTLA also did this with a twist starting in 1955 when they broadcast the parade in both black and white and color. The black and white unit was at the top of the parade and the color unit at the end. By the time the parade had passed the black and white cameras, it was in front of their color cameras.
Stations were extremely competitive in those years, each trying to find the best camera locations. KTLA scooped them all in 1959, having Tom Hatten ride a camera equipped station wagon (seen below) televising live pictures from the very front of the parade as it moved down Colorado Boulevard. New rules went into effect the following year-cameras were never allowed to precede again.
Also in 1959, KTLA was the first to cover the parade by helicopter. The “Telecopter” was the first ever flying television station featuring a minicam that gave viewers a remarkable overview of the festivities.
The Rose Parade came of age when color television became a reality. The first KTLA colorcast was in 1955, but NBC had done a nation wide colorcast of the parade the year before. KTLA’s colorcast was almost a washout. The skies were so gray and overcast that the temperamental new cameras had trouble reproducing the bright, vivid colors of the parade but Klaus Landbreg’s engineers were only partially successful that historic day.
There is more on the photos, so please click though them and there is more of how KTLA covers the parade for Los Angels at the link below. Enjoy, share and Happy New Year! -Bobby Ellerbee
http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/79849/ktlas-rose-parade-heritage-keeps-growing
Note that in the top 1947 picture, the station was still W6XYZ. They would not become commercial KTLA until later that month. Also, reportedly W6XAO ( later KTSL-KNXT-KCBS) .broadcast the Rose Bowl Parade experimentally in 1940.
There was a commercial picture of Tommy Hatten on the station wagon. That is Dick Watson on camera. I have the photo and never knew the story or the exact year. Thank you. I did not meet Dick until 1959.
I swear I learn something new from this page every day. Thanks. By the way, I have always loved KTLA’s logo like the one on the side of the camera in picture one.