2006 could be the summer of Surf City on MTV

Dave Brooks

Doug Traub wants his MTV.

The Huntington Beach Conference and Visitor’s Bureau president and

chief executive is pushing a proposal by the popular cable music

station to broadcast in Huntington Beach during the summer of 2006.

Originally, MTV wanted to set up shop in May and shoot six hours

of footage a day, five days a week for 15 weeks through the summer.

That wasn’t enough time for a public debate or for City Council

approval, Traub said, so producers at the New York City-based station

changed their request to 2006.

“I thought it was a fantastic idea right off the bat,” Traub said.

The proposal was formally submitted to City Administrator Penny

Culbreth-Graft on Friday, the same day a five-person film crew with

the station taped several segments along Main Street with VJ Susie

Castillo.

MTV producers are asking for approval to set up a “beach house”

studio on a concrete pad north of the pier commonly referred to as

“The Boneyard.” The site is often used as a staging area for events

such as the U.S. Open of Surfing and the paintball competition.

Few details of the beach house proposal are available, but a memo

to Traub from station producer Lorrie Baranek said the studio would

be used to film popular shows, such as Total Request Live and special

concerts held on a stage built for the beach house. MTV has televised

from a beach house every summer for the past 10 years, filming in San

Diego, Long Beach, the New Jersey shore and the Bahamas. The

station’s primary audience for the programming are kids “at home with

nothing to do but sleep late and veg out,” a company media kit reads.

This isn’t the first time MTV has tried to come to Huntington

Beach. Producers first approached the city in January 2004 with a

similar plan to set up shop for the upcoming summer, but the proposal

didn’t fair well because the city that had just gone through several

rounds of budget cuts and police layoffs.

Police Chief Ken Small said he is amicable to the current MTV

request, but would like to see more details.

“We’re not saying no,” he said. “We want to meet with them and see

what they have to say.”

MTV producers have offered to provide their own security for the

beach house, which at times would include 50 to 70 crew members and

production staff, and another 200 to 500 cast extras, according to a

memo from Baranek.

That many people could create a logistical problem for the police

department, which is already operating at a reduced staffing level.

Traub said bringing MTV to town would be a great opportunity to

market Huntington Beach as an overnight destination on national

television, five days a week. It’s also a chance for the city to

secure its market brand of “Surf City U.S.A.,” a phrase Traub’s group

recently trademarked and plans to license on beach clothes and

accessories.

“We’ve estimated that this is worth over $15 million in

advertising value,” said Traub, “This could be the biggest marketing

event that has ever occurred to us.”

The MTV proposal got a mixed response from Huntington Beach

residents. Huntington Beach High School sophomore Sean Ruhlind said

he would like to see MTV come to town, but some beachgoers might not

like the idea of having their image broadcast out over national

television. He said a camera already installed underneath the pier by

the Hollister Jean Company gives some people the heebie-jeebies.

“It might be weird if you were standing there in a swimsuit and

people from all over the world were checking you out,” he said.

Pier frequenter Averil Phillips said she supported the plan if it

would bring more people downtown.

“I think the question is, ‘What kind of people are we going to

get?’” she said.

Traub said that the public shouldn’t judge the station’s proposal

on the type of music it plays but on the overall effect it will have

on the community.

“There’s always been a natural aversion to the music young people

listen to,” he said. “But if we truly are getting ready to tell the

world what we are, we need to give this a fair hearing.”

* DAVE BROOKS covers City Hall. He can be reached at (714)

966-4609 or by e-mail at dave.brooks@latimes.com.