KPRC 2 chief meteorologist Anthony Yanez recently made Texas TV history with the first-ever live interview underwater!
Don't ever accuse Yanez of not going to great lengths to deliver a weather forecast to Channel 2 viewers. If this news makes you gasp for air, you are not alone. Watch out, Rob Johnson, Yanez might be stealing your thunder!
Yanez did several talk-backs with his KPRC 2 anchor colleagues as he was underwater at Moody Gardens.
He says doing an underwater live shot like this has only been attempted before in Georgia.
Yanez was diving for the newscast to promote his television special "Garden in the Gulf: A Reef Rescue Mission." The special is about the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, which sits 100 miles off the Texas coast and is home to a vibrant array of coral and fish.
"I had the idea to broadcast live in an aquarium tank because I thought this would be a nice touch to promote the documentary," Yanez told mikemcguff.com. "It was so much fun! Plus, we used augmented reality to do the forecast in the water. There were some audio challenges, but hey, we were underwater!"
You can watch the TV show below.
"Before the special, I had no idea there was this incredible, vibrant life 100 miles south of Galveston," Yanez added. "I think everyone who watches this documentary will learn something new about the Gulf."
I actually had a Houston TV first a long time ago. Hear me out on this one because I don't have much interesting to write about personally.
Way back in the early 2000s, ABC13 KTRK photographer Bernard Francis and I did the first live driving interview in Houston. I was driving a station Expedition, while Francis was in the cargo area with the camera. He was videoing a cyclist who was talking back live to Channel 13 anchors as we slowly made our way through the downtown Houston arts district, where Sawyer Yards is today.
It was all thanks to a bonded cellular live truck that the station was experimenting with as the industry looked past microwave signals. As you might imagine, the truck had an erect antenna sticking out of the top, which received odd looks as we drove around.
Oh, back to KPRC, did you see this recent live shot? Do you think Yanez saw a giant, alien squid down there?
