Saul Halpert, a legend in local Los Angeles broadcast news whose career spanned 40 years and included a stint hosting NBC4’s public affairs show NewsConference as well as teaching at USC has died. He was 93 and according to NBC4 had lived in an assisted facility.
During his career, Halpert worked at KNXT (now KCBS) and later NBC4, and reported on some of the biggest local stories of his era. Among them, he was a street reporter in 1964 during The Beatles first Los Angeles vist, and he covered the Baldwin Hills Dam collapse the year before, during which he and his KNXT crew had to be rescued from the scene.
Halpert was an alumnus of both USC and UCLA and in later years taught broadcast journalism at USC. A private memorial is planned for his family and friends.
