‘Golden Years’ a Nostalgic Look at KTLA

“KTLA’s 50 Golden Years” is a celebration of the Los Angeles station’s long and sometimes fascinating history. The first commercially licensed television station west of Chicago, KTLA proves to have had a colorful enough past to merit this type of self-congratulatory tribute.

Airing at 8 tonight--although the actual anniversary was Jan. 22--the two-hour documentary is at its most involving when offering images and memories from the station’s days as a television pioneer in the ’40 and ‘50s.

The program includes clips from a series of early, live musical-variety shows that were produced and broadcast locally. “Harry Owens and His Royal Hawaiians” (featuring Polynesian entertainment), “Frosty Frolics” (an ice skating variety show) and “Ina Ray Hutton’s All Girl Show” (a program featuring an amazing big band composed entirely of formally dressed women) bring to light an era of television that was indisputably corny, but engagingly spontaneous and innocent.

“KTLA’s 50 Golden Years” projects a keen sense of this formative medium being developed and honed with each new program. Cliffie Stone, the host of a KTLA variety show called “Hometown Jamboree,” is frank in assessing his program. “We got up there when we were all idiots and had no knowledge of what we were doing,” he says.

The nostalgic program begins to lose momentum as it enters the post-’50s period. With the proliferation of network and syndicated television, the station’s production of regional entertainment programming diminished.

By then, KTLA was becoming better known for its live news coverage. Unfortunately, the program’s superficial presentation of some key events in Los Angeles history--from Robert Kennedy’s 1968 assassination to the Rodney King beating in 1991--fails to resonate.

Even less interesting is a segment summing up KTLA’s involvement in sports. “Junk sports” such as roller derby and pro wrestling receive more attention than Dodger baseball--and the station’s past affiliation with UCLA basketball, Angels baseball and Kings hockey isn’t even mentioned.

Key business changes at KTLA are also dealt with in cursory fashion. Gene Autry’s purchase of the station from Paramount in 1964 at least includes a brief interview with the singing cowboy. But the sale of KTLA to the Tribune Co. in 1985 and the 1995 affiliation deal with the WB network are mere footnotes.

“KTLA’s 50 Golden Years” is ably hosted by KTLA news reporter Stan Chambers, who has been with the station for virtually its entire history.

* “KTLA’s 50 Golden Years” airs at 8 tonight on KTLA-TV Channel 5.