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KHOU Building Flooded


Weeters

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You'd probably get alliances formed - though for comparison, only WWL (from same-network WAFB, which is no longer an option) and WDSU (from sister station WAPT) stayed on through Katrina. WVUE basically went down (which shouldn't happen if Katrina happened now; WAFB could fill in) and WBRZ largely covered WGNO with their own operations.

 

I'd think the first thing would be sister stations, then same-affiliation stations which are not rivals (i.e. KPRC could work with KXAN, as there are no Nexstar stations in Dallas).

 

You go where there is reliable power and compatibility with your equipment / video ... codecs and standards such as editing formats and sat receivers.

Nobody is going to worry about rivalries until revenue broadcasting resumes.

 

Is KTRH 740am up and running? They should have a giant generator good for a few weeks. Send a few crews over there to camp out...and provide "mutual-aid". The TV and radio alliances formed during disasters benefit both stations in the long run.

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Watching throughout the day, first of all, keep in mind many of these employees are probably losing their own homes as well. Forgive them if they're a bit distracted.

 

Brandi and her photog did a great job, essentially, being KHOU's only on-air presence for the better part of an hour, and directing rescuers to the flooded big rig.

 

KHOU clearly had no backup plan. The forecast clearly called for around 25" of rain and it does not appear they moved anyone to a remote site inland.

 

The University of Houston is flooded too. But it appears KHOU is now broadcasting on KUHT-TV and KUHF (88.7).

 

[MEDIA=twitter]901877640897945601[/MEDIA]

 

KTRH is still on the air, I think. I've listen for a bit on the internet, and they did not mention being off the air.

 

For any station thinking about sending its own reporter to "own" the coverage in its local market-- don't. You'll only be getting in the way.

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With this being a "1,000 year flood" as quoted...I don't see how viable it is for KHOU to rebuild. If there MC and equipment racks are on the first floor it'll all have to be replaced. All that cabling will need to be pulled out and re-ran, every computer will need replaced just to name a few things...plus walls carpeting and outlets. What a mess.

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Just catching up on all this- WOW. KHOU flooded out, and they didn't have a backup plan? Dumbasses. But props to that reporter for rescuing someone- if anyone could post a standalone clip of that, it would be awesome to see.

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i wonder if this means that CBS on Cable and satellite in houston will have to reroute to the main NY Feed or better yet KENS until KHOU Recovers.

 

Least of their worries right now. I don't think they care too much about CBS programming in this situation, since it would be news 24/7 that is warranted.

 

I'm sure KHOU will try to restore a signal as soon as the flood recedes.

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my bad i meant After the damages.

This is much worse than Katrina, and even though one station (WVUE) had significant damage**, it took months for the entire market to get back to normal.

 

**How bad? Emmis took WVUE off the market (the majority of their station group went to LIN not long thereafter) and waived the non-competes off of every employee if they wanted to seek work outside of NOLA.

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So I was thinking why there was dead air on KHOU and why they haven't put a sister station up. From what I've read about the TEGNA master control hubs are that they are the hub and spoke model. I believe the hub/spoke model is where a hub sends the material to the stations servers and can control or monitor remotely. A centralcasting model would probably have helped as the hub is sending data directly to the transmitter - allowing the hub to bypass station equipment?

 

Would a central casting model have worked better here?

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There's no way to downlink any other satellite signal at KHOU's transmitter? Or even patch in a computer and run their Youtube live stream?

 

Also just an aside, WFAA has inconsistencies with their branding. On-air, they're "News 8", but the reporters sign off as "Channel 8 News".

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Also just an aside, WFAA has inconsistencies with their branding. On-air, they're "News 8", but the reporters sign off as "Channel 8 News".

 

They've done that at least since the 1980s if not before that. I've always wondered why the newscast is 1 label while reporters close out a different way. I've never heard why, or even if it matters to them.

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Does WFAA have the ability to do two concurrent "broadcasts," one for the web (and hopefully eventually for the air) for Houston audiences, and another for DFW audiences?

 

Apparently not because they broke from simulcasting for KHOU and went to a live News 8 (WFAA) scheduled newscast.

 

Concievably, they should have, since their broadcasts to Houston was basically a digital-only broadcast (FB, Youtube, Website)

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Does WFAA have the ability to do two concurrent "broadcasts," one for the web (and hopefully eventually for the air) for Houston audiences, and another for DFW audiences?

 

They do still have their 2 studios (the original at their main building, and their Victory Park facility they seem to use more often just NW of downtown), but I'm not sure technically what they could do about having 2 newscasts. Currently they do their main station feed and a 8.2 that is local/AccuWeather. They were the home of TXCN until the plug was pulled on that. I would think by now that any equipment that was part of that facility has been pulled out of there. Not sure if they can pull 2 rabbits out of 2 hats at the same time or not.

 

Meanwhile, it looks like Tegna may have to hit the brakes on the cost-cutting and over-streamlining if a whole major-market station is going to have to be replaced.

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There's no way to downlink any other satellite signal at KHOU's transmitter? Or even patch in a computer and run their Youtube live stream?

 

Also just an aside, WFAA has inconsistencies with their branding. On-air, they're "News 8", but the reporters sign off as "Channel 8 News".

 

I'm also seeing tweets of people wondering why an ABC station is filling in for a CBS station, of course they are unaware of the corporate side.

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Does WFAA have the ability to do two concurrent "broadcasts," one for the web (and hopefully eventually for the air) for Houston audiences, and another for DFW audiences?

It appears that, although they have two studio facilities, there's only one manned control room. They did cut away from the control room feed to the newsroom camera at one point during the news simulcast, so they -might- be able to split the stream from TV, but you lose graphics.

 

KHOUs staffers (Russ Lewis, Darby and David Paul) are now online at the PBS station..Don't necessarily know if they are back on Ch. 11 right now

Still coordinating through WFAA however.

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KHOUs staffers (Russ Lewis, Darby and David Paul) are now online at the PBS station..Don't necessarily know if they are back on Ch. 11 right now

 

[MEDIA=twitter]901934758871146497[/MEDIA] [MEDIA=twitter]901958424409329664[/MEDIA]

 

So, they are borrowing studio space from KHUT, and WFAA is running master control for them. Not sure if they are showing on 11 though yet, and the WFAA bug is still showing in the corner.

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It appears that, although they have two studio facilities, there's only one manned control room. They did cut away from the control room feed to the newsroom camera at one point during the news simulcast, so they -might- be able to split the stream from TV, but you lose graphics.

 

 

Still coordinating through WFAA however.

 

 

Ya think they could get a little help from CBS sports with a semi-production rig....or 2?

Pretty sure they won't be needed in Houston for the games next weekend.

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