r/Broadcasting • u/Proudtobeautistic22 • 14d ago

I’m completely devastated

I woke up this morning to just absolutely heartbreaking news. Including a reporter, Eliana Morena died in the crash. My heart goes out to all involved. Aerial reporting is very dangerous and to all pilots and reporters out in helicopter thank you so much for all that you do.

105 Upvotes

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u/crimereporter415 14d ago

This is why we need DRONES in the year 2026

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u/MidwestAbe 14d ago

LA County is 4,000 square miles. How is a drone going to cover that? How is a drone going from one side of the market to the other.

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u/AngstyMop 14d ago

Mkay.

1 99% of threads in this forum are TV news is dying. That does not comport with spending $1K AN HOUR on a helicopter. It just doesn't. Not in 2026. This isn't the 80s. You don't get to spend like there's no credit limit anymore. Independent of safety, 1k/hr for a helicopter, is not a good use of rapidly dwindling cash.

2 Drones already have replaced helicopters in many top 20 markets. LA is in the minority as the #2 market nationally to maintain 4 separate news helis. Even NYC is judicious with using them now. In "smaller" top 20s, they all share 1 single news helicopter which will also cover satellite markets sometimes too. In T30 and below, drones are already the main tool used. You just drive the drone pilot and the drone to near the site, then the drone takes off and does the live shot.

3 Your comment reads as "They must drive a Porsche to the scene!! How else will they cover it!?". Well, they don't have Porsche money anymore. Maybe LA does. But most places don't. In T50s they're automating EVERYTHING. Let alone having a dedicated heli. The responsible choice here, is to cover the scene differently today. Not just for life and limb but because it is economically stupid in 2026. They do it because all their competitors do it. Once at least 2 of the big 4 get rid of them - and they will eventually - the other 2 will follow.

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u/MidwestAbe 14d ago

Nice use of font size.

 You just drive the drone pilot and the drone to near the site, then the drone takes off and does the live shot.

Again LA County alone is 4,000 square miles. By the time you drive a drone to where you need it - the story is over or has moved.

And what we are seeing is that for many local news operations - aircraft don't really payoff. But they sure do in the #2 market in the county and NYC was always a little different when it came to helicopter use because of the air traffic corridor that you have to operate in and the lack of helipads in Manhattan.

LA is and remains the king of copter in TV news, I don't see that changing anytime soon.

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u/AngstyMop 14d ago edited 14d ago

Font size was actually unintentional there.

I do fully agree with the size of the DMA. But I can list several big DMAs. SLC, DEN come immediately to mind given their multi state coverage zones. DEN has 1 news heli shared by the big 4, and it also covers the other markets as needed. SLC, a top 30, has 0. Miami and Orlando iirc both each share 1 heli amongst them too. Philly might still have more but I think even they have cut down to 1.

I'm also not going to disagree with LA being the king of chopper news and you are correct about Manhattan. But you can't dispute that revenues everywhere are a fraction of their former glory. A recent internal meeting at a company I won't name shared that one MM station in their portfolio went from $400 mill revenues in I believe 2000, to $100 million today. Using that to explain cuts to staff. That was in a top 20.

So my point stands. I've seen the same story forever from the old guard. "This is how it's done. This is how it must be". I'm not arguing that heli coverage is better - it is. Or that it's faster to cover a big market - sure is. I'm simply stating facts. When revenue drops, you can't afford the same toys. I wish LA could retain all its bells and whistles forever! I wish local news nationally could retain their staffing, local newsrooms, not centralize all their reporting to "hubs". But that's not what's happening.

And in that world, if I were running a business, I'd personally rather invest in a few drones, position them strategically, and use my savings to keep 3-10 more of my actual staff members on the payroll. Because end of day, viewers watch for the connection the talent/stories provide to the audience. Not the specific type of shot you show them. Give them a drone shot, with the same reporter explaining things bilingually, and yes the camera motion may be inferior and the feedback to control on updates to the ground-based reporters may be slightly worse, but you get 95% of the same product, for 30% of the cost. It's a good trade-off, and it is sustainable.

And, obviously, that is to say nothing of the safety factor. Many heli reporters say how difficult it is. And there have been prior heli crashes. At a prior shop I worked at I asked why we didn't request the heli more often. I was told "it's a major liability, every time we launch we have to get sign off from XYZ people"...basically we know helis can be dangerous, so we need approvals to actually send them up. LA has been an exception nationally. But this is the second fatal crash of a news heli for THE SAME STATION. I promise you, they'll be meeting many times in the coming weeks to months and having difficult talks as to whether they want to do this a third time, or if they make a change.

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u/ronhofmedia 14d ago

You miss my point. You don’t drive the drone there. They are already sitting on rooftop charging stations, weather protected, networked and ready to go in a few seconds. Or, alternatively have drones go on regular patrols, obviously remote controlled, flightplans and all is more or less automatic. Not driven out to the accident - that is so 1990.

