International Weather Coverage

If you have been watching the rolling coverage, the reporters have become defacto rescuers. They have been out with private citizens on boats rescuing people and pulling them out of homes on live tv. Its simply amazing. Thes deployment of those DeJero,etc packs and wireless mics have made mobile broadcasting amazing. KTRK has access to over 1000 road cams, plus their own tower cams to supplement their coverage. Their presenting crew has been flawless for days, 24 hours nonstop. Just an amazing feat of broadcasting. Well done too all the tv stations in East TX.

Watching this reporter on www.abc13.com/live/ loading people on a boat and seeing people standing in their doors yelling for help and she tells them we are coming back is heart wrenching. One family had to be split up. Each trip takes 30 mins to get them to dry ground. Horrify.

Most stations should have access to the traffic cameras. Here's a map of all the different Houston TranStar cameras.

I was surprised at the quality of the bonded cellular units. I honestly would have expected that the cell phone towers would be down with power outages and generators that are likely flooded.

Very impressive local coverage, as is so often the case in situations like this. It really is the definition of public service broadcasting - and all from commercial broadcasters, too.

Stations are required to operate in the "publics interest, convenience and necessity.". Basically if they can provide coverage they are expected to. If they don't it could factor into their license renewal as they didn't serve the public interest.

Jeez. Sounds like the station was completely destroyed.

Noted that KHOU have their logo with the WFAA lower thirds now.

KABC has sent resources to assist its sister station in Houston KTRK 13. This is fairly typical especially with the O&O stations, they will deploy extra reporters to help a sister station cover a major story. And these reporters will also be used to file reports for the affiliate service or network programs.

Greg Lee is the Orange County reporter for KABC 7 in Los Angeles
http://abc7.com/about/newsteam/greg-lee/

Are any of the main broadcasters in this area showing network programming at the moment, or is it just wall to wall news coverage?

I do wonder though that for a station like KHOU which has lost its facilities to the flood, is it really worth them trying to cobble together a service from their sister station?


They will be limited in what they can provide and it won't be as good as their rivals who are fully functional, albeit working under extreme conditions. Why would someone in their area who wanted information tune to them. I know the show must go on and all that but surely best just to simulcast another station or shut down, save vital resources and prepare for what to do in the long term?

KHOU is current getting support from its sister TEGNA station in Dallas, TX WFAA ABC 8 and Houston's PBS station in terms of news operation. TEGNA is also dispatching reporters from other TEGNA stations in the region including WFAA to provide backup. Also, KHOU still has a duty to inform the public and as recent events have shown, both KHOU and others in the market are going above and beyond the call of duty. It reminds me of WTVJ in Miami, FL during Hurricane Andrew

From watching KHOU's stream on YouTube, while it's not polished due to the technical issues they currently have, it's certainly been a decent watch and yet they're still getting out the important information.

At times like this, viewers will be reassured they're still on-air and experiencing what they're going through and not if the set is very basic or if there are gaps between the studio and the reporters as it's routed through Dallas.

KHOU now have a ticker.