LAKE CHARLES, Louisiana (KPLC) – August 27, 2020 is a day that changed the lives of everyone in Southwest Louisiana, including our lives at KPLC.
Laura’s strong winds caused our tower to collapse right in the middle of the studio.
“Four years ago today, I came and saw the station with a tower that came through the roof of the studio and smashed the lighting grid into the set. It broke the concrete slab,” said John Ware, vice president and general manager of KPLC.
Until its demolition in 2022, the studio was completely unusable.
Even after the storm, 7 News remained on the air daily, broadcasting from various stations and other locations in Louisiana.
“Like anyone who has had to deal with their insurance company, like we have, and deal with how to rebuild, how to get materials, what are the costs of materials, and how to rebuild better? It’s been a very long process,” Ware said.
Weeks after the building was finally deemed safe for employees, they had to get creative and build a set from scratch.
“We had a temporary roof and built a temporary set. We still work from that temporary set today and we built it with whatever we had on hand,” Ware said.
Four years later, construction of our brand new building is nearing completion.
There has been a lot of noise in recent years as we rebuild, but you know the saying: ‘without noise there is no progress’, and there has been a lot of progress.
Cables hanging from the ceiling, paint fumes in the air, and the sound of drills were all too familiar throughout the process, but that will soon be over.
We plan to broadcast our first show on Sunday, September 15th from our new studio.
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