Posted: 9/28/05
Hearst-Argyle is pleased to note that all WDSU employees are safely accounted for. The company wishes to thank all those who helped in the efforts to reach all our employees.
Posted: 9/28/05
Dr. Todd Husty, medical reporter for Hearst-Argyle's WESH-TV, Orlando, penned a column for TelevisionWeek magazine of his observations while covering aspects of the Katrina story from New Orleans. His stories were beamed via Hearst-Argyle's dedicated satellite service to all the Hearst-Argyle stations, and were streamed over the WDSU.com website.
Posted: 9/22/05
WDSU-TV, New Orleans, continues to be a key provider of news updates and footage to NBC Network and MSNBC not only on the recovery from Katrina but on the path of Hurricane Rita.
Posted: 9/21/05
WDSU programming is being provided to New Orleans evacuees staying at the Palmetto Expo Center in Greenville, South Carolina, thanks to Hearst-Argyle's WYFF-TV in Greenville. WYFF, with the assistance of equipment provided by Harmonic, installed a large high-definition television monitor in the Expo Center, which is carrying the WDSU feed over WYFF's secondary digital channel.
Posted: 9/16/05
NBC News Opens New Orleans Bureau at WDSU-TV:
NBC News has announced it is creating a news bureau in the city, headed by NBC News southeast bureau chief Frieda Morris, who will be joined by rotating crews and reporters. NBC will operate the bureau in conjunction with its local NBC affiliate, Hearst-Argyle's WDSU. Over the last two weeks, some NBC News crews have been using the WDSU facility as a base.
"The establishment of this bureau demonstrates our commitment to thorough and complete coverage of the storm's aftermath, rebuilding efforts and all of the important societal issues associated with this story," acting NBC News President Steve Capus said in a statement.
The first NBC reporter staffed to the bureau will be Martin Savidge. Investigative reporter Lisa Myers is also expected to spend time working there.
Posted: 9/15/05
Hearst-Argyle Vice President, News, Candy Altman, offers some personal on-the-scene observations of the work of the journalists and other Hearst-Argyle people as they faced the challenges of Katrina.
Posted 9/9/05
As of this morning, Hearst-Argyle TV stations, through telethons and other efforts, have helped raise more than $9 million for Katrina relief efforts.
WDSU-TV programming will be carried on WBTR, Channel 41, an independent television station in Baton Rouge, LA. The station, with more than 600,000 potential viewers in 176,000 cable households and 48,000 non-cable households, is licensed as KBTR-CA. WBTR will carry WDSU's signal Mon. -Sun., 5-7am and noon-2pm; Mon.-Fri. 8-11pm, and Sat. and Sun., 6-11pm (all times Central).
Said WDSU-TV President and General Manager Mason Granger: "I am delighted that we have been able to forge a partnership with WBTR. WBTR's J. D. Perry and Chuck Bush have shown a sincere commitment to public service, which is so essential during this time of crisis."
WDSU is also being carried on Time Warner Cable in Jackson, MS (where Time Warner Cable already carries Hearst-Argyle's WAPT-TV in Jackson), and in Monroe, LA. In all, WDSU is now being carried on broadcast in New Orleans (over the Paxson-managed station WPXL-TV), in Houston (over Paxson's KPXB-TV, during certain dayparts), and on cable in Jackson and Monroe, and on direct-broadcast satellite (DirecTV and DISH).
"All of us at WDSU are acutely aware of the necessity of disseminating crucial information to the thousands of people who have been evacuated from the New Orleans area," Granger added. "That is why we are reaching out to broadcast and cable partners in cities such as Baton Rouge, as well as Houston, Jackson, MS, and Monroe. We thank all of them for their support and their dedication to the people who have been affected by Hurricane Katrina."
WDSU's Mason Granger also noted: "A number of WDSU people have returned to the WDSU facility. We have a team in the studio providing news reports to supplement the anchor teams reporting from the WESH (Orlando) and WAPT (Jackson) studios. We also have three crews throughout New Orleans reporting the ongoing story. And an engineering team is readying the station eventually to broadcast once again from WDSU's own tower and transmitter."
Posted 9/8/05:
Hearst-Argyle TV stations, through telethons and other efforts, have helped raise more than $8 million to date for Katrina relief.
WDSU.com and the Internet Broadcasting, network of local websites, of which WDSU.com and other Hearst-Argyle sites are members, have had record-breaking audience and traffic levels as they've brought the news to Web viewers worldwide. Click here to see WDSU.com and Internet Broadcasting statistics pre-, during and post-Katrina.
Posted 9/7/05:
WDSU programming will be carried for several days on Paxson KPXB-TV, Channel 49 in Houston , to reach New Orleans residents there.
Posted 9/6/05:
The broadcast networks will air "Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast," Friday, September 9 at 8/7c , which will be carried on Hearst-Argyle stations.
Posted 9/2/05:
Hearst-Argyle TV stations, through telethons and other efforts, have helped raise more than $2.5 million to date for Katrina relief.
The website of the Houston Chronicle, a Hearst newspaper, includes a new page of observations from the field by the reporters of WDSU-TV, New Orleans.
Today, the WDSU signal is also being carried on-air by the New Orleans Paxson station, WPXL-TV, channel 49.
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) today announced that local radio and television stations across America will raise a minimum of $100 million for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
NBC's 'Concert for Hurricane Relief' -- Friday, Sept. 2 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, MSNBC-TV, CNBC and MSNBC.com
Posted 9/1/05:
Hearst-Argyle Television station WDSU-TV, the NBC affiliate in New Orleans, is currently telecasting over its website, WDSU.com, as well as via DirecTV and Echostar (DISH Network), using facilities and resources provided by sister Hearst-Argyle stations WESH-TV, Orlando, FL, and WAPT-TV, Jackson, MS, and those of other Hearst-Argyle stations along with the Hearst-Argyle Television Washington, DC news bureau. The stations have provided and are providing continuous news coverage of Hurricane Katrina's impact.
Journalists from these other Hearst-Argyle units also have deployed to Louisiana and Mississippi to cover various aspects of the Katrina story. These stories are being shared via satellite throughout the 28-station Hearst-Argyle TV group, as well as their respective websites and other websites within the Internet Broadcasting (www.ibsys.com) national Web "network."
On August 31, the WDSU.com website served more than 3.3 million pageviews (PVs) and more than 250,000 live video streams, for totals of 12.4 million PVs and 1.3 million streams this week. So far this week, the Internet Broadcasting "network" of websites throughout the country has recorded 115.8 million PVs and 3.4 million livestreams.
The WDSU building was evacuated earlier this week. Some of the stations' employees deployed to safe nearby facilities, while others to WAPT-TV. Hearst-Argyle is reaching out to those employees the company has yet to hear from, as indicated in the companion postings to this website.
We will keep posting updates to this information as possible, and as it becomes available.