KHOU-TV
| KHOU-TV | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Houston, Texas | |
| Branding | Channel 11 (general) 11 News, 11 News HD (newscasts) |
| Slogan | The Spirit of Texas (general) Make Sense of Your World (news) |
| Channels | Analog: 11 (VHF) Digital: 31 HDTV (UHF) |
| Affiliations | CBS |
| Owner | Belo Corporation (KHOU-TV, Inc.) |
| Founded | March 231953 |
| Call letters meaning | K HOUston |
| Former callsigns | KGUL-TV (1953-59) |
| Former affiliations | None |
| Website | www.khou.com |
KHOU-TV is the local CBS affiliate in Houston, Texas, owned by Belo Corporation. It broadcasts on Channel 11, and its transmitter is located in Missouri City, Texas.
History
KHOU signed on as KGUL-TV (as in Gulf or as in "seaGull" ), licensed to Galveston on March 231953. It was the second television station to launch in the Houston area after KPRC. The FCC license was and continues to list both the Houston and Galveston service areas. One of the original investors in the station was actor Jimmy Stewart along with a small group of other Galveston investors. Later on, it changed calls to KHOU in June 1959, and on April 201960 the station moved to its present location just outside downtown Houston on Allen Parkway. To this date, KHOU is the only TV station in Houston to have its primary studios close to the downtown area, though it isn't the only television station to have had studios in the area. KPRC maintained a secondary studio and bureau in the Service Corporation International Building, actually adjacent to KHOU's studios, until the mid-1990s.
In 1974, KHOU production management began experimenting from transitioning from news footage shot on 16 mm film and processed at the station to experimentation with some very early Sony electronic cameras by time-base correcting the poor quality signal to match broadcast signal standards. It didn't look that great but after a storm knocked out power to the station with massive flooding along Allen Parkway in the spring of 1974, engineers and crew scrambled to transmit the first live news broadcast in the parking lot from a "single tube" Sony ENG camera.
Up until 1984, KHOU was owned by Corinthian Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Dun & Bradstreet. Belo bought out Corinthian Broadcasting from D&B, and merged it, which also meant purchasing the station as well alongside other sister stations under ownership transition.
In 1998, it would be the first digital station in Houston to sign on.
The KHOU studios were flooded during Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, resulting in damage to much of the station, including its newsroom. The flooding was so bad at one point that the station had to shut down and air a feed from the station's doppler radar for roughly one hour and thirty minutes.
KHOU-TV Tower
KHOU-TV Tower is a 602 m (1,975 ft) high guyed mast in nearby Missouri City at . KHOU-TV Tower was built in 1992 and is used for TV broadcasting.
Programming
KHOU-TV has been one of the top-rated CBS affiliates in Texas for over 20 years, aided by a strong programming lineup with popular syndicated shows such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, and The Insider. Among those four, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! originally debuted on KPRC until both shows moved to KHOU in 1986.
Newscasts
KHOU has been widely regarded as a stepping stone for television news talent, as many of its reporters have gone on to assignments with national networks. The station's best known alumni are former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather and newswomen Linda Ellerbee and Jessica Savitch. Traditionally, KHOU has battled for second place with KPRC-TV throughout the years (first place in Houston was usually won by KTRK-TV ever since that station adopted its Eyewitness News format).
In its early beginnings, KHOU was often the number two station in Houston behind KPRC, which benefited from its lower channel number (VHF 2), the presence of pioneering news director Ray Miller, and NBC affiliation (which enabled KPRC to become the first station in Houston to air color programming via NBC's aggressive color programming rollout). In 1972, when KHOU boasted the top television news anchor team of Ron Stone and famed sportscaster Ron Franklin, it soon lost the two personalities to KPRC, and KHOU fell from first place to a distant third, also falling behind KTRK, which had been a constant third in the ratings but began a steady resurgence under its ownership (Capital Cities) and the resurgence of its affiliated network ABC, which became the number one network in the 1970s. At one time, KHOU's owners, Corinthian Broadcasting (owned by Dun & Bradstreet), actually considered hiring KTRK's popular investigative reporter, Marvin Zindler to be its lead anchor.
