August 2026 marks 10 years since KPRC 2 Houston’s lifestyle program, Houston Life, first premiered, launching a decade-long run of live television, local personalities, celebrity guests, food, fashion, entertainment, and stories celebrating life in the Bayou City.
Houston Life debuted Monday, August 22, 2016, at 1 p.m., replacing Days of Our Lives in the time slot.
The hour-long weekday program was designed to bring a new brand of live, local entertainment to Houston afternoons and showcase what made the city a great place to work, live, and play, the station said at the time.
From the beginning, Houston Life took an unconventional approach. Rather than broadcasting from a traditional television studio, the program originated live each weekday from The Galleria. The show's studio was located on Level 1, near Nordstrom and across from LensCrafters, allowing shoppers and fans to watch the production in person.
“The show will be a celebration of what is happening each day in our dynamic city,” KPRC 2 Vice President and General Manager Jerry Martin said when the program was announced. “It’s going to be jam-packed, high-energy and a lot of fun to watch.”
“We will tap into fashion, pop culture, food, music, lifestyle trends and hot topics,” added Don Graham, Executive Producer of Houston Life when it debuted. “And we will connect with viewers daily through social media so that they will have access to the show’s lively content anytime, anywhere.”
Graham brought considerable experience to the project. Before launching Houston Life, he spent years as the executive producer of Great Day Houston at KHOU 11. Earlier in his career, he also served as Executive in Charge of Production for The Gayle King Show in the 1990s.
The original Houston Life team featured co-hosts Derrick Shore and Jennifer Broome, along with reporters Stephanie (Gerry) Gilbert and Stephanie Gonzalez.
Shore joined KPRC 2 from Los Angeles, where he hosted SoCal Connected on KCET. An award-winning journalist, he had previously appeared on CBS News, NBC's Today, ABC's World News Now, Channel One News and Current TV. He also had credits in scripted television dramas and feature films.
Broome came to Houston Life from Denver, where she worked as a meteorologist at KDVR-TV and KWGN-TV. She already had a strong connection to Texas, having spent a decade as chief meteorologist at WOAI-TV in San Antonio from 2000 to 2010.
The early days of Houston Life were not without their challenges.
Producing a live television show inside a shopping mall proved to be something of an experiment, with the crew having to deal with the unpredictable realities of broadcasting outside a conventional studio.
“Doing a LIVE show in that setting really was like a giant experiment,” Shore recalled.
One memorable mishap involved a local chef preparing chocolate mousse for a cooking segment. The chef arrived early to prepare the dish, but just before the segment was scheduled to go live, the entire dessert ended up on the floor.
The demonstration table was being moved onto the elevator floor of the set when it apparently became unbalanced.
“Somebody picked up that table, it wasn't balanced, and that whole dish went upside down on the floor of the set,” recalled Courtney Zavala, who would later become one of Houston Life's most recognizable co-hosts.
Broome's time on the program was relatively brief. In 2017, the original co-host announced she was leaving Houston Life. KPRC 2 turned to Zavala, a longtime member of the station's news team and former weekend morning anchor, to take over as Shore's co-host.
Zavala joined Shore and became a central part of Houston Life for the next several years.
In 2018, KPRC 2 added another memorable member to the Houston Life family: Tex, a 10-week-old male Maltipoo adopted from the Houston SPCA. The dog quickly became part of the show's personality and a familiar face to viewers.
That same year, Houston Life underwent another major change when the program moved from its Galleria location to the KPRC 2 studios on the Southwest Freeway.
In 2019, Lauren Kelly joined the show as a reporter from MIX 96.5 KHMX mornings. Kelly started contributing to the show in 2016 as a guest on its "Trending Topics" segment.
By 2020, Houston Life was ready for another significant change.
KPRC 2 announced that the program, which had become Houston's No. 1-rated daytime lifestyle program, would move from its 1 p.m. home to 3 p.m. beginning August 17, 2020. The new time slot positioned Houston Life as the lead-in to KPRC 2 News at 4 p.m. The 3 p.m. experiment, however, would not last permanently. In September 2022, KPRC 2 announced that Houston Life would move back to its original 1 p.m. time slot.
Then, in January 2023, another major chapter came to an end. After more than 20 years at KPRC 2 and more than five years with Houston Life, Zavala left the station. January 17, 2023, was her final day on the program. Her departure marked the end of a significant era for Houston Life, but the show continued to evolve.
Later in 2023, Tessa Barrera joined Shore as the new co-host. Barrera was already a familiar voice to Houston radio listeners as co-host of The Rod Ryan Show on 94.5 The Buzz KTBZ. Barrera brought her radio background and energetic personality to the afternoon lifestyle program, joining Shore as Houston Life entered its eighth year on KPRC 2.
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And after nearly a decade, another hosting change arrived in 2026. Barrera announced she would leave her Houston Life co-host position after three years on the program, with March 31, 2026, marking her final day on the show. She later joined Hello Houston in August 2026.
As Houston Life celebrates its 10th anniversary in August 2026, the program's history is ultimately a story about adaptation. What began as an ambitious experiment broadcasting live from a shopping mall has grown into a longtime fixture of KPRC 2's daytime lineup.
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