The power of local broadcasting shined through the dark clouds of Hurricane Harvey
As you might imagine, the blog has been slow lately because I've been helping friends with flooded homes, taking care of kids or working.
One place I helped clean was my kids' school. Seventy percent of the campus was flooded. The school is raising money to repair the campus if you
want to donate.
Water has never made feel uneasy, but thanks to Harvey, it kind of has me on edge. While helping friends clean up, I heard their fountain outside. For a split second, I freaked out. No more rain please!
You realize how thankful and blessed you truly are after an incident like Harvey. I take that for granted sometimes. Maybe you do too.
All you need is a quick drive around to realize how lucky you have it.
I certainly hope you were safe.
Enough about me, this post is a big thank you to the Houston media.
What a great job they did for us.
This includes the staffs from Houston TV, radio, newspaper and online.
We've already talked about the obvious big story which was the
evacuation of KHOU thanks to Harvey's raging flood waters from Buffalo Bayou. Then there was KTRK abc13 sports producer
Joe Gleason who covered rising waters in his house live on TV.
While I was out and about the storm freelancing, I ran into TV crews.
Some hadn't been home in a week at that point. Other kept working while their homes were flooded.
I heard one anchor's wife and daughter were trapped on the second floor of their home, but you couldn't tell by his on air work. He stayed professional through the terrifying ordeal.
That's dedication to the welfare of Houston.
I was going to write the Bayou City, but right now, maybe that's a nick-name we don't want to use.
Not only was their personal tragedy for media members, but sleep deprivation was a big issue too.
Some TV stations put key staffers in hotel rooms. Other personnel slept at the studios on air mattresses. I would imagine others had to sleep in news trucks when they got the rare chance.
Food was another big problem. Some media members were left to their own devices. Other times the stations were able to help out.
Lack of food and sleep is not a good combination.
While flooding trapped some of us in our homes, it also kept crews from getting around the city, only making the above problems even worse.
There are many differences between Hurricane Ike (2008) and Harvey. First, these were two completely different storms. Ike certainly caused more wind damage, while Harvey was about the water.
Another difference, was today's technology and social media.
What TV stations didn't have nearly 10 years ago was the ability to go live from anywhere. Thanks to companies like LiveU, Dejero and TVU which offer cellular TV transmission capabilities, crews now carry around a little box that can send the live signal through mobile phone networks.
This is why you might sometimes see live shots start breaking up. That's caused by too many people using the cell towers nearby.
Back in the Ike times, social media was in its infancy. Not anymore. If the power went off, you probably had little problem following the news with your phone, until it ran out of juice.
There is a lot more to talk about concerning Houston media and Harvey. I've heard murmurs on which station was the most watched. We will probably be able to talk about that more later.
Then there is the return to the KHOU 11 studios. Will channel 11 ever be able to go back? Will they move to a higher location? If the station remains, how long will it take to clean/repair the building and then purchase and setup everything needed to run a TV station?
I might be heading out of town to help family that flooded near Beaumont. Waiting for the roads to dry now.
Stay tuned. We'll get to it all eventually.
