History
Origins
The site was first known as the Nassour Studios, built in 1946 and opened January 1, 1947 by brothers William and Edward Nassour (1911–1962). Over 100 independent films were shot there under the Nassour Studios banner. Originally, there were four sound stages ranging in size from around 7,600 square feet (710 m2) to just over 13,000 square feet (1,200 m2). Nassour's modern Art Deco-styled projection room and modern offices were located in the buildings fronting Sunset Boulevard.
Dressing rooms were constructed adjacent to stages 1 and 2. An old converted two story apartment building located down the street on Van Ness housed producers and writers. The largest stage, stage 4, had removable panels that hid a water tank. It was used to film the jungle river scenes in 1949's Africa Screams . The lot was very small (about four acres) so an underground facility for storage was necessary. A large freight elevator was installed for access. [1]
A major television facility
In 1950, the Nassour brothers sold their studio to the Times Mirror Company, publisher of the Los Angeles Times . [2] [3] Times-Mirror was looking for a facility to permanently house KTTV (channel 11), its new television station (at the time, owned jointly with CBS) which commenced broadcasting the previous year. The facility was later renamed KTTV Studios.
The New York City-based firm Metromedia purchased the property along with KTTV in 1963. [4] [5] [6] In 1967 Metromedia undertook an extensive renovation and expansion of the facility, which included renovating two of the existing studios, as well as a new office tower and building housing various Metromedia enterprises, including the Harlem Globetrotters, the Ice Capades, the Foster & Kleiser advertising firm and Wolper Productions, the latter of which was purchased by the company in 1964. [7] [8] The renovation also brought about a name change, from KTTV Studios to Metromedia Square.(also referred to as Metromedia West). Los Angeles radio stations KLAC and KMET (now KTWV), which Metromedia purchased in separate 1963 [9] and 1965 [10] transactions, moved there in 1976.
In 1975, further expansion was made, with the addition of a 40,000 square-foot building with offices, dressing rooms and rehearsal space, as well as more soundstage renovation (bringing the total to 5 altogether; by the time the facility was demolished, the studio count had increased to 6); 4 video editing bays were added by 1983. As a result of the increased work (as Metromedia expanded their production of programming for first-run syndication via their Metromedia Producers Corporation division, in addition to external clients, including Norman Lear's shows and production of television commercials), Metromedia established the MetroTape division to provide videotape and production services (functioning autonomously from their television and radio arms); accordingly, the Metromedia Square facilities became known under the alternate banner of MetroTape West. [11] [12] The truss-like, lattice steel work of art sculpture, "Starsteps" was added to the building's roof on the north side of the property above the Hollywood Freeway (US 101) in 1981. In 1982, a satellite uplink facility was created for use by the Satellite News Channel, a joint venture of Group W and ABC (with KTTV handling the production of regionalized news updates); after SNC's closure in 1983, the uplink was subsequently reused by SYNSAT, a joint venture of Group W Productions and Nolo Communications designed to streamline distribution of television and film programming. [13] [14]
Television producer Norman Lear moved into the property in 1973 and headquartered his company, Tandem Productions, in the building. Lear started videotaping his television series here in the fall of 1975, including but not limited to: All in the Family ; Diff'rent Strokes ; The Jeffersons ; Maude ; Good Times ; Hello, Larry ; One Day at a Time ; and The Facts of Life . One of his other shows, Sanford and Son , remained taped at NBC Studios in Burbank; its 1980 revival, Sanford, was videotaped at Metromedia. Shows such as Diff'rent Strokes, The Facts of Life, One Day at a Time, and The Jeffersons later relocated to Universal City Studios by 1982.
Later years
In 1986, Metromedia sold most of its television interests to News Corporation, and KTTV became a cornerstone station of the new Fox Broadcasting Company. As a result, the studios became the Fox Television Center, though Metromedia continued to own the building and the land on which it was situated, leasing the property to Fox and KTTV.
The Fox Broadcasting Company launch announcement was made from the property, and on October 9, 1986, the flagship show was broadcast live, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers . Shows like the Metromedia and then Fox-produced Small Wonder and NBC's Saved by the Bell , as well as the direct-to-syndication seasons of Mama's Family , the sketch comedy series In Living Color , and the first season of MAD TV were among the later series to be taped at this complex. Ironically, very few Fox television shows were actually taped at the Fox Television Center; however, it did serve as the network's technical center, with all programming for Fox's prime-time and late-night lineups, as well as Fox Kids Network programming, being uplinked to satellite from here (with a brand-new uplink facility created in 1992, in part to handle news backhaul feeds for use by the network's affiliates). [15] Uplinking was handled by the Fox Tape division, formerly MetroTape, which also uplinked syndicated programming from 20th Television.
When Fox Sports began operations in 1994, studio programming such as Fox NFL Sunday began to originate from here, along with studio content for Fox Sports Net when that venture launched in 1996. To accommodate the vast infrastructure necessary for live sports programming, millions of dollars worth of new equipment and expansion to the Fox Television Center were necessary; this included a seventh studio exclusively for sports coverage, multiple new control rooms, the technology necessary to keep the "Fox Box" scorebox updated, Chyron graphics machines, and specialized recordable LaserDisc players. [16] [17]
KTTV moved to their own new building (the present-day Fox Television Center) in West Los Angeles in 1996, which is the corporate home of the Fox Television Stations group. Meanwhile, the radio stations' studios remained there, even long after they were no longer owned by Metromedia. KTWV, now owned by Audacy, moved to new studios in Culver City in 1997, and then Miracle Mile neighborhood on L.A.'s Wilshire Boulevard on February 18, 2013. KLAC eventually became acquired by Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia) and moved to studios shared with Clear Channel's other AM and FM stations, which are now located in Burbank.
