San Diego TV sports anchor Troy Hirsch, with KSWB-TV Fox 5 San Diego, recalled his first experience in a professional sports team locker room. He was an intern for a Seattle TV station and inside the Seattle Mariners locker room. At the time, Lou Piniella was managing the Major League Baseball team.
“He (Piniella) sat at his desk with a lit cigarette and a beer, and I was the new intern on the scene,” Hirsch told Times of San Diego. “I asked Lou what it was going to be like on the upcoming road trip to play the Royals in Kansas City and Rangers in Arlington, Texas. He looked at me up-and-down and said, `Kid, it’s gonna be cold in Kansas City and hot in Texas.’”
Hirsch, a veteran now in his 22nd year of TV work in the San Diego market, isn’t likely to hear such a flippant response in an interview today.
The native of Pullman, WA, has worked in TV sports journalism since 1995, beginning in Oak Lawn, Ill. at a cable station, followed by stopovers for three years at an NBC affiliate in Rockford, Ill., 18 months at a Fox affiliate in Spokane, WA, and two years in Seattle at Fox Sports Northwest, a regional network.
He arrived in San Diego in October 2002 to work at KSWB until 2005. After stints at XETV-TV Channel 6 and KNSD-TV NBC 7, he rejoined KSWB in 2008 when the station re-launched news programming. He has served as sports director at KSWB since 2010.
“It’s very important for me to be honest and truthful in reporting stories, but also I want to share an angle that is different and tells the story behind the success on the field,” Hirsch said. “The people we interview are opening a window to their world, they’re giving us permission to share their lives. We need to honor their permission with good storytelling.”
As a Fox Network affiliate, Hirsch’s station will air Super Bowl 59 on Sunday, Feb. 6. So, who will win the Big Game pitting the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles?
“We definitely have the two best teams in the NFL playing in the game. It will be fun to watch,” Hirsch said. “The Chiefs have the edge in quarterback, receivers and coaching. The Eagles have the edge in running back, offensive line and defense. I think the Eagles’ ability to force turnovers will be the difference. The fans in Philadelphia should start planning their victory parade.”
Retired TV GM Recalls San Diego’s Worst Airplane Crash
Two recent aircraft crashes, including the midair collision of an Army Black Hawk helicopter and a regional American Airlines jet over Washington’s Potomac River and a medical ambulance Learjet that plunged to the ground near a mall in Philadelphia, are grim reminders to La Jolla’s Chuck Dunning of what happened in San Diego 46 years ago.
On Sept. 25, 1978, a Pacific Southwest Airlines jetliner and a small Cessna plane flown by a student pilot collided in the air over North Park. The crash killed 144 people in the air and on the ground. It was San Diego’s worst air disaster, and at the time, the deadliest air crash in the nation’s history. The jet hit the ground at Nile Street near Dwight Street in North Park. Sixteen homes in the neighborhood were damaged. Seven neighbors were killed.
“Every time a passenger aircraft crash happens, any longtime San Diegan can’t help but recall where they were and what they were doing at around 9 a.m. on Sept. 25th when PSA flight 182 went down,” said Dunning, who retired in 2017 after working at XETV-TV Channel 6 since 1978, and serving as the station’s VP and GM since 2010. Bay City Television, the Mexican-based owner of XETV, ceased operations following Channel 6’s loss of the CW network affiliation, which it had since 2008.
In 1978, Dunning was a 25-year-old promotions director with radio station KSDO 1130-AM, which was San Diego’s all-news radio station with studios at 32nd Street and University Avenue, about a half-mile from the crash site.
“When we saw the black smoke, my boss sent me downstairs to alert the newsroom. Sports director John DeMott was on the air announcing the hiring of Don Coryell as the Chargers head coach,” Dunning recalled. “It was all-hands-on-deck. One reporter was sent to the police command center, another one to the airport. I was given a tape recorder and microphone, change for pay phones and sent to the site of the Cessna wreckage at 32nd Street and Polk Avenue.
“I arrived at the small plane crash scene even before the police. A few people were walking around, dazed with that haunted vacant stare on their faces. I smelled the gas and oil. I saw the managed legs of the student pilot. The shoes were still on and neatly tied. I got the interviews and ran back to the studio. Later that afternoon, I went to the PSA site and smelled the stench. It’s a day I’ll never forget. It’s like the day when JFK was shot or when we were attacked on 9/11. You remember where you were and what you were doing on days like that.”
Two years ago, Dunning wrote his PSA crash memories on five, double-spaced pages and submitted it to the San Diego-based International Memoir Writers Association. Dunning’s piece, titled “Tower, We’re Going Down,” was accepted for inclusion in the group’s 2024 anthology book, featuring 30 memoirs.
The anthology will be available for sale for the first time on Thursday, Feb. 6, at Warwick’s bookstore, 7812 Girard Avenue in La Jolla. Dunning will be one of six authors to read his words at the launch beginning at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free. Reserved seats are available to people who pre-order the anthology, titled “Shaking the Tree, Volume 6.” For more information, visit www.warwicks.com.
Super Bowl TV Commercial Prices Hit Record $8 Million
The advertising cost for 30 seconds of airtime during Sunday’s Super Bowl LIX telecast has surpassed $8 million for the first time, reports industry trade publication Advertising Age.
The game will air Feb. 9 on Fox Network with a simulcast on Tubi, Fox’s free, ad-supported streaming service. Fox has reportedly sold more than 10 ads at the higher rate.
“I’ve seen average marketplaces, I’ve seen challenged marketplaces, I’ve seen strong marketplaces,” Mark Evans, head of ad sales for Fox Sports, told Advertising Age. “This one is far and away, on every measurable metric, the best we’ve had by a long shot.”
First-time Super Bowl advertisers, such as tech companies promoting generative AI products and pharmaceutical brands, has heightened demand, which led Fox to implement a waitlist for brands vying for inventory.
However, the majority of ads will come from repeat Super Bowl advertisers, including beverages, salty snacks, autos and quick-service restaurants maintaining a strong presence. A category that will decrease in airtime is entertainment. Viewers shouldn’t expect an abundance of spots from movie studios, which is blamed on setbacks from 2023 Hollywood strikes.
Rick Griffin is a San Diego-based public relations and marketing consultant. His MarketInk column appears weekly on Mondays in Times of San Diego.