By the 1980s, KHOU's newscasts were usually a distant third, in fact, its 5pm newscast ratings were so low they even trailed old reruns of The Jeffersons and Diff'rent Strokes on then-independent stations KTXH and KRIV in Houston, even with the presence of anchors Chip Moody and Felicia Jeter, who before were popular newscasters in their respective markets of Dallas and Los Angeles.
However, beginning in the late 1980s, KHOU began to step up its news reputation, hiring several high profile personalities to
its news team. The most notable was Neil Frank, the former director of the National Hurricane
Center, who was tapped by the station to be the chief meteorologist starting in July of 1987. In another key move, the station
also hired former KTRK anchor Sylvan Rodriguez away from his job at the West Coast
bureau of ABC News to anchor the station's early evening newscasts. KHOU also began to use the
Spirit of Texas slogan and TM Productions' "Spirit" music package used at sister station WFAA-TV
in
The 1990s
In January 1989, KHOU revamped the look of its newscasts, with an image campaign that included full page ads in the Houston Chronicle and Houston Post, as well as an on-air promotional campaign that focused more on ordinary citizens throughout Greater Houston than on its news team. With the lead news team of anchors Steve Smith and Marlene McClinton, meteorologist Neil Frank and sports director Giff Nielsen, along with a new set, graphics and theme music, the station began to mount a serious challenge to both KPRC and KTRK, leading to a competitive ratings race during the 1990s between the three stations.
If any year proved to be a breakout year for KHOU, it was 1999. During the May sweeps of this year, KHOU reached number one in several timeslots, unseating KTRK at midday, 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. The station's ratings boost also included an exclusive interview with Serbian and Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic during the Kosovo War just a month before Milosevic's indictment. This news came despite the retirement of longtime anchor Steve Smith, anchor Sylvan Rodriguez's eventually fatal bout with pancreatic cancer, and the abrupt resignation of fellow anchor Marlene McClinton, an African-American, during one of the station's newscasts over claims that she was not given the exposure she was due in favor of spotlighting new hires.
11 News today
Today, KHOU continues to bolster strong ratings, continuing to oust both KTRK and KPRC in almost every timeslot, often posting victories at noon, aided by CBS' strong daytime lineup, and at 5 p.m., where it benefits from its strong lead-in, The Oprah Winfrey Show. Given KHOU's newfound status as a news ratings powerhouse in Houston, it often clashes with KTRK over who is number one, with KHOU taking into account actual Nielsen ratings tallies while KTRK has been emphasizing household numbers, as KTRK broadcasts more hours of local news weekly than other Houston stations.
On July 242006, KHOU began using a new logo, along with a new graphics package, on all its newscasts, starting with its evening newscasts. It is their first logo not to incorporate the KHOU callsign. Compared to the old logo (right), it uses a sans-serif font with a very modern and "slick" appearance.
11 News HD
On February 42007, following CBS' coverage of Super Bowl XLI, KHOU aired its first newscasts in high definition (HD), branding themselves as 11 News HD, and heavily promotiong the technology. It is now one of two area stations to broadcast news in HD; KTRK followed suit six months later.
11 News Investigates
KHOU also has gained a reputation for its investigative news team, 11 News Investigates, which has uncovered numerous stories, the most notable being its 2000 investigation into defective tire designs by Firestone, which led to the mandatory recall of its Wilderness AT, Firestone ATX, and ATX II, as well as numerous lawsuits. The defective tires resulted in various deaths, including that of Stephen Gauvain, a reporter for rival ABC affiliate KTRK.
Another investigative report in the early 2000s by former reporter Anna Werner led to the shutdown of the Houston Police Department's crime lab. 11 News Investigates has also exposed allegations of dropout rate fraud in the Houston Independent School District, which resulted in the dismissal of several HISD officials. Most recently called "11 News Defenders", the unit was rebranded to its current name on July 242006, when KHOU unveiled its new look on its newscasts.
