KHOU 11 News is celebrating its 65th anniversary on March 22, 2018.
KHOU 11 first signed on the air on March 22, 1953 as KGUL-TV in Galveston. KGUL was owned by some Galveston and Houston investors, including actor Jimmy Stewart.
Among those presiding over the May 1959 groundbreaking ceremonies for the new studio was Dan Rather. One month later, KGUL officially changed its call letters to KHOU-TV.
Archive photos: KHOU's 65th anniversary
On April 20, 1960, KHOU moved into its location on Allen Parkway. From then until 1962, Dan Rather, former CBS Evening News anchor, served as KHOU’s news director and anchor.
Ever since, KHOU has received numerous local, regional and national journalism awards, including the 2017 National Edward R. Murrow Award for Social Media Excellence, five duPont-Columbia Awards, four George Foster Peabody Awards, three Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) medals, three National Headliners Awards and has twice been recognized at the National News and Documentary Emmy Awards.
In August 2017, KHOU’s studio on Allen Parkway flooded during Hurricane Harvey. In November 2017, the station announced it would not return to the building.
Today, KHOU is temporarily operating out of PBS’s studio on the University of Houston campus. KHOU plans to make an announcement on its new, permanent location in the near future.
