Hal Eisner’s accidental path to television journalism
Original Airdates: Feb. 20-23, 2026
TVC 725.4: Ed welcomes Hal Eisner, the multiple award-winning broadcast journalist who covered the news every day for fifty-eight years, including fifteen years at various radio stations in Texas and Louisiana and the last forty-three years on television in Los Angeles, primarily as a field reporter for FOX 11, but also for KCOP (Channel 13) and, for a few years, as a reporter for the L.A. bureau of CNN. Hal’s memoir, An Accidental Career, is available through Amazon.com. Topics this segment include how Hal’s ability to connect immediately with the people whose lives he covered—a trait he got from his dad—has served him well throughout his career, even in difficult circumstances; the power of organic reporting; and why Hal chose to remain in Los Angeles and cover local news after his tenure at CNN ended.
Hal Eisner on why news is a community service
Original Airdates: Feb. 20-23, 2026
TVC 725.5: Award-winning broadcast journalist Hal Eisner talks to Ed about the day in March 2021 when he was nearly killed after being struck by a drunk driver while covering a story in Hollywood—and the remarkable role that social media played in helping him get back on his feet. Hal’s memoir, An Accidental Career, is available through Amazon.com.
For our listeners in the Greater L.A. Metro area, Hal Eisner will appear at Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena, CA on Wednesday, Mar. 4 beginning at 7pm.
Hal Eisner on why news reporting is another form of storytelling
Original Airdates: Feb. 27-Mar. 1, 2026
TVC 726.2: Part 2 of a conversation that began last week with Hal Eisner, the multiple award-winning broadcast journalist who covered the news every day for fifty-eight years, including fifteen years at various radio stations in Texas and Louisiana and the last forty-three years on television in Los Angeles. Hal’s memoir, An Accidental Career, is available through Amazon.com. Topics this segment include how Hal’s encounters with such celebrities as Ed Asner and Roy Scheider; how news reporting is another form of storytelling; and how living in retirement can be like floating in a bowl of Jell-o.
For our listeners in the Greater L.A. Metro area, Hal Eisner will appear at Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena, CA on Wednesday, Mar. 4 beginning at 7pm.
