HOUSTON — As KHOU 11 celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, we’re hearing from someone who delivered the news to Houston way back when -- former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather.
I visited with him at his home in Austin.
“I would also say that it was one of the best times of my professional life," Rather said, describing his early days in TV at KHOU 11.
He was here in 1960 and '61, when he ran the newsroom…which was basically just him, and when he was lucky, the occasional photographer. It was a time when KHOU 11 didn't even have the equipment to develop the film they shot.
"In news, we would shoot film, let’s say of a police incident, bring the film to a processor downtown and then bring it back to the station to edit it," he said.
It was a radically different time, when anchoring a newscast truly meant multitasking.
Rather had buttons going down his right shirt sleeve and his left sleeve when he was on set.
"Therefore, I’d look the camera in the eye and say, ‘Today we had an interview with the mayor and he had this to say,’ and I’d press my left hand and roll the news tape, and then say ‘That's what the mayor had to say,’ and then say, ‘We'll have more news after these messages’ and then press the button with my right hand.”
Sid Lasher was his weatherman.
And in Houston's news ratings war, back then KHOU 11 was not exactly dominant.
"In a three-station market, we were a very bad 5,” Rather said.
But that would soon change.
When Hurricane Carla threatened the Gulf Coast in September of '61, Rather's idea was to broadcast from Galveston, where the National Weather Service had the only radar in the area.
He laid a transparent map over that radar and the hurricane, giving viewers a better idea of they were dealing with.
"Which changed the way weather is done in every station in the country," Rather said.
It resulted in more than 300,000 people evacuating the coast.
"After that, our viewership expanded tremendously," he said.
The next year, the network came calling and although he wanted to stay at KHOU 11, he gives us a line from the film The Godfather.
"CBS News offered me, the proverbial, made me an offer I couldn't refuse," Rather said.
But the man who grew up the Heights here in Houston and went on to report on the major stories of our lives, never forgets his hometown, or KHOU 11, or the building that stood for years on Allen Parkway -- the studios that were lost to Hurricane Harvey flooding.
"I never thought I would outlive the new KHOU 11 building on Allen Parkway," he said.
He was actually there on the day that building was dedicated, but KHOU 11 is still around, just not on Allen Parkway. And Dan Rather is still around, just not in Houston.
Still, he’s fond of his old hometown.
"Houston has always had a can-do attitude about it, it should be known as the can-do city,” Rather said.
No one can deny Dan Rather also has a can-do spirit, and a legacy that’s a big part of the 70 year history of KHOU 11, as well.