Leslie Wilcox Blogs

Here's What Our Burned TV Studio Looks Like

A specialized restoration team has carefully removed television lights from the ceiling grid at PBS Hawaii, where fire raced across extensive overhead soundproofing material. EVERYTHING in the 2,400-square-foot studio is being cleaned and repaired, or replaced.

The fire broke out Nov. 18. A light bulb in a large "cyc"-related fixture exploded while our crew was setting up for a taping for the weekly show I host, "Long Story Short." Two weeks after the fire, the studio still smells like an ashtray.

The Show Must Go On--and that means ALL of our locally produced programs. While the studio is being restored, our local shows are being shot in a small nearby studio on loan from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, or they're being taped on location.

Back then, it seemed like a good idea...

   It seemed like such a good idea more than a month ago to make the theme of our December monthly magazine: "PBS Hawaii: Keeping the Flame of Discovery Bright for Future Generations. "

    We submitted our magazine to the printer.  Then fire struck. While the magazine was well into production, on November 18, a major fire broke out, sparked by an exploding high-intensity light bulb. Firefighters closed Dole Street in front of our building and flames seriously damaged our TV studio.

     Well, now our December magazine is out. Our staff did a nice job executing the "Keeper of the Flame" theme. But knowing what's happened, it's a little eerie, seeing a little girl on the cover holding a candle, visuals of flames on different pages, and the headline of my column: "Fired Up to Support Students."

      We couldn't withhold the magazine because it contains the month's program listings, which our supporters depend upon--and the timing didn't allow a re-do.

       So here we are. Well, we WILL keep the flame of learning and quality programming bright for future generations.

       But just the same, we are NOT running a companion mahalo TV spot which also had a "Keeper of the Flame" message. Instead, we're running a previous year's spot.

Smoky Odor and Lots of Good Will

I walked into our building at 5:47 am today, a normally quiet time. However, noisy industrial blowers greeted me. In the wake of the Nov. 18 fire that disabled our TV studio and caused other damage, our restoration contractors have the blowers going 24 hours a day, treating the air which still carries a trace of smoke odor.

Our dedicated staff has had to zig and zag to carry out our operations, but we're on the air, our broadcasts look good, and we continue to create local productions. With our own studio out of commission, we're helped immeasurably with the loan of a smaller studio belonging to the University of Hawaii School of Communications. We're grateful to the UH, particularly Don Kozono, for the help.

Other folks in the TV business have been generous in offering to help. We were also offered opportunities to use TV studios by: Hawaii News Now, 'Olelo, and Liquid Planet.

Viewers called in to see if they could assist with clean-up. Or they sent money, as did Lyn from Manoa with this note: "Please accept this donation to get you started. We need you! Please hang in there and come back stronger than ever!" Rose from Captain Cook, Hawaii Island, wrote: "You were lucky to get out of it (the fire). I assume that insurance paid for the damage. But they can be difficult, so here is a little extra."  Rose is right. We are insured.

Our public broadcasting friends in Japan sent a huge fruit array and this note: "All of us at NHK World are thinking of you as you recover from the recent setback. I'm sure you'll be stronger than ever when things are all put back together." We received well wishes from our neighbors, many stakeholders in the national public broadcasting system and our friends at Hawaii Public Radio.

And we heard from teachers at many of our HIKI NO student journalism schools, offering to try to send some of their equipment to help us fill in. Fortunately, our staff and firefighters did a terrific job saving cameras and other equipment. 

We feel the community's support and we want to keep earning it all over again!  Mahalo nui loa.