Notable Personalities
Current On-Air Talent
11 News ANCHORS
- Greg Hurst: 5, 6, & 10 p.m. Anchor
- Lucy Noland: 5 & 10 p.m. Anchor
- Len Cannon: 6 p.m. Anchor
- Ron Trevino: Morning & Noon Anchor
- Deborah Duncan: Morning Anchor
- Vicente Arenas: Weekend Anchor/Weekday Reporter
- Shern-Min Chow: Weekend Anchor
- Chau Nguyen: Saturday Morning Anchor/Weekday Reporter
11 News REPORTERS
- Karla Barguiarena: General Assignment Reporter
- Chris Barnes: Air 11 Traffic/News Reporter
- Carolyn Campbell: General Assignment Reporter
- Jeremy Desel: General Assignment Reporter
- Darby Douglas: Traffic Anchor
- Wendell Edwards: General Assignment Reporter
- Dave Fehling: General Assignment Reporter
- Leigh Fricillici: General Assignment Reporter
- Nancy Holland: NASA Reporter
- Angela Kocherga: Mexico City Bureau Reporter
- Lee McGuire: General Assignment Reporter
- Jeff McShan: General Assignment Reporter, initially came to KHOU as a sports reporter
- Doug Miller: Political Reporter
- Rucks Russell: General Assignment Reporter
- Alex Sanz: General Assignment Reporter, seen usually during morning/noon
- Prof. Gerald Treece: Legal Analyst
- Jason Whitely: General Assignment Reporter
- Janice Williamson: General Assignment Reporter
- Brad Woodard: General Assignment Reporter
11 News INVESTIGATES
- Mark Greenblatt: Investigative Reporter
- Jeremy Rogalski: Investigative Reporter
11 Weather
- Dr. Neil Frank: Chief Meteorologist
- David Paul: Morning & Noon Meteorologist
- Mario Gomez: Weekend Meteorologist
- Dan Meador: Weekend Meteorologist
11 Sports
- Giff Nielsen: Sports Director/Weeknight Sports Anchor
- Butch Alsandor: Sports Anchor, primarily during weekends
- Matt Musil: Sports Anchor/Reporter
Former On-Air Talent
- Amanda Arnold: 6, 6:30 & 10 p.m. Anchor (1981-84)
- Bill Balleza: Noon & 5 p.m. Anchor (1973-1980; currently evening anchor at KPRC-TV)
- Susan Banks: Noon & 6PM anchor (1988-1990)
- Michael Barnes: Reporter (left in 2000 to take PR job at Reliant Energy)
- "Utah" Carl Beach: Host & performer of local music show (1953-1967)
- Tonia Bendickson: Morning Anchor (1997-2000; currently evening anchor at WBTV in Charlotte, NC)
- Bob Brown: anchor (1973-1975, now at ABC News)
- Doug Brown: talk show host/Weather anchor (?-1975, now at KTRK)
- Phillip Bruce: reporter (later became news director for KCET)
- Bebe Burns: Morning & Noon Anchor (mid to late 1970s)
- Keith Calkins: sports reporter/anchor (1989-1992, now at KRIV)
- Clare Casademont: Noon & 6 p.m. Anchor (1989-1999)
- Ginger Casey: Anchor (1986-1987)
- Penny Crone: Reporter (1982-1988)
- Dann Cuellar: Reporter (1980-1983, now at WPVI in Philadelphia)
- Mitch Duncan: Afternoon/Evening Anchor
- Mike Dunston: weekend anchor/reporter (2000), promoted to mornings (2000-2002)
- Steve Edwards: anchor/talk show host (1972-1975, now at KTTV in Los Angeles)
- Terry Elliott: Reporter
- Eileen Faxas: consumer reporter
- Lisa Foronda: Noon & 6pm Anchor (1997-1999), 5 & 10pm Anchor (1999-2006)
- Ron Franklin: Sports Anchor (1971-1980; currently at ESPN, primarily as one of the network's college football and men's basketball play-by-play announcers)
- Dan Garcia: Reporter
- John Getter: NASA reporter, (1981-1997)
