Darby Douglas enters next chapter
UPDATE NOVEMBER 07, 2018
Stephanie Simmons to join KHOU 11 as traffic anchor/reporter from KCBS 2 Los Angeles
Darby Douglas tells me about KHOU: "I hope our paths cross once again. I’m already missing it!"
Darby Douglas has confirmed to mikemcguff.com that he is no longer with KHOU 11 as of this morning. The station opted out of his contract.
This was the second tour of duty at channel 11 for the popular traffic anchor.
“I am so honored to have gotten to be part of the KHOU team for a second time in my life," Douglas told mikemcguff.com. "But as you know, things change and unfortunately I will not be part of those changes. Who knows what the future brings, but I hope our paths cross once again. I’m already missing it!”
Douglas originally worked for the then Belo owned station from 1996 to 2009.
He then went on to do traffic on Houston radio for what was then Clear Channel and also for Salem Communications.
And then when his KHOU replacement, Katherine Whaley, turned into a reporter briefly before bolting for abc13 KTRK, Douglas returned to KHOU 11 in 2014 to reclaim his old job.
When KHOU fired Douglas in 2009, there was big viewer outrage. Sadly for him, Douglas also had a near death experience after exiting 11 as he told me later that year.
"I must tell you that two weeks after KHOU terminated my services, I came down with pneumonia," he told me back then. "It was a bad case. The doctor said had I waited much longer, I might not be interviewing with you right now."
Douglas has more than 30 years of radio and television experience, including time as the assistant director of operations/Houston at Total Traffic & Weather Network.
The native Houstonian was voted "Houston's Ultimate Traffic Reporter" by the Houston Chronicle in 2005 and "Houston's Ultimate TV Personality" honorable mention in 2007. He is a graduate of Stratford High School and attended the University of Houston.
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