THE BUSINESS OF TELEVISION

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NEWS & COMMENT

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ith Hurricane Katrinabarreling toward NewOrleans on Aug. 28,Carl Arredondo, chiefmeteorologist for CBSaffiliate WWL, pulledaside station ExecutiveNews Director SandyBreland. The monster

hurricane was six hours away, he said, sug-gesting that the time had come to evacu-ate the news studio, which is in the city'sFrench Quarter. Breland, a New Orleansnative long familiar with ferocious weatherblowing in from the Gulf of Mexico, movedquickly to implement a disaster plan thathad been years-and millions of dollars-in the making.

"We had done news stories on the sce-narios if a major hurricane hit, and we knewhow bad it could be," says Breland. "Wehad to plan for the worst."

When the worst arrived in the form ofKatrina and the hurricane's hellish after-math, TV and radio stations in New Orleans

OneStationStayedon'theAir

HowWWLNewOrleansstafferskeptbroadcastingthroughoutKatrina,despitetheirowndevastatinglossesByAllisonRomano

I rIl

joined the staggering exodus from the city. (Some stations have yet to return to the air, while others quickly found temporary homes, as NBC affiliate WDSU did in re- locating its news operation to sister stations in Jackson, Miss., and Orlando, Fla.)

Only Belo Gorp-owned WWL, the city's top-rated local-news station, managed to stay on the air the entire time, broadcast- ing under its own power. More than three- quarters of the station's employees lost their homes, and most have been too busy repon- ing on the disaster to file insurance claims or register for disaster relief. But the staff stayed on the job, providing a lifeline of information to anyone in the wrecked city with a battery-powered TV or a radio that oicked uo local stations canving WWL's . - Budio feeb.

And the station's reporting reached dis- placed New Orleaneans in several cities, including Dallas and Houston, where Belo sister stations began canying WWL. "Peo- ple called and said, 'I am in Dallas, and the next time you send the chopper up, can you go over my house?"' says station President1 i i r n e r d ~ i m a ~ e r Hud Hnl\\n.

\V\i'L:i : ~ h i l ~ r \ . to ksso hroaJ:astino M . ~ E ~~ ~ - the result of preparations that began five years ago with the construction of a mnl- timillion-dollar transmitter designed to withstand a major hurricane. The bunker- like base stands 15 feet above ground on concrete pilings, and the 1,020-foot tower is designed to resist winds up to about 140 miles per hour. A small foyer can serve as an emergency studio, powered by a mas- sive generator drawing on 10,000 gallons of fuel. The facility has Internet access and even a shower.

Another crucial element of the station's planning: an arrangement Breland made last year with Louisiana State University's Manship School of Mass Communica- tion in Baton Rouge to use the journalism school's studio in the event of a disaster. The university also promised to supply food and housing. As for the station's headquar- ters on N. Rampart Street in New Orleans, WWL bought large generators and a m g e d for emergency fuel supplies. The station also stocked its supply closets with food and water, bought two-way radios, and pur- chased cellphones from multiple carriers. Arrangements were made with other Belo stations to send in reinforcements, includ- ing helicopters from KHOU Houston and

WFAA Dallas. Despite the intricate planning, WWL has

been strained to the limits in trying cover the country's worst natural disaster. The operation has been split among three loca- tions, and, at times, Internet phones and text messaging were the only reliable means of communication. The station's crews have

to evacuate to the Hyatt Regency hotel 15 blocks away if conditions become unsafe.

At the LSU studio, WWL Director of Technology Rick Barber feverishly pre- pares to go on the air. Technicians scramble to link up the feed. Journalism students are recruited to operate cameras. Barber pulls up the weather radar on a laptop compnt-

been working more than 18-hour days and er, thin -positihns often sleep in satellite . it so that a camera trucks or on can focus on the the newsroom screen. (As the floor. storm moves clos-

Yet WWL has er overnight, the managed to pro- radar image will duce inore than 1 200 hours of non- stoo live coverage.

