LOS ANGELES—Disney's KABC-TV station has restored its broadcast feed after the Eaton Wildfire in Los Angeles knocked it off the air earlier on Friday, Jan. 10.

Several news reports noted that the station's broadcast feed was unavailable on Friday morning. Following up on those reports, the station has confirmed to TV Tech that as of 1:40 p.m. (PT) that the broadcast feed was still down.

The station was, however, cautiously optimistic that it would be restored in the afternoon, which it was.

Earlier in the day, the station’s website noted: “ABC7's over-the-air signal was having issues Friday morning as the Eaton Fire burned near the Mount Wilson Observatory and communication towers in the Angeles National Forest. If you watch ABC7 over the air and you lost our signal, you can still watch us at abc7.com or by downloading the ABC7 Los Angeles app on your mobile phone or smart TV.”

In addition, the station is also available on pay TV operators and streaming services like Hulu + Live TV.

In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, a ABC spokesperson said "The issue was related to the fires," but equipment was not burned.

TV Tech learned that the station was back on the air at 3:30 p.m. PT.

The ABC Owned Television Stations Group said it is starting a new community journalist program that will create local content for audiences on multiple platforms.

The stations plan to hire more than 20 journalists in the first year of the program. The first 10 will be hired by KABC-TV, in Los Angeles. The others will be located in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Houston.

“We are always evolving how we inform and reflect the communities we serve based on the changes we see in our audiences,” said Wendy McMahon, president, ABC Owned Television Stations Group. “Interest in local content is growing rapidly and, at the same time, it’s becoming increasingly granular. With this commitment, we are re-imagining the future of local newsgathering to more strategically meet those demands and to ensure that we continue to be the leaders in our local markets.”

KABC is looking for participation from local universities and other institutions to identify candidates for the Los Angeles market who will live in the communities they cover. Applicants should be proficient in newsgathering and able to shoot, edit and publish stories for digital, social and linear distribution. The University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism has already committed to recruiting graduates to the program.

“Our idea is to ‘make SoCal small’ by enhancing and broadening our coverage to create a deeper, more authentic local connection,” said Cheryl Fair, president and general manager, KABC. “We want these reporters to truly engage with and be a part of the communities they cover.”

ABC Owned Television Stations recently launched the digital-first video brand Localish, which creates "good news" stories from local markets and distributes them nationally for viewers on mobile platforms.

LOS ANGELES—KABC-TV has the skies of Los Angeles covered with its Air7HD news helicopter, which recently added the ShotOver F1 Live camera. This new gear offers new features like Xtreme Vision and SkyMap7 to boost KABC-TV’s aerial news coverage.

The ShotOver F1 Live is a version of ShotOver’s gyro-stabilized camera platform designed for the broadcast industry. The F1 features a six-axis gyro-stabilization with look down capability and can support all major broadcast cameras, including 4K and 2K models.

KABC-TV’s ShotOver F1 is integrated with the Xtreme Vision 6500mm zoom lens and the SkyMap7 moving map technology from Churchill Navigation, which can display mapping overlays for when visibility is limited.