LR Stations Cover The Hurricane Katrina Story

Pretty good article at Arkansas Business.com about how the Little Rock TV stations covered Hurricane Katrina. Below are a few quotes from staff members and managers of the stations:

> Two of the four big television stations in central Arkansas — KARK-TV, Channel 4, and KLRT-TV, Channel 16 — had crews on the ground in the Gulf Coast vicinity before Katrina made landfall Aug. 29. The arrival of a Category 5 storm in the inner Gulf of Mexico was the signal to get cracking.

“When the storm was classified as a Category 5 hurricane, we sent our satellite truck and meteorologist Dan Skoff,” said Jeff Whatley, assistant news director at KARK. “He began his live reports from New Orleans the day before it made landfall and continued broadcasting live as it slammed ashore.”

> KTHV-TV, Channel 11, on Aug. 29 sent a three-person crew and a satellite truck to Monticello, where the Arkansas National Guard was being held until receiving clearance into affected areas.

“Monticello was also the place where many evacuees ended up,” said Mark Raines, news director at KTHV. “There was not a motel room to be found.”

> Randy Dixon, news director at KATV-TV, Channel 7, said his station’s crew made it to Baton Rouge, La., and was able to begin reporting Aug. 30.

KATV opted to focus more on Katrina’s aftermath in Arkansas.

“The majority of our coverage has taken place in Arkansas,” Dixon said. “That is where we considered the most important local stories to be.”

> By 6 p.m. the day prior to Katrina’s landfall, KLRT had dispatched both a news vehicle and a satellite truck, along with meteorologist Nate Higgins and two cameramen, Patrick McGehee and Voja Radosavljevic, to Jackson, Miss.

“We intended to get as close as possible to the storm without threatening the safety of our crew,” said Chuck Spohn, general manager at KLRT.

Read the full article HERE. Registration required