Television

This day in history: KTLA airs live nuclear blast

abomb-blast-wired.jpgOn Feb. 1, 1951, Channel 5 in Los Angeles aired on live TV — for the first time ever — the detonation of an atomic bomb blast. The camera was stationed on top of a Las Vegas hotel and pointed toward the desert where dozens of nuclear explosions were set off above ground in that era. Hugh Hart tells the story at Wired.com with the help of KTLA legend Stan Chambers.

The photo, by the way, is of a blast later in 1951. All the TV audience saw that morning was white light.



More by Kevin Roderick:
Standing up to Harvey Weinstein
The Media
LA Times gets a top editor with nothing but questions
LA Observed Notes: Harvey Weinstein stripped bare
LA Observed Notes: Photos of the homeless, photos that found homes
Recent Television stories on LA Observed:
'SoCal Connected' gets new KCET season and exec producer
Cecilia Alvear, 77, trail blazing NBC News producer
Robert Osborne, 84, host on Turner Classic Movies
Midweek notes: Xavier Becerra, Jeff Michael, P-45 and more
Tony Valdez retires from Fox 11 news, last of a generation
Gwen Ifill, Washington journalist, 61
Vin Scully tribute to air live across SoCal
KTLA will air Vin Scully's final six games


 

LA Observed on Twitter