`I STARTED WHEN TELEVISION STARTED'; KTLA'S CHAMBERS HAS MADE A CAREER OF COVERING L.A.

Byline: Keith Marder Daily News Television Writer

Stan Chambers is the only person on local television who used to get 100 shares - with regularity.

Then again, there were only about 300 television sets in Los Angeles at the time and one commercial television station, KTLA, Chambers' business address for more than 50 years.

Chambers, whose original salary of $1.25 per hour would be low for a modern-day baby sitter, has covered everything from floods to fires to riots, met presidents and witnessed the proliferation of television sets and stations. Through it all, Chambers has kept his trademark smile and avuncular style.

Chambers celebrated his 50th anniversary at KTLA on Dec. 1, and the station will honor him Friday with a two-hour special, ``Stan Chambers: L.A. Treasure.'' The special originally aired on the occasion of Chambers' 45th anniversary and has been updated with recent footage.

``I've met hundreds and hundreds of news people, and Stan is unique,'' said KTLA anchor Hal Fishman, who has worked in the L.A. market since 1960. ``I hate to sound trite about it, but he's one of the nicest guys I've ever met and certainly one of the most dedicated to news I've ever met. As an anchor, I can tell you that I don't worry. I know I'm going to get an accurate and responsible report.''

By estimates, Chambers has done well in excess of 20,000 such reports. At age 74, he has not slowed down a bit and has no plans to retire. He says that he has an open-ended contract at the station and can stay as long as he wishes.

Covering such stories as the famous slow-speed chase that led to the arrest of O.J. Simpson at his Brentwood home, Chambers is out on location every worknight, regardless of weather or proximity to danger.

He was at the scene during the Watts riots in 1965 and over it (in a helicopter) during the Los Angeles riots in 1992. He has interviewed every president over the past 50 years except for Harry S. Truman. His favorite: President Reagan.

Chambers, a Westwood resident and father of 11, even has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

His longevity is astounding. Fifty years in any business is an accomplishment, let alone for the same company, let alone in the cutthroat television news business.

``I haven't really thought about it,'' said Chambers, who has worked with such broadcasting giants as Tom Snyder and George Putnam. ``I don't know how it happened. Oh, my god it's amazing. I started when television started.''

For the first decade, the USC graduate considered his television career a lark, and was still contemplating what to do with his life. But after many big stories, he locked into the new technology.

``What I really enjoy is the creative side,'' said Chambers. ``When I do a news story, I write it, I research it and report it. I get to do something new every day, which I find appealing.''

Chambers' legend as a newsman began in 1949 when he was the lone reporter on the scene broadcasting live from San Marino during the Kathy Fiscus well tragedy. The 3-year-old fell into a well, and, after 27 hours, rescuers reached her only to find she had died. It not only solidified KTLA's news position, it opened the medium up for on-the-spot reporting.

Although the Fiscus story is still his most memorable, Chambers was frightened at what he saw during the Los Angeles riots.

``I tried to remember what I had learned from the Watts riots,'' Chambers said.

``Personally, for me, this was one of the most difficult stories to do, having lived here and knowing the community's problems since Watts,'' he said. ``There was all this senseless destruction. I was thinking, `There goes a building I know. There goes another.' It was not another Watts with fire in one part of the city. These fires were all over. One building that burned to the ground was six blocks from my home.''

The technological advances Chambers has seen go much deeper than live news coverage, feeds to and from CNN, news choppers and clearer pictures. The veteran newsman has seen an entire industry grow up, including the addition of millions of television sets to the marketplace.

Chambers said it was difficult to manufacture television sets during World War II, so most who had TVs built them themselves. The audience was so intimate that he said KTLA engineers sometimes would call their few viewers and fine tune the TV pictures by adjusting transmissions from the station.

Back in the day, the news lasted 15 minutes a day - and only because the FCC mandated as much. He filled his schedule with many other television appearances. Remember, this was when a news anchor would take a spoonful of soup at the top of a newscast to plug a sponsor.

It was not forbidden or unusual to see a newsman like Chambers read a commercial, host a cooking show, a dog show or a game show.

``He's done it all,'' Fishman said. ``He did not just news. You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who has done everything from talk shows to cooking shows to news. His versatility is remarkable.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) Stan Chambers, left, reads the news for a live KTLA broadcast in the early 1960s, assisted by Tom Capra and Tom Snyder.

(2) Chambers, 74, has been delivering local news reports in Los Angeles since the infancy of television.