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I was watching the Lake Charles locals on YouTube TV (which is pretty much KPLC news being simulcast on KVHP) and they went blue about 12:30 am with the ticker still going.   Both KVHP feeds of FOX and ABC had "technical difficulties" up.  Switched over to SBTV and the KPLC feed from Baton Rouge was still going as of 1am.

 

The shocker was that the Sagamore Hill owned CBS station with no local news department was on the air with a very primitive simulcast of a Facebook live feed switching between webpages of radar and DOT cams.  Looks like they get weather forecasts from WLTZ in Columbus, GA.   If their operations are not in Lake Charles, then they had an advantage when Lake Charles got hit.  Kudos to them to making the effort while they were able to.  All four stations were no longer available by 3am.

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12 hours ago, J1975am said:

The staff at KPLC in Lake Charles, LA had to evacuate the station due to the onset of Hurricane Laura. Some of their staff is now at KALB in Alexandria; others are at WAFB in Baton Rouge (all three are Gray-owned stations, of course). One of their meteorologists stated on-air that they were using a computer that was not theirs (he was at WAFB), so they must be using weather software different than what they have at KPLC.....

 

I ask my fellow posters at TVNewsTalk to please keep the people of Lake Charles and Southwest Louisiana in your prayers for the next few days. This area is obviously not going to be the same after tonight.....

And both KPLC and KSWL towers we're destroyed and KLCH radar has been destroyed.

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23 minutes ago, ProButtonPusher said:

For the record, the tower we see twisted and downed is not their main transmitter tower, it’s the tower that sends the signal up to it, north east of Lake Charles. It may not be in any better shape, but I haven’t seen any reports on that.

 

It does seem like the STL tower at the studio collapsed right where at least one of the STL dishes is located, so... things might not be so bad, provided the transmitter mast is still intact?

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8 minutes ago, caliwxdude said:

 

It does seem like the STL tower at the studio collapsed right where at least one of the STL dishes is located, so... things might not be so bad, provided the transmitter mast is still intact?

If the line up to that microwave dish wasn’t cut, then the link would probably still work. It looked like it was still aimed in the right direction.

 

I did see another angle, however, that showed the top of the tower poking through the roof of the building, which means rain has gotten in. Hopefully not too much equipment was in the area.

 

A temporary STL using a satellite uplink would definitely be easy to pull off, and perhaps necessary if they’re out of the building for a while.

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Even if it is not the main transmitter, you still have a risk of falling and flying debris in a major hurricane situation. As mentioned, some of the falling metal pierced the building.

 

I am not aware of any problems with KVHP. Given its tower site, it probably didn't have near the kind of wind Lake Charles experienced. Likewise I didn't hear of any problems with radio stations that didn't take themselves off the air intentionally. Many of the radio towers appear to be in Sulphur or west of there.

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7 hours ago, TheRob said:

I'm glad the people at KPLC abandoned ship and continued their work elsewhere.

 

 

What's equally bizarre is KPLC lost two transmitting towers at once last year: an old one set for decommission and the one being built to replace it. https://www.kplctv.com/story/2170789/kplcs-new-transmitting-tower-operational/

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Does KPLC (and other Gray stations in Louisiana and elsewhere) hub their master control?  If they can get the transmitter(s) up and running, and feed a source to them, then they could return to the airwaves in some form.

 

Since it appears to be the studio that was affected, that could put them out of commission for a while, unless the station is able to resume a form of normal operation in their facility.  

 

It could almost be like when WTVD in Durham had a studio fire in 1979 in their nearly-new facility, and had to cobble together the news staff throughout the building, including using a conference room as their news "studio".

 

In the case of Hurricane Michael and WMBB, while their news studio and master control were unaffected, the rest of the building was, and had to be literally stripped down to the studs and rebuilt from the inside out.  

Affected staff was moved into temporary trailers for up to a year while renovations were made.

 

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34 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Does KPLC (and other Gray stations in Louisiana and elsewhere) hub their master control?  If they can get the transmitter(s) up and running, and feed a source to them, then they could return to the airwaves in some form.

 

Since it appears to be the studio that was affected, that could put them out of commission for a while, unless the station is able to resume a form of normal operation in their facility.  

 

It could almost be like when WTVD in Durham had a studio fire in 1979 in their nearly-new facility, and had to cobble together the news staff throughout the building, including using a conference room as their news "studio".

 

In the case of Hurricane Michael and WMBB, while their news studio and master control were unaffected, the rest of the building was, and had to be literally stripped down to the studs and rebuilt from the inside out.  

Affected staff was moved into temporary trailers for up to a year while renovations were made.

 

 

I don't know how Gray deals with master control. However, the building - apart from the newsroom - looks to be in decent shape and the building is probably not a total loss (but the equipment may be), so they could probably get temporary equipment (if Gray recently replaced equipment from another station, they could send it to Lake Charles) and make a makeshift newsroom in the conference room or somewhere else in the building. I do think their best hope in the short term is to use a subchannel of KVHP, either by dumping their DT3 (Circle) or DT4 (Ion) or adding a DT5. 

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51 minutes ago, GoldenShine9 said:

 

I don't know how Gray deals with master control. However, the building - apart from the newsroom - looks to be in decent shape and the building is probably not a total loss (but the equipment may be), so they could probably get temporary equipment (if Gray recently replaced equipment from another station, they could send it to Lake Charles) and make a makeshift newsroom in the conference room or somewhere else in the building. I do think their best hope in the short term is to use a subchannel of KVHP, either by dumping their DT3 (Circle) or DT4 (Ion) or adding a DT5. 

Well, WBRC is currently being upgraded to automation. Their old equipment could work. 

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At least for YoutubeTV, all of the local affiliates are not available, (and more than likely, not broadcasting due to the damages they sustained)

 

FOXNET is feeding on KVHP's slot.....I didn't know they still existed, since they were shut down after WABG added them as a subchannel in 2006.  There are still a couple tiny markets that lack FOX though.

 

For the services that are still available, I would imagine they would be able to import adjacent (or co-owned) affiliates until the local stations can operate.

 

But as in any major storm, it's gravity has crippled any ability to communicate, yet alone function, so restoring functionality could take a very long time.

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10 minutes ago, CircleSeven said:

KPLC is in the process of removing the crumpled tower from on top of the building. I think they're bringing three cranes to do the job.

 

I suspect once power is largely restored to Lake Charles, they should be back in that building, although they would need a temporary set with all new equipment in the conference room or somewhere else on the property (does Gray have a mobile newsroom that they can bring to Lake Charles?). I would suspect everything inside the newsroom is a total loss and that would need to be gutted and rebuilt.

 

Another challenge is housing for those who may have had homes destroyed or severely damaged. Even once they return, I suspect some staff will continue to work out of WAFB or KALB.

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