. stay on-screen for hours while anchors orovide

" ~ k e hallmarkof informailon and great journalism commentary.) is that you keep T h e W W L broadcasting even ,, crew in New when your ability Orleans broad. to communicate is ',, ml P r ~ d ~ c a s t s un t i l most threatened," 1 midnight, then says LSU journal- ', hands off all ism-school Dean Jack t- ties to rhe LSU team as the Hamilton. who heloed orenare for WWL's hurricane rages outside. Thev evacuate to . . . arrival at the school and watched the news operation in action.

As they continued last week to cover the hurricane's aftermath and the first faint signs of New Orleans' recovery, WWL managers, reporters and crew members- several of them breaking down in tears as they spoke-provided B&C with an exclu- sive look at what it took to keep the station on the air.

SATURDAY, AUG. 27 As Hurricane Katrina rolls across the Gulf of Mexico, with the storm track aiming squarely at New Orleans, WWL starts con- tinuous, commercial-free news coverage. All news and engineering staffers, about 70 people, are called in and told to expect to stay for at least several days.

SUNDAY, AUG. 28 In the early afternoon, prompted by Arre- dondo's warning about the approaching s tom, Breland divides the staff. Twenty employees head for the LSU studio in Ba- ton Rouge, and 20 others go to the transmit- ter site across the Mississippi River in Gret- na, La. Twenty-eight staffers stay behind at station headquarters-with instructions

the Hyatt ~ i ~ e n c ~ (which i s connected to the soou-to-be notorious Superdome), where New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and other local officials are holed up. The WWL staffers spend the night in a third-floor ball- room with other hotel guests, watching the station's coverage on battery-powered TVs. In the field, crews hunker down in emer- gency shelters and parking garages, wait- ing until conditions improve and they can resume shooting video.

Anchor Sally-Ann Roberts, a 28-year WWL veteran (her sister, Robin Roberts, co-anchors ABC's Good Morning America) leads the coverage. "We were reeling:' she recalls. "We knew we'd lost our houses, and mine was under 9 feet of water. We were covering a story that we were part of."

MONDAY, AUG. 29 In the early morning, a fonr-person team ventures from the Hyatt Regency to the sta- tion headquarters to assess damage. They report debris in the street but no flooding. With the station able to operate on genera- tor power, the hotel contingent returns and resumes broadcasting. They begin editing interviews that the Hyatt team had collected overnight and tape from crews returning

from the field. Rampart Street. After 11 a.m., crews head back out into 'We knew we had to get out of there fast or

the city and the surrounding parishes. In we would be trapped:' she says. Staffers fran- the Ninth Ward neighborhood. reoorter ticallv m b suooliewameras. la~tous, cases Jonathan Betz and-photographe; Wil- of w z , cani6f beans and ~ow&~&&and lie Wilson watch the rising flood waters search the building with flashlights to make

swamp roofs and trap terrified resi- sure no one is left behind. At this point, about 50 people are at the station, and they pile

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police officer, who simply drove past them. "The transmitter was secure, but we

couldn't get out to cover stories:' says Brown. Anned guards provided by BeJo's corporate-security company in Dallas and local police accompany the team on the 90- minute drive from the transmitter to Baton Rouge.

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dents. Wilson says that the devastation in into about 30 vehicles. Half of the convoy WWL onscreen and behind the scenes during New Orleans was worse than that of any heads to Baton Rouge; the other group goes Katrlna and its aftermath hurricane he has covered in his 37 years to the transmitter site. Broadcasting is split at WWL. His own house sustained only between LSU and the transmitfer minor damage, but two rental properties an- sit on folding chairs and

staffers coming in from the field. he owns were destroyed. "You can cover other people and empa- In Baton Rouge, Roberts con

thize with them," he says, "but it's not the work, despite anxiety about her mother, : same as when it's your city." who had refused to leave her home in

In a segment that will air repeatedly on Biloxi, Miss., which also was hit hard cable news networks throughout the day, by Kattina. Then, talking off-camera to I