- Sandra Gin-Tynan: weekend morning anchor/reporter (1994-2002, now runs the ReMain Company [1])
- Annette Gonzales: reporter (1993-1998)
- David Grant: Chief Meteorologist (1980s)
- Jerome Gray: Weekend Anchor/Noon & 6 p.m. Anchor (1989-2006; currently early evening anchor at KPRC-TV)
- Rodger Gray: Host of AM Houston throughout the 1980's
- Charles Hadlock: weekend anchor/reporter (1985-1999; now with NBC News)
- Paul Harasim - "Paul's People" feature reporter (1980-1995)
- Bill Jeffreys: City Hall reporter (1983-1997)
- Felicia Jeter: 5, 6 & 10 p.m. Anchor (1984-1988)
- Nesita Kwan: Weekend Anchor (1992-1994, currently at WMAQ-TV in Chicago)
- Dan Lauck: General Assignment Reporter (1994-July 13, 2007, left station due to battle with Parkinson's Disease) [2]
- Susan Lennon - reporter (1991-1993)
- Steve Mark - sports reporter/anchor (1984-1988, currently PR Director with the Houston Dynamo Soccer Team)
- Jim Marsh - reporter (1984-1989)
- Deborah Martine: reporter
- Angie Martinez: morning anchor
- Marlene McClinton: 5 & 10 p.m. Anchor (1988-1999, now Public Information Officer for the Houston Airport System)
- Judd McIlvain: consumer and investigative reporter (1968-1986, later became a talk radio host in Los Angeles)
- Chip Moody: 6 & 10 p.m. Anchor (1984-1987; died December 26, 2001)
- Jim Moore: Austin bureau chief
- Michael Morgan: 6 & 10 p.m. Anchor (mid 1970s)
- Carolyn Mungo: reporter (2000s)
- Dennis Murphy - reporter (1975-1978, now at NBC News)
- Jim Nantz - sports reporter/anchor (1981-1983, now at CBS Sports)
- Alma Newsome: Reporter (mid to late 1970s, later became press secretary for Democratic U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland)
- Bob Nicholas - reporter/anchor (1971-1979), soon after became an anchor at KPRC-TV
- Pam Oliver - Weekend Sports Anchor & reporter (early 90's)
- Dan Patrick: Sports Anchor (1980s; later became a conservative talk show host for KSEV-AM; now a Republican State Senator from Houston)
- Dan Rather: Anchor/Reporter (early 1960s; former anchor of CBS Evening News)
- Sandy Rivera: Anchor of AM Houston & reporter
- Sylvan Rodriguez: Noon & 6 p.m. Anchor (1987-1999, died April 6, 2000 of pancreatic cancer)
- Bert Rozell: 6 & 10 p.m. Anchor (mid 1970s, later an anchor in Jacksonville, FL at WJXT-TV)
- Rick Sanchez: reporter (1986-1988; now with CNN)
- Sam Saucedo: reporter (1986-1999)
- Jessica Savitch - reporter (1971-1972, deceased)
- Janet Shamlian - anchor/reporter (1987-1995, now at NBC News)
- Tom Siler: Weather (now at WEAR-TV in Pensacola, FL)
- George Smith: weekend anchor/reporter (now with ESPN)
- Steve Smith: 5 & 10 p.m. Anchor (1976-1999, retired)
- Mike Snyder - anchor/reporter (1975-1980, now at KXAS-TV in Dallas)
- Alexis South: Weather (1970s)
- Susan Starnes: Health Reporter
- Marty Stebbins - reporter/weathercaster (1977-1987)
- Ron Stone: 6 & 10 p.m. Anchor (1962-1972; later joined KPRC-TV, now retired)
- Kathie Turner - reporter/weathercaster (1995-1998)
- Norm Uhl: Reporter (1985-1997)
- Johnathan Walton: Walton's World/Morning Reporter
- Craig Weber: weathercaster (1984-87)
- Anna Werner: Investigative reporter (1999-2004; currently at KPIX-TV in San Francisco)
News/Station Presentation
Newscast Titles
- The News with Ron Stone (1950s?)
