Riordan Inauguration to Get Blanket Coverage : Television: A record nine broadcast stations and one cable outlet will air the event live.

By STEVEN HERBERT

July 1, 1993 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

When Richard Riordan takes the ceremonial oath of office from U.S. District Judge Laughlin Waters and retired state Court of Appeal Justice Robert Thompson shortly after 11 a.m. today on City Hall’s South Lawn to become Los Angeles’ 46th mayor, a record nine broadcast stations and one cable outlet will provide live coverage.

KTLA-TV Channel 5 will broadcast its “KTLA Morning News: Early Edition” and “KTLA Morning News” programs from City Hall’s South Lawn from 6-9 a.m. and remain on the air live through the completion of the inaugural ceremonies.

KTTV-TV Channel 11, which began a three-hour morning news bloc of its own June 21 to compete with KTLA, will also begin its coverage at 6 a.m. and will preempt regularly scheduled programming to continue its coverage.

KCOP-TV Channel 13, long the station most reluctant to preempt regularly scheduled programming for news coverage, will begin its live and continuous coverage at 8 a.m. KCOP’s coverage will include a onetime only half-hour newscast from 10-10:30 a.m.

KCBS-TV Channel 2 will begin its coverage at 8 a.m. and plans to assign 15 crews to the story. KCAL-TV Channel 9 will be on live from 10:30-11:30 a.m., while KNBC-TV Channel 4 and KABC-TV Channel 7 will be on live 11-11:30 a.m.

Both of the city’s full-time Spanish-language stations, KMEX-TV Channel 34 and KVEA-TV Channel 52, will have live, continuous coverage at 11 a.m. L.A. Cityview 35, which is seen throughout Los Angeles on Channel 35 in households with cable television, will begin live coverage at 10 a.m. and have a replay at 7:30 p.m.

On radio, KFWB-AM (980) and KNX-AM (1070) will air live coverage of the formal swearing-in and Riordan’s speech. KABC-AM (790) and KFI-AM (640) will have live coverage of the swearing-in.

Riordan’s day will begin with a private mass near Olivera Street, followed by an 8 a.m. interfaith breakfast at Union Station. At 9 a.m., Riordan will lead a walking procession from Union Station to City Hall.

A concert featuring a variety of styles--including Korean farm dances, mariachi music, contemporary, show and big-band tunes, gospel choral music and folkloric performances from the Andes and Mexico--will be held from 10-11 a.m.

Riordan’s speech will be the only one during the ceremony, which will also include a 15-minute concert by what Riordan’s office would only describe as a “big-name group.” Leslie Uggams will conclude the event by singing “America the Beautiful.”