Falls Twp. Parking Lot Plays Host To National TV Special Report

As millions tuned to CBS News’ special coverage Thursday afternoon of what may have been the last hearing of the high-profile January 6th Select Committee, reporter Robert Costa was live on-air with anchor Norah O’Donnell and a team of other journalists.

Costa offered up new reporting and provided analysis of the hearing with the rest of the CBS News team on TV and streaming online.

But this broadcast, which broke into regular programming on CBS stations nationwide, was a bit different than most. Costa was broadcasting from the back of a specialized black Sprinter van in the parking lot of the Bucks County-owned Oxford Valley Pool in Falls Township while his colleagues were in a studio in Washington D.C.

If you drove past the van, there were no signs from the outside that it was housing a key part of a national TV broadcast.

For Costa, the special broadcast on the hearings investigating the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol came on the day when he was inducted into Pennsbury High School’s Hall of Fame. His professional life as a journalist who has helped break new information on the attack and his time growing up locally collided on a rainy Thursday.

The TV journalist and author from Lower Makefield Township scurried from the high school’s ceremony to the specialized broadcast van that houses a small TV studio in the rear with minutes to spare.

“I wouldn’t have missed the ceremony. Pennsbury, this place – Levittown, Yardley, Lower Makefield, Lower Bucks – is special to me. This is a special place,” Costa said while munching on salad and a fresh tomato pie from DeLorenzo’s The Burg Pizza before going on-air.

Costa said his career covering politics at the highest levels and to some of the largest news audiences in the nation traces its roots to his experiences in the area and at Pennsbury High School. He’s been a writer, a TV reporter, and New York Times bestselling author during his career, and the skills he learned in Lower Bucks County have stuck with him.

Harry Stymiest, who works with Pennsbury to run its TV channel, went to school with Costa and fondly recalled their days producing videos for what was then known as PHS TV.

“We went around producing PHS TV in a black van and he’s still working in a black van,” Stymiest said with a chuckle.

The two laughed as they called back stories from their high school days and the adventures they went on to create videos for the school TV channel.

“Bob is a great friend. We all knew he was going to do big things,” Stymiest said. “It was just a matter of time.”

Costa said that Pennsbury’s ease to allow him on PHS TV in the early 2000s led to his current regular appearances on TV screens around the nation.

“They always let me on camera,” he said with a laugh. “That led to this.”

Costa and Stymiest recalled that teacher Al Wilson, who ran PHS TV when they were in school, had a large CBS banner in his classroom. Costa noted the irony that he now works for that network.

Costa, a regular visitor to Lower Bucks County, said the people and places he grew up with have molded his career and how he covers politics.

Bucks County’s central location between New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. exposed Costa to many different experiences and the area’s reputation as a swing county introduced him to viewpoints all over the political spectrum. He said those aspects have formed him into a journalist who listens to all points of view and knows how to engage those he interviews.

“D.C. can be a cold place, but here people know you. There’s community,” Costa said.

“There’s a certain ethic of the people who live around here,” he said of Lower Bucks County. “The area has a very American, very fun spirit. People get involved. It’s almost magical.” 

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