Channel 13 Manages Only to Stumble Through Its L.A. Marathon Coverage

Channel 13 hit the wall.

Armed with 28 cameras, 4 helicopters, the Goodyear blimp, some imported running experts, and a huge crew, the station seemed fit to go the distance Sunday.

But Channel 13’s L.A. Marathon coverage came up short.

Covering 14,937 people running through the streets of Los Angeles is no easy feat, but Channel 13, with one L.A. Marathon under its belt, should have done a better job.

What was missing was basic information, and the main problem seemed to be a lack of communication from the course to the corps of announcers at the station.

Viewers, for the most part, were left wondering how big was winner Art Boileau’s lead during the late stages of the race. There were no cameras on runner-up Ric Sayre or anyone else behind Boileau.

Probably the lone dramatic moment during the race was women’s winner Nancy Ditz passing Sylvia Mosqueda at the 24-mile mark. But the announcers, apparently unaware that Ditz was closing on Mosqueda, were caught off guard and Channel 13 missed it.

Also, Boileau’s winning time seemed to get lost in the shuffle. So did Ditz’s.

Overall, there were too many commercials and not enough pretaped features. There was too much hype and not enough objective reporting. There was too much coverage of the back of the pack, even though it included a competitor mooning the camera, and not enough coverage of the runners near the front.

What made matters worse was Channel 13’s self-congratulations at the end of the telecast. The announcers told each other what a fine job the station had done.

The back-slapping was unprofessional, as was too much of the coverage.

If Channel 13 is going to continue as the L.A. Marathon station, improvement is needed.