Rita shows Houma's Needs

[jserigny]

I know a lot of New Orleans media personnel are displaced, but over the past weekend of Rita coverage on radio and television (or lack of Rita coverage on the New Orleans stations of Terrebonne Parish) the evidence just continues to mount that the time has come for Houma to get its own set of TV station alotments and more radio alotments separate from New Orleans.

Of the coverage that I saw and heard regarding Rita, there was almost NOOOOO coverage of Terrebonne Parish's levee problems and flooding of nearly 6,000 homes on TV and the URBNO lovefest. It took the New Orleans TV stations until Sunday before they even gave Terrebonne Parish a 2 minute package. Radio wise Garranty Boardcasting was about as useless as a slug because all four of their stations went off the air. As far as I know, KCIL is still off, and based on some of the reports the transmitter could be "slightly moist."

Now WWL-TV did go to Lafourche Parish on Saturday, but besides the expected flooding there was outside the hurricane protection system and an interview with Lafourche Parish President, they missed the bigger story in Terrebonne Parish. Also, CBS radio national did have a small interview with Terrebonne's OEP director on Saturday.

The big winner and broadcasting hero to emerge from Rita is Martin Folse and the crew at KFOL/HTV in Houma. Because if it wasn't for them, no one in the triparish area would have known what was going on. No one except for KFOL had anything about a chemical leak in the parish. They did an excellent job over the weekend showing the most extensive and compelling video of the flooding of Terrebonne Parish.

They had a cool shot of a levee breech in Montegut where the water was rushing in, and they were in a boat a few hundred feet away.

Monday, they also had the best video of the Army helicopters dropping huge sand bags to close the breeches in the levees in Montegut.

Mind you KFOL does not have the best equipment, remote capabilities, and the strongest signal, they did better than any of the New Orleans stations to convey what was going on down in the parish. They even let the photogs describe what they were shooting. Mind you some of these clips were over an hour long, but they really gave you a good idea of what the water looked like there.

Overall, I do not know what is going to happen to New Orleans after the city is rebuilt and repopulated, but the FCC should consider Houma get back a full power alotment (Yes, Houma at one time had a full power station, Garland Robinette started there) and maybe another one, and change its area of dominance to Houma-Thibodaux-Morgan City instead of New Orleans. And then Neilson create a new DMA from the fracture.

This is not only needed because of potential future market forces, but also the emergency needs of the area. Coverage of the New Orleans stations in the area is spotty at best (Cable is almost a requirement to watch tv), and that problem will only be amplified in the coming years with digital only broadcasting. On the analogue side the only stations you could catch decently in the area with an indoor antenna before Katrina was KFOL, WVUE, and maybe WAFB. Once you go to the digital side, I would have to guess that no one pushes enough signal strong enough to cover the area consistantly in an emergency (i. e. Katrina, Rita, insert named tropical system in the Gulf) especially when you cannot have an outdoor antenna in the case of a hurricane. Now mind you KFOL could push a digital signal that would cover enough of the area, but because they are a class A they do not have a separate digital channel for a true comparision.

 

[RFLA]

I'm gonna split this up so I can respond easier

> I know a lot of New Orleans media personnel are displaced,
> but over the past weekend of Rita coverage on radio and
> television (or lack of Rita coverage on the New Orleans
> stations of Terrebonne Parish) the evidence just continues
> to mount that the time has come for Houma to get its own set
> of TV station alotments and more radio alotments separate
> from New Orleans.

Agree with you... BUT I've looked at the allotments for radio and basically IMO, we are screwed unless we get an allocation from somewhere's else (like trying to convince a NOLA broadcaster to move in , instead of moving our allocations out) but that would be a long shot at best as New Orleans, even after loosing a lot of it's population is going to be in the Top 100 or at the very least 120 IMO still..compared to 170 as estimated by Eastland ratings (a company who performed a survey for Spring book 2005) for the Houma/Thibodaux metro

The only allocation I remember seeing for the area was 105.7 for Golden Meadow (which is limited due to KBZE 105.9 Berwick)and a application for some class As in Dulac (which are usually some sort of speculator with no real idea on the area)

A few of the frequencies are limited in our area due to seperation rules..and what's left is maybe one or two possible places for a class A (which wouldn't really cover the market good...KBZE is the only class A station in our area and has problems with signal in Houma from Berwick for example.

On TV, It's just to convince a broadcaster to open up a full power TV station.. I think the frequencies on UHF are open..But right now, I think you may see some broadcasters holding off on building as they have to get funding ready to start in DTV soon (and most new stations like KBCA in Alexandria for example, will have to make a choice between analog or digital as they are not given a second channel like other stations were)



>
> Of the coverage that I saw and heard regarding Rita, there
> was almost NOOOOO coverage of Terrebonne Parish's levee
> problems and flooding of nearly 6,000 homes on TV and the
> URBNO lovefest. It took the New Orleans TV stations until
> Sunday before they even gave Terrebonne Parish a 2 minute
> package. Radio wise Garranty Boardcasting was about as
> useless as a slug because all four of their stations went
> off the air. As far as I know, KCIL is still off, and based
> on some of the reports the transmitter could be "slightly
> moist."
>

Radio from New Orleans sucks when it comes to area coverage. WWL-TV is about the best in covering the Houma/Thibodaux area out of the 4 majors in New Orleans (and they get some of that coverage from HTV's Martin Folse). I've actually found better coverage on Baton Rouge stations sometimes than NOLA..Go figure...

