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KABC & Death Wish II

L

LordAntler

Anyone know if those were the actual KABC studios in the 1980 Charles Bronson film Death Wish 2?

Funny to look up the current KABC studios on Google Maps and see all the graffiti and barbed wire fences. If they ever remake Death Wish 2 (they're remaking the first one with Bruce Willis), they can just film it at the actual studios again...that neighborhood looks like a demilitarized zone.
 
LordAntler said:
Funny to look up the current KABC studios on Google Maps and see all the graffiti and barbed wire fences.
Click to expand...

There is no graffiti and no barbed wire at the 8965 Lindblade St Cumulus / Westwood One studio location in Culver City.

The old location is "boarded up" and protected with razor wire while the redevelopment plans are approved. The parcel was sold for nearly $100,000,000 and the transmitter site for the AM moved and the studios and offices joined the parent at the Westwood One location. I have not been by there recently, but it's possible that all the old installation was demolished and construction may have begun.
 
LKellerIII said:
IMO, Popeye's is better, in any case. Do you have those in SoCal?
Click to expand...

You are asking if Los Angeles has Popeye's, they have 2000 restaurants Worldwide. If you are not from Southern California how could you judge Pioneer Pete? Probably the greasiest and best crunching Fried chicken there ever was bar none.
 
Hot Hits said:
You are asking if Los Angeles has Popeye's, they have 2000 restaurants Worldwide. If you are not from Southern California how could you judge Pioneer Pete? Probably the greasiest and best crunching Fried chicken there ever was bar none.
Click to expand...

I used to live in So Cal, and have had Pioneer chicken. Then again, the memory would be from many years ago, so I apologize for possibly besmirching the Pioneer name.

I just Googled Pioneer. According to Wikipedia, OJ Simpson used to do ads for them.
 
LKellerIII said:
I just Googled Pioneer. According to Wikipedia, OJ Simpson used to do ads for them.
Click to expand...

One can sure work up an appetite looking for the real killer...or hanging out in Lovelock, NV!
 
Hot Hits said:
You are asking if Los Angeles has Popeye's, they have 2000 restaurants Worldwide. If you are not from Southern California how could you judge Pioneer Pete? Probably the greasiest and best crunching Fried chicken there ever was bar none.
Click to expand...

In 1993 most of the SoCal Pioneers were sold to Popeye's and changed branding
 
DavidEduardo said:


In 1993 most of the SoCal Pioneers were sold to Popeye's and changed branding
Click to expand...


And Popeyes has been bought by the conglomerate that owns Burger King. If they're smart, they'll leave the chicken alone and concentrate on quality control and customer service at their locations. Both can be spotty.
 
You start a thread about KABC and it ends up being an elongated discussion about greasy chicken. When your station is less interesting than Popeye's chicken, something needs to be done.
 
It is interesting that an actual radio station was used in Death Wish II as opposed to a fictional one.
Perhaps even more interesting that KABC was willing to participate in a film whose basic themes
(pro-gun, sympathetic towards vigilantes) were rather controversial at the time.

I am sitting here trying to think of another film where an actual radio station was featured.
 
FreddyE1977 said:
It is interesting that an actual radio station was used in Death Wish II as opposed to a fictional one.
Perhaps even more interesting that KABC was willing to participate in a film whose basic themes
(pro-gun, sympathetic towards vigilantes) were rather controversial at the time.

I am sitting here trying to think of another film where an actual radio station was featured.
Click to expand...
Many movies and films are filmed at actual radio stations. FM was filmed at KMET, pretty sure the real KRML was used in Play Misty for Me, and while I worked at K-EARTH they filmed two productions. Didn't care for it much when I was asked to turn the Music and lights down in the studio I was playing the Smokin' Oldies out of. The nerve of some film crews~
 
Hot Hits said:
Many movies and films are filmed at actual radio stations. FM was filmed at KMET, pretty sure the real KRML was used in Play Misty for Me, and while I worked at K-EARTH they filmed two productions. Didn't care for it much when I was asked to turn the Music and lights down in the studio I was playing the Smokin' Oldies out of. The nerve of some film crews~
Click to expand...

The Wolfman Jack scenes in American Graffiti were not filmed at XERB studios, but at KRE radio in Berkeley - now KBLX. The reason - I assume - was that all the filming was in the Bay Area - primarily in Petaluma and San Rafael, because they had dated looking downtown streets. Also, the Bay Area is George Lucas's home base.
 
I am sure lots of movies were shot in the studios of actual radio stations. But I don't think
many of them were ID'd in the films under their actual call letters. Death Wish II could
have still been shot at KABC but used fictitious call letters like "KBLT", etc. In this way they
could have deflected criticism from gun control advocates.

One inverse example that comes to mind is WJLB, Detroit, which is featured in the movie 8 Mile.
It is an actual radio station there, but it is depicted as having studios in a downtown skyscraper.
In reality it is located in a suburban office park.
 
FreddyE1977 said:
I am sure lots of movies were shot in the studios of actual radio stations. But I don't think
many of them were ID'd in the films under their actual call letters. Death Wish II could
have still been shot at KABC but used fictitious call letters like "KBLT", etc. In this way they
could have deflected criticism from gun control advocates.

One inverse example that comes to mind is WJLB, Detroit, which is featured in the movie 8 Mile.
It is an actual radio station there, but it is depicted as having studios in a downtown skyscraper.
In reality it is located in a suburban office park.
Click to expand...

Probably because the downtown skyscraper is more dramatic, and prettier to look at. In police procedurals taking place in San Francisco, films and TV shows generally show City Hall as the outside shot for the Hall of Justice and courthouse. Reason - City Hall is a beautiful building, but the actual Hall of Justice is uglier than a lard bucket full of armpits.
 
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