The Fox Broadcasting Company, which had maintained some business offices at the 20th Century Fox studios in Los Angeles' Century City neighborhood while at the Television Center, moved its complete base of operations to a new facility on the Century City studio lot shortly after the KTTV move; plans were announced for this facility in June 1997, by which time Fox's lease on the facility from Metromedia had run out (and construction on the new facility in Century City was ahead of schedule). This new facility, known as the Fox Network Center, is the home to the network's live studio productions (certain Fox Sports Net productions instead originated from a facility located in the Westwood district), and serves as the technical center of the Fox network (with Fox's satellite feeds beginning origination from the Network Center on December 31st, 1997). [18]
Metromedia sold the land to the Los Angeles Unified School District in 2000; the famed "starsteps" were dismantled and shipped to Chicago. [19] [20] The building was demolished by the school district in 2003 and replaced with Helen Bernstein High School, which opened in 2008.
Metromedia was an American media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and controlled Orion Pictures from 1988 to 1997. Metromedia was established in 1956 after the DuMont Television Network ceased operations and its owned-and-operated stations were spun off into a separate company. Metromedia sold its television stations to News Corporation in 1985, and spun off its radio stations into a separate company in 1986. Metromedia then acquired ownership stakes in various film studios, including controlling ownership in Orion. In 1997, Metromedia closed down and sold its media assets to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
KTTV is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outlet KCOP-TV. The two stations share studios at the Fox Television Center in West Los Angeles; KTTV's transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.
WNYW is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Secaucus, New Jersey–licensed MyNetworkTV flagship WWOR-TV. The two stations share studios at the Fox Television Center on East 67th Street in Manhattan's Lenox Hill neighborhood; WNYW's transmitter is located at One World Trade Center.
KCBS-TV, branded CBS Los Angeles, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent outlet KCAL-TV. The two stations share studios at the Radford Studio Center on Radford Avenue in the Studio City section of Los Angeles; KCBS-TV's transmitter is located on the western side of Mount Wilson near Occidental Peak.
WFLD is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's Fox network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Gary, Indiana–licensed WPWR-TV. The two stations share studios on North Michigan Avenue in the Chicago Loop, and transmitter facilities atop the Willis Tower.
KMET was a Los Angeles FM radio station owned by Metromedia that broadcast at 94.7 MHz beginning on May 2, 1966. It signed off permanently on February 14, 1987 after a 21-year run on air. The station, nicknamed "The Mighty Met", was a pioneering station of the "underground" progressive rock format.
KRIV is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, serving as the market's Fox network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV station KTXH. The two stations share studios on Southwest Freeway in Houston; KRIV's transmitter is located near Missouri City, Texas.
KKSF is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Oakland, California and serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The station is owned by iHeartMedia and has an all-news radio format, with programming from the co-owned Black Information Network (BIN). The studios are located on Townsend Street in San Francisco's SoMa district.
Tandem Productions, Inc. was a film and television production company that was founded in 1958 by television director Bud Yorkin and television writer/producer Norman Lear.
ELP Communications was an American television production company that originally began in 1974.
KTLA is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is the second-largest operated property after WPIX in New York City. KTLA's studios are located at the Sunset Bronson Studios on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.
KTWV is a commercial radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, and broadcasting to the Greater Los Angeles area. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc., and airs a rhythmic adult contemporary radio format. KTWV has studios on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile district of Los Angeles. As "94.7 The Wave," the station was known for pioneering the smooth jazz radio format in the late 1980s.
Norman Chandler was the publisher of the Los Angeles Times from 1945 to 1960.
KLAC is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by a joint venture between iHeartMedia, Inc. and the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball club, KLAC serves as the Los Angeles affiliate for Fox Sports Radio; the flagship station for the Los Angeles Dodgers Radio Network, the Los Angeles Clippers, UCLA Bruins football and basketball; and the home of radio personalities Fred Roggin, Rodney Peete, Petros Papadakis and Matt "Money" Smith.
KCOP-TV, branded Fox 11 Plus, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox outlet KTTV. The two stations share studios at the Fox Television Center located in West Los Angeles; KCOP-TV's transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.
20th Television, Inc. is an American television production company which is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of the Disney Entertainment division of The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment distributes the television series produced by 20th Television in home media formats through the 20th Century Home Entertainment banner.
Celebrity Bowling is an American syndicated bowling sports series hosted by Jed Allan that ran from January 16, 1971, to September 1978. The series was produced in Los Angeles at Metromedia Square, the studios of KTTV.
The Times Mirror Company was an American newspaper and print media publisher from 1884 until 2000.
The Old Warner Brothers Studio, now known as the Sunset Bronson Studios, is a motion picture, radio and television production facility located on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. The studio was the site where the first talking feature film, The Jazz Singer, was filmed in 1927.
