mikemcguff.com: VIDEO: KHOU 11 returns to air during Hurricane Harvey

Newly uploaded video shows the ingenuity of KHOU and WFAA staffs getting channel 11 back on air after Hurricane Harvey flooding

Who knew on Sunday August 27, 2017, thanks to Hurricane Harvey, that KHOU would go off the air for hours and never return to its longtime studio home on Allen Parkway? [See the demolition photos]

In those early chaotic moments, as the KHOU staff evacuated for higher ground, first at the Federal Reserve Bank Houston Branch, then to Houston Public Media on the University of Houston campus, channel 11 was displaying color bars generated by "KHOU Unit-39" which I assume is a live truck.

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At that moment, mikemcguff.com blog reader Ramadya Sasongko started recording the TEGNA station's over the air signal.

"I started recording as soon as the channel came back on the air," Sasongko told me. "I immediately grabbed my hard drive and with the help of my converter box (which has the ability to record stuff to USB), I started to record until my hard drive was full. I never dwelled on it until now, when my apt. complex finally got Comcast service, which has allowed me to upload it to GDrive. "

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In the hours long recording, you will see a mix of color bars, black screens and a flicker of hope as the clever broadcast engineers figured out a way to get the channel back on the air from KUHT TV8's studios by way of WFAA 8 in Dallas.

For a few minutes, there are camera tests with anchors at the UH studios who are having conversations about what to do next. Then live reports and anchor David Schechter takes over from WFAA 8.

At the time, Sasongko didn't realize he was recording Houston television history.

"I thought that it would eventually be forgotten before and during the hurricane (this video recording) but upon learning about the shocking impact that has impacted parts of Houston, as well as forcing KHOU to move to better buildings, I thought it would be in the public interest to release it now," Sasongko told me. "KHOU used to be my favorite channel but I tend to lean more towards KTRK mainly because of its quirks (like tech mishaps that happen live) and because I feel it covers more hard-hitting news instead of those feel-good stories."