KHOU

KHOU (channel 11) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States. It shows programs from CBS. The station is owned by Tegna, which is part of Nexstar Media Group. Tegna also owns another station called KTBU (channel 55) and a CW station named KIAH (channel 39).

KHOU and KTBU share their studios on Westheimer Road near Uptown Houston. The station's transmitter is located near Missouri City, in unincorporated northeastern Fort Bend County. Houston is the biggest television market where the CBS station is not owned directly by the network.

History

The television station KHOU first started broadcasting on March 22, 1953, as KGUL-TV. It was founded by Paul Taft and was originally based in Galveston. It was the second TV station in the Houston area and brought the CBS network to the region. Actor James Stewart was one of the original investors.

In 1956, new owners changed the station’s name to KHOU-TV. By 1959, it moved its license to Houston. In 1984, Belo Corporation bought the station and made big improvements, adding popular shows and improving news coverage. By the 1990s, KHOU had become one of CBS’s strongest stations.

In 2013, Gannett Company bought Belo, and later that year, Gannett split into two companies, with KHOU joining the broadcast and digital side called Tegna. In 2026, Nexstar Media Group acquired Tegna, but legal issues stopped them from fully combining the stations.

Belo ownership

Belo Corporation bought KHOU in 1984 and made many improvements. They added popular shows like Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, as well as The Oprah Winfrey Show. They also updated the news department and used themes from their Dallas station, WFAA. These changes helped KHOU become one of CBS’s strongest stations by the 1990s. In 1998, KHOU was the first in Houston to start broadcasting in high definition.

Hurricane Harvey

KHOU’s studios near Buffalo Bayou were sometimes at risk of flooding. During Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, flooding damaged the station’s offices and newsroom, forcing them to stop regular programming. During Hurricane Ike in 2008, KHOU’s storm coverage was shared nationwide.

In 2017, Hurricane Harvey brought a lot of rain to Houston. On August 27, floodwaters forced KHOU to leave its studios. The station’s new news set, weather center, and equipment were destroyed. KHOU’s broadcast signal went off the air, and the station moved to temporary locations, using help from other stations to continue coverage. KHOU returned to broadcasting later that night from the University of Houston’s facilities. The station resumed normal programming by August 31.

Move to Westheimer studios

In November 2017, KHOU announced it would not return to its old studios, which were later demolished. In March 2018, KHOU signed a lease for new studios on Westheimer Road near Uptown Houston. The station moved into these new studios on February 17, 2019. In January 2020, KHOU gained a sister station, KTBU, which moved into the same facilities.

Programming

KHOU is a CBS station. It shows the CBS schedule and local shows like Great Day Houston, a talk show with Deborah Duncan. It also covers the annual Thanksgiving Day parade and the H-E-B Holiday Parade.

Jeopardy! was on KHOU from 1986 to 2015. Wheel of Fortune has been on the station since 1986. Both shows air on different stations in Houston, which is unusual.

In 1987, KHOU decided not to show a TV show based on the Garbage Pail Kids cards because of worries about violence.

Sports programming

When the Houston Texans joined the NFL in 2002, KHOU became the local home for most of their games, especially away games. The station also showed Thursday Night Football and sometimes Monday Night Football.

KHOU has shown important basketball games with the Houston Rockets and the University of Houston men's basketball team, along with other local sports.

News operation

KHOU broadcasts over 36 hours of news each week. It has morning, afternoon, and evening news on weekdays and news on weekends.

The station helped start the careers of many famous news anchors and reporters. It also does investigative reporting on important community issues.

History

KHOU has always included news, even when it was in Galveston in the 1950s. In 1961, anchor Dan Rather showed one of the first radar images of a hurricane on TV, helping save lives during Hurricane Carla.

The station had tough times in the 1970s and 1980s but improved in the late 1980s with new talent. By 1999, KHOU’s news became the most-watched in several time slots.

In 2007, KHOU began broadcasting news in high definition, the first station in Houston to do so. The station has kept growing its news programming.

Notable former on-air staff

• Steve Edwards – anchor/talk show host (1972–1975)
• Linda Ellerbee – reporter (1972–1973)
• Dr. Neil Frank – chief meteorologist (1987–2008)
• Ron Franklin – sports director (1971–1980)
• John Hambrick – anchor/reporter (1960s)
• Joanne Herring – host of The Joanne King Show (1950s–1974)
• Dennis Murphy – reporter/assignment editor (1975–1978)
• Jim Nantz – sports anchor/reporter (early 1980s)
• Chau Nguyen – anchor/reporter (2003–2007)
• Giff Nielsen – sports director (1984–2009)
• Dan Patrick – sports director (1979–1984)
• Dan Rather – anchor/reporter (early 1960s)
• Rick Sanchez – reporter (1986–1988)
• Jessica Savitch – anchor/reporter (1971–1972)
• Janet Shamlian – anchor/reporter (1987–1995)
• Ron Stone – anchor (1961–1972)

Criticism

In 2022, KHOU stopped a Thanksgiving Day football game for a tornado warning with only 23 seconds left. Viewers missed the end of the game because the station showed only the weather alert. The station did not say sorry for this decision.

Technical information and subchannels

KHOU’s transmitter is located near Missouri City, in unincorporated northeastern Fort Bend County. The station’s signal is shared with other channels.

In 2011, KHOU began showing Bounce TV on one of its digital channels. In 2015, it added programming from the Justice Network to another channel. In 2018, it added Quest to a third channel, which later changed to show its sister station KTBU. In 2021, this channel became affiliated with Twist. In 2020, a fifth channel called Circle launched. In 2022, Bounce TV moved to another station. By the end of 2023, Twist and Circle were no longer shown. In 2024, the fourth channel started showing programming from the Comet network.

Analog-to-digital conversion

KHOU stopped its regular analog broadcasts on the morning of June 12, 2009, as part of the switch from analog to digital television. Its digital signal moved from UHF channel 31 to VHF channel 11.