WWL Promotions Producer Chris Mem- reporter Lucy Bustamante, who has just field, in the field with a crew, wades into come back from the field, Roberts h e m j chest-high water to rescue a driver from a good news: Bustamante ran into Rob- car about to be swallowed up by the flood- erts' sister, Robin, who was reporting ; waters. in Mississippi for ABC, and found out ,

Throughout the day (and in the weeks that that the women's mother was safe. "I : follow), the station simulcasts its coverage went thsough the roof with joy:' Rob- !~ online. That Monday its Web site attracts erts says. "As we cover this story, our 10.2 million page views, a record for the attentions have been divided in so many site. That nieht about 50 staffers sleeo at the wavs:' Rampart ~&et facility, in sleeping &s and on air mattresses-me bought by the sta- tion as part of its disaster pqwations, others lugged in from home by employeesi

ruaw,nuo. 30 Shortly after 8 a.m., reporter Dave Mc- Namara, who is married to Breland, and a news crew attempt to go to City Hall to obtain a pennit to take a helicopter aloft. As they drive down Canal Street, a main thor- oughfare near the station, they are turned back by rising waters. News arrives that the nearby 17th Street levee has been breached, and Breland orders a second evacuation of

WEDNESDAY,AUG. 31 As looting and violence in New Orleans and the surrounding area escalate, Belo and WWL executives decide to evacuate the transmitter site. None of WWL's crews have been attacked, but several were rattled as they attempted to cover the lawlessness. McNamara recalls one unsettling incident, the looting of a supermarket that "was al- most a party scene, a shopping spree to take whatever you want." The crew started shoot- ing video but backed off when men started shouting angrily at them. As they left the scene, the WWL crew hied to flag down a

With ne&ly 200 WWL staffers and crews from other Belo stations now in Baton Rouge, they have outgrown the LSU stu- dio. Last night, WWL moved to local pub- lic-broadcasting affiliate WLPB. In addi- tion to offering more room, its studio is better equipped for handling promotions, graphics and other tools of the trade. To better manage the unwieldy staff, Breland teams out-of-towners with WWLers and maps out all the assignments on a massive dry-erase board.

As evacuees pour into Baton Rouge, the city's population doubles, and housing is scarce. Some WWL and Belo employees

are assigned to LSU dorm moms, others to rented apartments or Embassy Suites hotel rooms. Belo brings in doctors to fill prescrip- tions and give tetanus shots, and crisis coun- selors are made available to employees.

FRIDAY, SEPT. 2 With New Orleans' evacuees scattered around the country, Belo makes the WWL signal available to stations in other markets. More than 30 outlets pick up the feed. Sister Belo stations, including KHOU and WFAA in Texas and PBS stations in Louisiana and Mississippi, simulcast WWL. Yahoo streams the coverage online.

NESMT, sm. 6 As conditions in New Orleans improve, WWL decides to send a small team of en- gineers hack to the French Quarter with security escorts. They report that the WWL building survived unscathed by floodwater or looters. Technicians refuel the generator and power up master control and parts of the newsmom.

THURsosv, SEPT. 8 Anchor Dennis Weltering is the first on-air WWL employee to return to the Rampart Street headquarters. He reports from the parking lot. The studio is still in disarray

from Tuesday's hasty exit. Belo brings in air conditioners, an RV, and food and wa- ter from Dallas, and staffers begin staying overnight in the headquarters. Armed secu- rity guards are on hand to protect them and the fuel supply. ,

Even though a sense of disaster and tragedy still hangs in the humid New Orleans air and an unfathomable amount of work remains to be done in r e s m t i n g the city and the lives of its scattered inhabitants, one small, reassur- ing glimmer of n o d life appears on WWL tonight: The station airs The Late Show With David Letterman, its first entertainment pm- gramming in almost two weeks.

Reprinted from Broadcasting a Cable, September 2005. Copyright O Reed Business Information, a divish of Reed Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved. #I-12201271 Reprinted by Reprint Management Services, 717.399.1900. To request a quote online, visit www.reptintbuyer.com.