Live on TV3: Palm Springs
money and high crime,
making it a great town to be a TV news reporter and police detective
in the ’80s and ’90s. There, we see the
explosive Sonny Bono rise to mayor before he
becomes a US Congressman, we meet Frank
Sinatra and his wife at exclusive dinner
parties, and journey with a hard-nosed cast of police and newsroom
personalities mingling among the stars while trying to solve a
pyramid scheme and murders. Evans provides a candid insider’s view of
newsroom operations and scheming TV personalities who will do
anything to get ahead.
Palm Springs is the prequel to Evan’s
first novel, Murder
at Broadcast Park. Learn how Stewart,
Lisa,
and the ever unsuspecting Dugan
built a broadcasting empire.
Bill Evans is a 45 year broadcast veteran who has turned writer. His first
novel, Murder at Broadcast Park, was released in October, 2017 by
Koehler Books. His second book in the Broadcast Murder series will be
released in the summer of 2018. Both books are being considered for
TV Movies. Bill writes with a lot of dialogue and in the words of his
publisher, “doesn’t use a lot of word calories.”
broadcast world, Bill’s novel is able to paint a vivid picture of
what really happens when the cameras are off. Leaving you on the edge
of your seat, you will not want to put “Murder at Broadcast
Park” down. The story is fiction with so much non-fiction thrown
in you might not know the difference by the time you finish.
continues to
have a passion in the broadcast world and working in local media.
Bill has developed a love of writing and is excited about the
launching of his writing career.
Three . . . two . . . one . . .
“Tom Preston is on assignment outside the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Palm Springs. TV3 has
uncovered a major Ponzi scheme involving some very highprofile business people and
educational leaders from our desert communities.”
“Jennie, that’s right. I’ve been working on this story for the past three weeks—”
The television monitor suddenly went blank.
Jennie and the TV viewers couldn’t see the pandemonium and chaos erupting on Palm Canyon,
the street in front of the Hyatt Hotel. The TV3 live truck had exploded, spewing metal, shrapnel,
and bodies everywhere.
“Shit, what happened to our live shot? Our truck is dead.” The TV3 production control room
scrambled to figure out what went wrong. “Get Tom onthe phone.”
“Somebody find out what’s going on out there!” Johnny Johnson shouted.
JJ, as he was called, was the news producer and commanded the troops. He reported to the
news director, the head person in the newsroom. He was like a sergeant in a foxhole, taking
orders from his lieutenant and keeping his control room calm as everyone scrambled around
trying to find out what had happened. JJ cued Neeley and told her to get them into a commercial
break.
Losing a live shot was not all that uncommon for a small-market television station in 1987.
However, TV3 had fixed most of their technical problems over the years, and people in the know
thought they were a technically sound station.
Their problem tonight was beyond any technical issues they could have imagined.
Outside the Hyatt, the scene looked like something from a Third World country. First responders
—police, fire, ambulances—poured onto the scene. TV3’s main anchor, Tom Preston, had been
doing a rare standup, anchoring his investigative story on location. He was found on the ground
unconscious, his shirt splattered with blood and cuts on his head. There was a second body
facedown about a hundred feet away. It was Terry Lynch, the photographer responsible for
running the live truck and camera for Tom Preston’s story.
Glen Barnes was the first detective on the scene from the Palm Springs Police Department.Sandi DiSanto, his partner, arrived moments later. The police were quick to cordon off a half-
block radius for their crime team. Tom drifted out of his unconscious state just in time to watch
the EMTs perform CPR on his photographer. Tom tried to get on his feet and over to where
Lynch was dying.
He wasn’t able to stand, collapsing only to have his fall stopped by one of the attending EMTs.
Tom slipped back into unconsciousness.
Neeley sat on the anchor desk inside the studio trying not to be pissed. She took it personally
whenever something like this happened. The main anchor was the face of the station. It was
easy to be mad at her engineers and the loss of the live shot. The station had been promoting
the story for two days, and it was disappointing to everyone involved in tonight’s newscast. The
live shot was the whole story.
Jack Router, TV3’s news director, rushed into the news production control room. “What
happened to our live shot?” he screamed.
Jack was a serious newsman; he pushed his newsroom kids to take their game to a
considerably higher level than what a television station in market 163 should be performing at.
He called to an assistant. “I’m going out to the Hyatt. Keep Jennie in the anchor chair. Roll the
other live truck and let’s get some more reporters down there. We need to figure this out on the
run until we know what’s going on. Call everyone in and see if we have someone close to the
scene.”
Jack ran out of the control room, out the station door and to his station vehicle in the parking lot.
Follow the tour HERE
for exclusive content and a giveaway!
The cover is very cool.
Thanks for the chance.
I think the cover is really cool.
The cover looks great!
Looks like a wonderful book!
It’s a very unique cover.
I enjoyed reading the excerpt. It sounds like an interesting story.
The cover is intriguing.
Love the insight into the broadcast world! That’s what I studied in college.
The cover looks pretty relevant.
Great cover – where is your favorite place to write?
The cover fits the plot very well
I love the cover, it makes the book sound interesting.
I think the cover looks very interesting!
this cover makes you wonder whats inside love it
Love the Cover. Want to ask where he gets his ideas?
I find the retro tv being in a wind farm is interesting.
The cover makes me wonder if it is a true story.
Cover is eerie.
I think the cover is kind of odd but then maybe it fits the books story
I really like the idea of interweaving fiction and nonfiction. Sounds like this will be a really exciting read!
Unique cover.
neat cover
The cover really grabs my attention! I would definitely pick it off a bookstore shelf to read more.
It is a interesting cover.
Do you like to participate in NaNoWriMo? 🙂 I think it’s a fun exercise, if anything.
This book looks like it would be very interesting and the cover looks intriguing.
The cover is intriguing. How did you think of the plot?
The cover looks a little retro but interesting!
I love murder mysteries and the cover is fits with the name. Its definitely a must read!
The book sounds really interesting. I think the cover is really cool.
Looks like an interesting book.
Thanks for the contest.
I like the mix of real people within a fictional story.
I like you book and book cover
I couldnt find a cover!
I think the book sounds great and I would love to read it.
The cover implies the live news may be a little shaky
The cover creeps me out a little. The book sounds really good!
Clever. Console appliance in a remote location!
The cover looks mysterious
I like the cover. The sense of electricity but no explicit suggestion of what is inside.
Love the color! If I saw it on a shelf I’d definitely feel compelled to pick it up.
Definitely interesting
love it looks great to me
The cover is so unique and intriguing. Looks like a fascinating read.
Its odd but pretty cool.
What was your favourite book as a kid?
The book sounds very interesting.
The cover is interesting.
The cover is unique.
I think the cover looks very nice!
I like the cover since it relates to the book title and I still remember that style of TV.
The cover is different and intriguing! Thanks