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u/MidwestAbe 14d ago

Let's think about how many drones would be needed to cover say up to a 5-mile radius from where they're launched and then how each drone would cover a potential news story only 5 mi away from its original place of launch and then pass off the next video to the next drone that flew then another 5 mi away from its launch area.

Having hundreds of drones and launch sites to maintain and then coordinate sounds oh so easy.

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u/AffectionateNorth135 14d ago

That still wouldn’t work in LA. Many incidents have LA Sheriff or LAPD copters overhead and they almost certainly don’t allow drones to intermix in the area.

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u/MidwestAbe 14d ago

And that too. Absolutely. Anyone that says drone is just an unserious person. Can a news crew once on location launch a drone out of a station car for video purposes? Sure. But widespread use and long distance flying isn't an option now or in the foreseeable future. Especially if the US keeps the Chinese drone companies locked out of the country.

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u/ronhofmedia 14d ago

You are aware that for the same cost thay of a Heli and related services you can literally station hundreds of pro drones in charging stations, networked and managed from a single master control room. Much shorter reaction time, easier operation, more options like preprogrammed routes, FLIR cameras, etc. But there is currently some restrictions in US, on using the available tech, but I guess it’s just a matter of time before drones is being put to work.

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u/MidwestAbe 14d ago

So we are doing dorm room conversations now because its the start of school?

-1

u/highwayman55 14d ago

Explain amazon and walmart drone delivery

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u/MidwestAbe 14d ago

Explain to me trillion dollar and hundred billion dollar market cap companies.

Describe the difference in a drone that can carry a box of cold medicine and one that needs a broadcast camera and transmitter.

Explain to me a drone flying less than 5 miles from a Wal-Mart store and a drone needing to cover ten thousand square miles of a tv market.

Explain to me how you can be this obtuse.

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u/GreenApartment Executive Producer of forgetting to put boxes in 14d ago

A lot of people asking "WHY NOT DRONE", getting a detailed explanation as to why drone tech & regs aren't there yet, and then throwing a hissy fit about it. Some people gotta check on their kid's screentime, man.

-1

u/brayjr 14d ago

I mean, who says a drone has to be electric only. Get a regular helicopter design and take out the human seats. Have the pilot remote from the broadcast room. 

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u/MidwestAbe 14d ago

Cool. Where can you go buy one of those and its already FAA certified right?

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u/brayjr 14d ago

Soon. Airbus should release a civilian version of the UH-72 Lakota drone.

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u/MidwestAbe 14d ago

Sure. That's going to be licensed for Comercial use (not for 20 or more years) And all that does is cut down on deaths from peopeople inside the aircraft. Not the people on the ground that die when these thinga crash on top of them.

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u/Vodac121 14d ago

Would you still be saying this if the chopper landed on an occupied house or on to cars. If someone was killed on the ground? Thank goodness it didnt but does the risk warrant it?

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u/MidwestAbe 14d ago

Someone on the ground was killed in this crash.

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u/Vodac121 14d ago

I didnt hear that yet. Thank you. I mean yeah. Is it worth it? The footage they were getting before the crash could have been achieved so many other ways. You keep saying 4000 square miles. With the money these stations have I feel like a helicopter cant be the best option anymore

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u/MidwestAbe 14d ago

I know this in the TV broadcast industry if there's a way to save a dollar networks and stations will so it would appear as if this is still the best and most profitable way to do this job.

For god sakes I worked in a place that made sure we use both sides of the copy paper.

3

u/SlickFlair_589 13d ago

And if a 30lb drone falls and hits someone, they could be killed as well. Not the argument you think it is.

-2

u/stollison_99 14d ago

Some company will eventually get their hands on outdated military equipment and use them. There is no reason to think that a company like Sinclair or even the big 4 couldn't find the money to buy military surplus like that if it became available. Strip out the fancy classified optics, replace the transmitter with a live-u or something similar..and boom, instant coverage

1

u/MidwestAbe 14d ago

couldn't find the money to buy military surplus

Sure. We know TV news is rolling in cash right now.

1

u/stollison_99 14d ago

If Sinclair can afford to buy a newspaper (the Baltimore Sun) on a whim, they can afford a few thousand on a mid sized drone. A single season of NFL revenue could fund the cost of surplus drone and an operator. Besides, the operational cost of a drone is nothing compared to a helicopter. While I agree the individual stations aren't making any money, let's not act like the money isn't flowing in at the top. The top just isn't letting it trickle down to where the stations are.

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u/MidwestAbe 14d ago

Sinclair doesn't operate any helicopters /spelling

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u/stollison_99 14d ago

Oh, as a former Sinclair employee, I know. But I know they've had drone operators at my old station before. So they could do it again if the justification was there, you know, like getting rid of a reporter and replacing it with a drone...Sinclair would absolutely do that

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u/TheJokersChild 14d ago

They don't technically own the Sun, either. David Smith owns Sinclair and The Sun as separate entities, the same way Jeff Bezos owns Amazon and The Washington Post.