- Newswatch 11 (1960s?-1974; Savitch era)
- News 11 (1974-1979)
- NewsCenter 11 (1979-1984)
- 11 News (1984-1986 and 1991-2007)
- Channel 11 News (1986-1989)
- KHOU 11 News (1989-1991)
- 11 News in HD (2007-present)
Station Slogans
- Houston's Way of Looking at the World (1980-83)
- The Spirit of Texas (1986-present)
- It's Time To Choose. 11 News (1999-2002)
- We Go There (2002-2005)
Trivia
- KHOU has hosted Houston's annual Thanksgiving Day parade, the H-E-B Holiday Parade (formerly the Bank United / Washington Mutual Thanksgiving Day Parade) for well over a decade. As a result, KHOU pre-empts the CBS Thanksgiving Day Parade.
- All three of KHOU's weekday evening anchors, Greg Hurst (5, 6 & 10pm),
Lucy Noland (5 & 10pm) and Len Cannon (6 pm), all
previously worked in
New York City . Cannon and Noland were once colleagues at WNYW-TV, while Hurst was previously the weekend evening anchor for WABC-TV. - One of KHOU's reporters, Doug Miller, was the first contestant of the current version of Jeopardy! (which, incidentally, airs on KHOU) to come from the Greater Houston area, winning $16,000 during a four-day stint in 1985. Ironically, during Doug's stint as champion, Jeopardy! then aired on KPRC.
- One of KHOU's themes (which debuted in 1976) was composed by NFL Films composer Sam Spence.
External links
| Broadcast Television in the Houston market (Nielsen DMA #10) |
|---|
|
Local television stations serving Greater Houston/Galveston/Sugar Land/Baytown Defunct television stations Significantly Viewed Out-of-Market Broadcast Stations |
| CBS Network Affiliates in the state of Texas |
|---|
|
KDBC 4 (El Paso) - KGBT 4 (Harlingen) - KENS 5 (San Antonio) - KAUZ 6 (Wichita Falls) - KFDM 6 (Beaumont) - KOSA 7 (Odessa) - KLST 8 (San Angelo) - KFDA 10 (Amarillo) - KWTX 10 / KBTX 3 (Waco / Bryan) - KZTV 10 (Corpus Christi) - KHOU 11 (Houston) - KTVT 11 (Fort Worth) - KXII 12 (Sherman) - KLBK 13 (Lubbock) - KVTV 13 (Laredo) - KYTX 19 (Nacogdoches) - KTAB 32 (Abilene) - KEYE 42 (Austin) |
| See also: ABC, CW, Fox, MyNetwork TV, NBC, PBS, Telefutura, Telemundo, Univision, Religious, Other English and Other Spanish stations in Texas |
| Belo Corporation | |
|---|---|
| Corporate Staff: | Robert W. Decherd (Chairman and CEO) · Dennis A. Williamson · Lawrence Nicholson · John L. Sander · Dunia A. Shive · Donald F. Cass · David Lougee · Guy H. Kerr · Marian Spitzberg · James M. Moroney |
| Cable News Channels: | 24/7 · Arizona
NewsChannel · Local News on
Cable · ¡Más! Arizona · NewsWatch 15 · NorthWest Cable News · Texas Cable News |
| Newspapers: | Al Día · The Dallas Morning News · The Business Press · Denton Record-Chronicle · La Prensa ·
The Press-Enterprise ·
The Providence Journal ·
Quick! · Rhode
Island Weekly · Texas
Almanac |
| Television Stations: | ABC affiliates: KVUE · WFAA ·
WHAS · WVEC
CBS affiliates: KENS · KHOU ·
NBC affiliates: KING · KTVB · KGW · WCNC The CW affiliates: KASW · KCWX2 · KSKN MyNetwork TV affiliates: KTTU · WUPL Independent stations: KFWD1 · KTVK · KONG |
| 1Belo manages this station owned by HIC
Broadcasting
2Belo manages this station owned by Corridor Television, LLP |
|
| Annual Revenue: 1.52 Billion (USD) · Employees: 6,600 · Stock Symbol: NYSE: BLC · Website: belo.com | |
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