[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Page 24292]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO WGNO-TV, NEW ORLEANS

 Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, today I wish to speak about a 
television station in my hometown of New Orleans. As all our local news 
media have, WGNO-TV/ABC 26 has been there through thick and through 
thin, telling Louisiana's story of recovery following Hurricane 
Katrina. But often missed as you watch the local news broadcasts and 
read the local papers is that the story of rebuilding and recovery 
these journalists are telling is as much their own story as it is the 
community's.
  After many years broadcasting from New Orleans' World Trade Center, 
WGNO moved into a new studio facility at the New Orleans Centre, near 
the Louisiana Superdome, just a few weeks before Katrina hit. Forced 
out of the space by the approaching storm, they broadcast their 
coverage from ABC station WBRZ-TV in Baton Rouge, as well as various 
locations on the road, reporting from the heart of the devastation.
  When they moved back to New Orleans to begin telling the story of 
rebuilding, they told it from a facility all too familiar to their 
viewers--a set of trailers parked behind the Superdome. A makeshift 
studio and control room were assembled in part with equipment procured 
on the Internet. Months later, after a decision was made to not reopen 
the New Orleans Centre, effectively evicting the station, WGNO moved 
back into the World Trade Center facility they had vacated in July 
2005.
  Tonight, WGNO formally celebrates the opening of a brand-new 
broadcast center in Metairie, Louisiana. Their first broadcast from 
their new home was on August 29--the 2-year anniversary of Katrina--and 
I was proud to be their first in-studio guest.
  It took 2 years for the hard-working staff of WGNO to move into a 
permanent new home. For many of my constituents, it will be much 
longer. But one guiding light will be, as it has been since the storm 
first struck, the dedicated reporting of our local news organizations--
not just WGNO, but also their colleagues at WWL-TV, WVUE-TV and WDSU-
TV, our local radio stations, the Times Picayune and our vibrant weekly 
community papers, and all the others who have stayed with us every 
minute of these difficult 2 years. Even as many of their own reporters, 
engineers and other personnel have faced their own tremendous 
challenges, having in many cases lost homes and loved ones, they have 
continued to be a voice for our great city and State.
  I congratulate WGNO as they celebrate their new home, and thank them 
and all of our local news media for their continued service.

                          ____________________