SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) — KFMB stations have a long history in San Diego. KFMB-TV, also known as CBS News 8, was the first television station in San Diego to go on the air when it flipped the switch in 1949.
While our television channels and our radio stations have provided San Diego with news and entertainment, we’ve also given viewers and listeners glimpses into what goes on behind the scenes.
In these News 8 archive clips, you’ll see our newsroom evolve from the mid-1960s to the early 2000s and meet some of our personnel from the decades in between – some of whom still call KFMB home.
This raw footage from the mid-1960s shows News 8 staff from reporters to photographers to editors. The sounds of finger strokes on typewriters can be heard in the newsroom where writers raced against deadlines, sometimes with cigarettes dangling from their lips. Photographer Ben Cutshall, who worked at KFMB from 1964 until his death in 2009, is seen readying his large film camera to take into the field. Some of the video does not have sound, but still paints a picture of a busy newsroom when the equipment looked quite a bit different than it does today.
In 1978, News 8 turned the camera on aforementioned cameraman Ben Cutshall. At that time, Ben had been with the station for well over a decade. Reporter Carol Kendrick described Ben's job as a mix of "glamour and frenzy." Ben told Carol he never intended to enter the news business and originally wanted to be a lawyer. "I stayed with it because when I get up in the morning, I don't dread coming to work, I look forward to it," said Ben.
In early 1978, News 8 report Carol Kendrick also went behind the scenes at KFMB’s FM radio station B100 to interview DJ Glen McCartney. McCartney’s duties included answering the request line where it was said calls from teenage girls flooded in asking for more Fleetwood Mac. Kendrick questioned McCartney on what the 29-year-old was going to do with the rest of his life as radio was an industry that “catered to youth.”
Another raw clip from the News 8 archives shows the KFMB newsroom in 1976 when it was located in downtown San Diego. Typewriters are still heard along with scanner traffic. Some relics of the time are seen being used by writers such as shoulder rests for desk phones and tobacco pipes.
Fast forward just a few years to 2006 when KFMB once again turned our cameras on our own. Legendary News 8 reporter Larry Himmel showcased how the busy newsroom operated with writers, producers, photographers, editors, reporters and anchors all working together to bring the news to San Diego. Larry showed off the station’s Master Control which he called “the brain center.” Several of the people seen in the video are still with the News 8 family over a decade later!
Last, but not least, continue this trip down memory lane with a slideshow of vintage pictures from the KFMB archives.
