mikemcguff.com: KHOU 11 goes hyperlocal across the Houston area

Hyperlocal is a buzz term in journalism right now. It means focusing on the news for small areas like neighborhoods and communities. Considering Houston's size, it's hyperlocal-ish to concentrate on the smaller cities and towns that make up the viewing area.

KHOU is working that angle by teaming up with Bayou City Media on its more than 65 community websites throughout Houston and Galveston:

KHOU-TV, Channel 11 and Bayou City Media have announced an alliance to provide hyper-local weather information and news headlines online to a network of community websites throughout Houston.

Now each of the 65 communities served by Bayou City Media will receive real-time, geographically targeted weather conditions from Channel 11’s Chief Meteorologist Gene Norman. The new weather widget located on each of these community sites, such as www.woodlandsonline.com, will allow users to obtain their neighborhood weather forecast after entering their zip code, access to 30 LIVE radar images from Houston and beyond and a link to KHOU.com.

“Our viewers want to know as they move around our city what to expect, how to dress and whether their plans will be affected,” said Susan McEldoon, KHOU’s President and General Manager. “Now we can provide that every minute, every day, on their favorite neighborhood website.”

Bayou City Media has produced local websites for more than 14 years in the Houston area.

“Our partnership with KHOU continues our efforts to bring Houston communities the best of the Internet,” said Eric Kintigh, Owner, Bayou City Media. “KHOU is known for having the best weather coverage in southeast Texas and we share a commitment to quality community news.”

From Acres Homes to Willowbrook, Texas, Bayou City has local websites that offer classifieds, shopping directories, Job postings and additional content including user generated information specific to that neighborhood community.

“We are excited to partner with Bayou City Media,” said Christine DiStadio, KHOU’s Director of Digital Media. “Khou.com will now be able to extend our digital reach by delivering a targeted hyper-local weather forecast, LIVE radar and 11 News headlines to residents in each of these 65 neighborhoods.”

A full list of neighborhoods served by Bayou City Media can be found at: http://www.khou.com/community/bayou-city