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These days, for better or worse, TV news crews are often among the first to arrive on the scene of a breaking story. But it hasn’t always been that way. In fact, before one particular event in 1949 that took place right here in Southern California, there was no long form, on-site live coverage of breaking news events the way that we see it now.  In his new book, Southern California historian Bill Deverell goes back more than 70 years to a spring evening in April of 1949. 3-year-old Kathy Fiscus is playing with her 9-year-old sister and a cousin in a vacant lot in the city of San Marino. When Kathy missteps and falls down a dry well, the eyes of the world turned to SoCal for the next 48 hours, waiting with bated breath to hear the fate of little Kathy as rescuers worked feverishly to try and save her in an effort that would, ultimately and tragically, prove futile. But the incident marked a seachange in the way breaking news was covered on television and radio. Because the site of the accident was so close to Mt. Wilson, where several radio towers were set up, local news was able to set up and broadcast the rescue attempt as it was happening in real time, something that had never been done before. Angelenos who were lucky or wealthy enough to own a television set at the time sat in their living rooms glued to their sets while the rest of the city crowded around the windows of hardware stores where TV sets for sale were tuned to the coverage. But wherever they were watching, one thing was clear: the city, the nation and the world were transfixed on the rescue attempt happening live in real time, and both reality TV and long form breaking news coverage today are the results of what happened during those fateful few days. Today on AirTalk, USC historian Bill Deverell joins Larry Mantle to talk about his new book on the Kathy Fiscus tragedy and how it changed the way breaking news is covered on TV and radio here in Los Angeles and across the nation. Tomorrow, Wednesday, March 10th at 6:00 p.m., Bill Deverell joins Patt Morrison for a virtual conversation to celebrate the book’s launch. To sign up, click here.  On Tuesday, March 16th at 6:00 p.m. Vroman’s Bookstore is putting on a virtual discussion on the book with Bill and Los Angeles Times columnist Robin Abcarian. To reserve your tickets, click here. Guest: Bill Deverell, author of “Kathy Fiscus: A Tragedy That Transfixed the Nation” (Angel City Press, March 2021); he is professor of history at the University of Southern California and director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West