Oprah Calls OC Talk Radio
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Wow! It isn’t every week that producers from Oprah‘s nationally syndicated show call us for information on one of our feature stories. But that’s what they did two weeks ago. We were “sworn to secrecy” until today (when the show airs here in OC at 3pm on KABC, Channel 7).
It’s all about the Coble’s in Ladera Ranch, that couple who lost their three children in a horrific car crash three years ago in our community. After the crash, they thought long and hard about having another child, but felt the “calling” and ended up being blessed with triplets one year later. The show is about that amazing miracle as well as their ongoing legal battles with the trucker who hit them (they won that first round) and CAL TRANS (which, according to their records, knew about the potential danger of this exit where they were hit but did nothing to fix it until after the tragedy). They LOST that round in court and actually ended up having to pay nearly $300,000 in penalties to CalTrans for even bringing this suit to bear! But they are currently appealing that judgement, they say, on behalf of the community and all who might suffer from similar oversights or mistakes in the future.
You can hear it all today at 3p on KABC, Channel 7 or check out Oprah.com.
We were contacted because of the interview we had run on this same subject weeks ago on OPEN MIC w/Jim Schmitt,editor and publisher of the Ladera Times (who was one of the few media outlets keeping this story alive). OPRAH even licensed our episode for use on THEIR website!
So to all our hosts, keep those shows coming and keep them timely and topical. You never know if some other national outlet like OPRAH may pick up on your story too!
OC TALK RADIO 
October 31, 2010 at 4:33 pm
I saw the Oprah show and was working down the road in OC from where this accident happened and drove this stretch of highway everyday. This could have been anyone one of us. My heart went out that day to the parents and being a mom I didnt know how they would continue one losing not one but three children. They truely are a miracle family.
On a side note a similar accident occured in San Diego County last month in Escondido where construction is taken place…the wife of the publisher of the Fallbrook Village News was killed while stopped in trafific and a truck hit her from behind. A wife of 25 years, mother and business owner gone in a heartbeat. How can Cal Trans prevent these accidents when traffic comes to a suddent halt
November 1, 2010 at 5:34 pm
The Coble’s argument was that Cal Trans knew that their OSO offramp was dangerous and often backed traffic up onto the freeway right before a blind curve. So when the truck came round the curve, he unexpectedly found traffic stopped, which could have been avoided had CAL TRANS fixed the offramp (by adding a second left turn lane as they did AFTER the accident).
Apparently, the judge agreed with your argument instead.