Anchorman Kidnapped
At my station in Sacramento, the popular news anchorman Dick Cable was kidnapped by one of his viewers. The news director who engineered this fiasco was Tom Capra, son of famed Hollywood film director Frank Capra.
Here’s what happened:
One evening just after the Six O’Clock News, the phone rang in the newsroom at KXTV. On the line was a man who asked if he could speak to anchorman Dick Cable.
“It’s a desperate situation,” said the caller.
Turns out the guy on the phone had just escaped from Folsom Prison, where he was serving time for murder. A police manhunt had been unsuccessful, as Dick had just reported on the newscast.
Tired of running, the escapee said he was concerned that, “the cops will rough me up,” if he surrendered. So the guy wanted to turn himself in to Dick Cable because he wanted someone from the news media to witness his surrender.
The escapee offered to meet the anchorman at a diner in West Sacramento.
It was at this point that news director Tom Capra had to deal with a number of unique issues that few news media managers ever face. After all, he now knew the whereabouts of a convicted murderer who had just escaped from prison. Police agencies all over Northern California were looking for the escapee.
Frank Capra could have made a movie out of the dilemma facing his son at this moment.
As the news boss, Tom understood that the responsible decision would be to notify police that the escapee could be located at the diner in West Sacramento, where the guy was hoping to turn himself in to the anchorman.
Clearly, this was going to be a big local story. Even bigger - and better - Tom thought - if the escapee turned himself in to KXTV’s news anchorman Dick Cable.
It was also a November sweeps month, there was big pressure for ratings because that’s when advertising rates would be set.
The competing station, KCRA dominated the audience ratings in North Central California. Locally owned, they had twice as many reporters in the field every day. Capra’s station KXTV was owned by a New York media conglomerate which had a much smaller staff, although Tom felt his reporters out-worked the competition.
The thought of calling police didn’t appeal to Tom because His Plan involved meeting the escapee and having anchorman Dick Cable turn the guy over to law enforcement. Of course, they would video the surrender and use it to promote their newscast.
What an exclusive!
It was such an unprecedented situation that Tom decided to cover the story himself, just to make sure everything went right.
So Tom, Dick Cable and cameraman Roger Carnegie got into a news vehicle and headed for the diner where the escapee was waiting.
They set up the camera outside. Roger took video of Dick walking into the diner and he was told "be ready to roll immediately" because any second now they’d get video of Dick and the escapee walking out of the diner together.
This was going to be “The Money Shot.” Capra already thinking of the advertising promo: “Escaped Murderer Turns Himself in to Our Anchorman.” Of course, competing stations would have to report the story and there would also be coverage in local newspapers.
Ready to roll, they waited five minutes, then ten minutes. Finally, after twenty minutes Tom went into the diner and asked the man at the counter if he had seen Dick Cable. The guy said that Cable and some man had left through the back door.
They were gone. No sign of them. Dick Cable was missing in action. The escapee had kidnapped the anchorman! Later Capra learned that the guy had pointed a gun at Dick and forced him into his waiting car.
Tom started to sweat, he suddenly got that nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach. His plan to increase ratings had collapsed. Big Trouble was coming from many directions.
First order business, Tom had to call the anchorman’s family to tell them that Dick had been kidnapped. Naturally, this upset the Cable family, who had a house full of kids.
Dick’s wife was told she would be updated every half hour. Mrs. Cable was frightened and angry at Capra, “for allowing a stunt like this.”
Next, Sacramento police had to be notified that the escapee they were looking for had kidnapped the station’s anchorman. The police were furious. They had spent many man hours searching for this guy.
“You dummies have allowed a convicted murderer to get away. And now he’s kidnapped your anchorman!” Lt. Robbie Waters railed at Capra.
“Sit tight, we’ll right be over,” added Waters.
Of course, the FBI had to be notified since this was a kidnapping, which is a federal crime. Agents came to the newsroom and began monitoring the phones.
Finally, there was the question of how to explain Dick’s absence at the beginning of the Eleven O’Clock News, which he usually anchored.
“We just decided to say Dick has the night off. We couldn’t tell viewers that Dick had been kidnapped,” said Tom, laughing as he recalled the incident a couple of years ago at a bar in Ventura.
During several tense hours, the small newsroom filled up with FBI agents, police officers, Dick’s family members, station managers, and news staffers. Every time the phone rang, a big crowd monitored the incoming call.
After waiting about four hours, the newsroom phone rang. It was Dick calling from a pay phone in West Sacramento.
The guy had just dropped him off near the diner.
“He just wanted to tell me his life story,” said Dick, sounding quite calm.
During much of the time that Dick was missing, the escapee had a pistol pointed at him.
“For a while, I thought the guy was going to shoot me,” said Dick. “Then I realized he wouldn’t be telling me all this because he wanted me to put it on the air so I relaxed a little.”
Everyone was relieved at hearing Dick’s voice.
“What kind of car is the guy driving?” asked a police officer.
“Gray, sixty-seven, Buick four-door.”
The fugitive was captured several hours later in Yolo County.
Dick Cable went on to have a long successful career as a popular news anchorman in Sacramento.
This incident didn’t impact Tom Capra’s rising news management career. Years later he was named Executive Producer of NBC’s Today Show. After that, he was named General Manager at KTTV Los Angeles.
Doug Kriegel - TV News Diary
Tune in next week!
Next week:
My Biggest Story Came on a Family Visit
Hey Doug, what year was this? The photos give a hint but I’m curious.