KLRZ had a simucast of KANE from New Iberia Friday night, But was broadcasting from the Larose studios apparently by mid morning Saturday.

Don't know why some of the Guaranty stations went off (I know during Katrina they did go off but was back on after the storm due to no one wanting to run outside to start the generator in the storm).. But 1490 KJIN and KCIL have in the past have caught water at the transmitter site.. But in a way KCIL is limited to where they can move by Guaranty itself (107.3 in Baton Rouge was moved and I think 107.5 was downgraded for that move) if memory serves.


> The big winner and broadcasting hero to emerge from Rita is
> Martin Folse and the crew at KFOL/HTV in Houma. Because if
> it wasn't for them, no one in the triparish area would have
> known what was going on. No one except for KFOL had anything
> about a chemical leak in the parish. They did an excellent
> job over the weekend showing the most extensive and
> compelling video of the flooding of Terrebonne Parish.
>
> They had a cool shot of a levee breech in Montegut where the
> water was rushing in, and they were in a boat a few hundred
> feet away.
>
> Monday, they also had the best video of the Army helicopters
> dropping huge sand bags to close the breeches in the levees
> in Montegut.
>
> Mind you KFOL does not have the best equipment, remote
> capabilities, and the strongest signal, they did better than
> any of the New Orleans stations to convey what was going on
> down in the parish. They even let the photogs describe what
> they were shooting. Mind you some of these clips were over
> an hour long, but they really gave you a good idea of what
> the water looked like there.
>

I agree he does a great job at covering the tri-parish area (with his footage being used at WWL-TV) . But he has a habit of getting where you loose attention while watching it at times I have found personally.. Martin still has the cable access channel feel to the station.. The on air presentation is what I think needs work however... I had watched a report he did on Katrina for example..He shot 3 minutes of tape rolling down LA 57 going to Dulac I beleive...Nothing on the road except trees and him talking about it (sorry but living on this Bayou all my life has taught me about trees blocking the road after a hurricane duh)...He has a habit of having a essay sometimes for what in another market would be a 3 minute piece.

Actually if he would put more in to the station, I think he could make HTV shine..actually with some polish, I'd would like to see him with a full power license....

If not, I figure someone with enough pull could influence some of the bayou's millionaires to finace a full power station IMO


> Overall, I do not know what is going to happen to New
> Orleans after the city is rebuilt and repopulated, but the
> FCC should consider Houma get back a full power alotment
> (Yes, Houma at one time had a full power station, Garland
> Robinette started there) and maybe another one, and change
> its area of dominance to Houma-Thibodaux-Morgan City instead
> of New Orleans. And then Neilson create a new DMA from the
> fracture.

Stations first, then we could get Nielsen possibly to consider a DMA (But we would basically have to have more stations than just 2 and then it wouldn't be as monitored as it is right now anyway)

The FCC would give Houma a full power I think if someone would petition the FCC to build the station and have the financial to carry it out...


>
> This is not only needed because of potential future market
> forces, but also the emergency needs of the area. Coverage
> of the New Orleans stations in the area is spotty at best
> (Cable is almost a requirement to watch tv), and that
> problem will only be amplified in the coming years with
> digital only broadcasting. On the analogue side the only
> stations you could catch decently in the area with an indoor
> antenna before Katrina was KFOL, WVUE, and maybe WAFB.

Dunno I got a outside antenna on a tower at 20 feet I use to monitor and I catch everything the cable catches (4,6,8,12,20,26,32,38,49 as well as 2,9,and 33) except WLPB 27 and WUPL 54..

A small TV (cheap 5 inch with attached antenna) inside my home caught 2,4,6,8,9,30,33,and 49 before the storms. Haven't checked lately..

But I've seen rabbit ears bring in a somewhat decent picture to some of the new Orleans channels other than you mentioned but yeah the 3 you mentioned are the best I catch.


Once
> you go to the digital side, I would have to guess that no
> one pushes enough signal strong enough to cover the area
> consistantly in an emergency (i. e. Katrina, Rita, insert
> named tropical system in the Gulf) especially when you
> cannot have an outdoor antenna in the case of a hurricane.
> Now mind you KFOL could push a digital signal that would
> cover enough of the area, but because they are a class A
> they do not have a separate digital channel for a true
> comparision.
>


And the sad part is WAFB's DT signal is a quarter of their Analog at full licensed power mind you.. I think DTV is what's gonna bring the need for either translators or something to this area.
KFOL's digital I think would be like the other broadcasters and be limited also in the digital realm also personally.. But as you said, new broadcasters and LPTV/translators/class As have to use the same channel for DTV transition so we won't know for a while IMO of how well the triparish will actually fare out

RFLA