ON TV/RADIO
In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, local talk hosts weren’t sticking to sports.
As usual, our topic today involves sports media.
But not sports.
Matt Thomas will be ready at some point to talk about the Astros’ playoff drive, the Texans’ quarterback choices and the James Harden-Chris Paul combination for the Rockets. “Just not now,” he said. Thomas averaged nine hours on the air from Friday through Thursday, working the emotionally fraught overnight shift, as iHeartMedia’s radio stations, including all-sports KBME (790 AM), moved to simulcast mode to track Hurricane/Tropical Storm Harvey’s ravages upon Texas.
CBS Radio and other local chains radio have taken a similar approach. CBS, unlike iHeart, has no news-talk presence, so the station has combined hosts from its music stations and allsports KILT (610 AM) for a simulcast program from 4 a.m. until midnight.
Thomas had similar duties in 2015, when he was on the air from 11 p.m. until 4 a.m. after a Rockets playoff game as the Memorial Day floods crushed portions of southwest Houston. That experience taught him what he thinks the audiences have needed to hear in his marathon stints during Harvey.
“They want to hear each other’s voices,” he said. “They want to know what areas are being affected, what is happening in other areas. As much as they want to hear from meteorologists and civic leaders, there is a part of them that wants to hear from fellow citizens on how they have been navigating these waters.”
But even if you’re on the other end of the line, sitting in a safe, dry studio, the words take a toll.
“It beats you up,” Thomas said. “Any time there’s one area where you think people can relax, another round of storms pops up. And then you hear the despair from the audience and from the county officials. It takes something out of you.”
As he prepared for his Wednesday shift, Thomas had not seen his family since last Friday. He can get manic on social media with the ebbs and flows of the Astros and Rockets, but games aren’t on his mind at the moment.
“I love sports,” he said. “But first I have to help us get through this as a community and then take a couple of steps back before I can focus again on the more enjoyable part of my life. I need to vege.”
Thomas also needs some time on the 10-day disabled list for physical reasons. He had procedures on both shoulders on the Monday before the storm hit, including arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder.
New duties, different roles
Among Matt Thomas’ guests early Saturday morning was KPRC (Channel 2) sports director Randy McIlvoy, and the subject had nothing to do with sports.
McIlvoy’s home in the Sienna Plantation subdivision in Fort Bend County was among several dozen houses damaged by a tornado that accompanied the early days of Harvey’s arrival.
Thomas saw a note that McIlvoy had posted on social media early Saturday morning, and the two talked about it on the air at 3 a.m. Saturday.
“It was the strangest conversation I’ve ever had with a colleague, and I hope I never have one like it again,” Thomas said.
As for McIlvoy, he and his Channel 2, like other television sportscasters, have joined in the storm coverage. McIlvoy also had to deal with the mandatory evacuation of his subdivision and drove his wife to his father’s house before resuming on-air duties Monday.
“It’s the same thing we did in 2008 (during Hurricane Ike), all hands on deck,” McIlvoy said.
A different day on the water
John Lopez steered a borrowed fishing boat Tuesday along the streets
and fields of Kingwood, Humble and Walden on Lake Conroe because he wanted to help people.
As generally happens in such cases, he returned home having received more than he gave.
Lopez, the KILT (610 AM) talk show host and former Chronicle columnist, was not among the CBS Radio personnel who worked storm duty this week. He was at home, watching Harvey wreak havoc on his home territory northeast of downtown, ruing the fact that his fishing boat was in drydock, when he decided to join in the flotilla of boats engaged in rescue and relief operations.
He put out a social media call for a borrowed boat, obtained one and then learned his first lesson: It ain’t easy lugging a boat off a trailer in the middle of a street without a boat ramp for assistance.
Lopez said he helped ferry 18 to 20 people to safety and led a woman’s two horses through the rapidly moving shallow water to safety.
It was exhilarating but sobering work.
“Northeast Houston looks like the Third World now in some areas. It was mind blowing,” Lopez said. “I would pull the boat out and think, ‘These poor people, their life is over and now it’s a matter of what are they going to be now.’
“I went into this thinking that I would help people because I have this expertise as a fisherman in all kinds of water, but I got more out of it,” he said. “Just watching people’s faces and feeling their appreciation. A hug goes a long way.”
Like his colleagues, Lopez will return to work soon. For now, however, “I haven’t even thought about sports,” he said. “The only thing I’ve thought about is what a horrible (bleep) Jon Daniels (the Rangers’ general manager) is.”
Lord, wife evacuate as waters rise
Houston sports radio talk show host Rich Lord for years has spent afternoon drive time ensconced in a studio, talking ballgames.
He spent part of this particular Monday afternoon on the road, succeeding in his third attempt to make it to a friend’s house in Katy after a mandatory evacuation order was issued for his subdivision in Sugar Land.
“Not the way I like to spend my afternoon drive time,” Lord said.
Lord said he and his wife, Jenny, received the mandatory evacuation order Monday morning from city officials who cited the danger of flooding in the area from swollen tributaries fed by the release of water from two reservoirs and from the threat of flooding on the Brazos River.
Having received an offer from a friend to stay with them in Katy, the Lords succeeded, after twice having had to turn around to seek other routes when they encountered street or road closures, in reaching their friend’s house Monday afternoon.
“We’ve been in First Colony for 21 years, and this is our first evacuation,” Lord said. “We’re a little nervous about what we might find when we return.”
This is far from the first time that real life has imposed itself on the sports talk world in which Lord normally engages. He said the CBS Radio station group for which he works is reacting as it has done in the past, replacing sports talk with a simulcast with other stations to focus on news and public service announcements.
“We morph into a town hall format where we give information to help people,” Lord said.
“We’re normally obsessed with sports topics, but we do gain perspective on how lucky we are to talk about such things while in the big picture they’re meaningless compared to life and death.”
Salisbury’s visit to Lakewood
Former NFL quarterback and KGOW (1560 AM)/KFNC (97.5 FM) sports talk host Sean Salisbury posted a starkly pointed video message Monday on Twitter that, coincidentally or not, was followed quickly Tuesday by Lakewood Church opening its doors to storm evacuees.
Salisbury said he was driving through his Inner Loop neighborhood Monday when he heard that Lakewood, the former Summit/ Compaq Center arena where Joel and Victoria Osteen pastor a church that draws tens of thousands of worshipers each Sunday, was not open to evacuees because it was inaccessible and because of safety issues.
So he drove his pickup truck to the church, parked in front and posted a short video on Twitter of the safe, secure route he took to the church’s front door.
“At least offer it. At least show us that you care,” Salisbury said on the video.
And on Tuesday, after Salisbury’s video received 3,300 retweets and joined widespread reports about the church on media websites and on social media, Lakewood Church began accepting evacuees.
“They couldn’t let them in yesterday and they can (Tuesday)? Coincidence or inconvenience? You tell me,” Salisbury said.
“I don’t want to hear that it was flooded (Monday) and now it’s not too flooded to let people in. You don’t buy it. I don’t buy it. Nobody buys it. We know why it is open, but, guess what. That is a good thing.”
He added, “I will stand up and applaud and stand on my head for Joel Osteen opening the building today.”
Salisbury frequently speaks openly about his Christian faith and said he was an admirer of Osteen’s. His point, he said, was that even when it is inconvenient to offer help, help should be offered.
“If this helped them wake up and say now we’re capable of allowing guests, then it worked,” he said. “When things hit, you don’t go by the rules.
“You don’t worry about dirtying the carpet or marking on the walls. This is about changing lives, and when you can do it, you do it.”