RBR+TVBR INFOCUS
With an unprecedented situation unfolding in Houston, delivering pertinent news and information is essential to a media operation. TEGNA, the company formerly known as Gannett prior to the spin-off of the legacy media company’s newspaper arm, was dealt a particularly devastating blow midday Sunday: Severe devastation at its CBS affiliate in Houston, KHOU-11, was seen.
Extensive flood damage due to Hurricane Harvey forced all to evacuate. The broadcast TV station was paralyzed: Its studios were effectively gone. KHOU’s broadcast signal then went down after relying on reporters in the field to keep the station from going dark.
What happened next is a testament to how other TEGNA stations, and its local competitors, pitched in to keep the news flowing as matters only get worse in the nation’s sixth-largest metropolitan area.
With some 22 inches of rain falling in 22 hours through midday Sunday, things turned bleak for KHOU at about noon Central, with its over-the-air signal failing.
With reporter Len Cannon on the air at exactly 7:48am CT, a puddle of water started crawling toward his feet; live coverage shifted from the main studio to the second floor conference room some 20 minutes later.
That was temporary, as the photo above shows water gushing through the back entrance doors of KHOU’s facilities despite flood gates surrounding the facility.
Tweets from @khouweather directed people to its Facebook page, and a YouTube page where a live stream continues. Coverage was handed off to TEGNA’s ABC-affiliated WFAA-8 in Dallas by 1:30pm CT, as Emmy award-winning reporter Grace White continued to update her Twitter feed with the latest details while offering Facebook Live reports after sundown from the Galleria.
By Sunday evening, KHOU’s TV broadcasts were back up via KUHT-DT 8.2, the multicast signal tied to Houston Public Media‘s PBS member station KUHT. As HPM preempted CREATE programming on KUHT-DT 8.2, it also allowed KHOU to air its audio feed over KUHF-FM 88.7, the market’s NPR member station, branded as “News 88.7,” through Sunday.
KUHT-DT 8.2 is distributed on DirecTV, DISH Network and AT&T U-Verse in the Houston DMA.
KUHF as of Monday morning has resumed its regular programming schedule, while KHOU continued to use HPM facilities with very limited graphics and from one makeshift studio.
TEGNA’s NBC affiliate in Denver, KUSA-9, is providing weather graphics, with Houston anchors offering live mic direction to its Colorado colleagues.
Elsewhere across the Houston TV landscape, Graham Media Group-owned NBC-affiliated KPRC-2 is also streaming live via YouTube, as is FOX O&O KRIV-26. KTRK-13, the ABC O&O in Houston, is also streaming via its website.
Meanwhile, there are at least 148,565 MVPD subscribers out of service in the affected area. This includes users who get service from cable system or wireline providers. There are 11 non-mobile switching centers out of service and 21 switching centers on back-up power.
