On a typical night, the anchors for WGNO, the Tribune-owned ABC affiliate in New Orleans, might be delivering the news from the devastated Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood or the French Quarter.

That doesn't seem extraordinary. Stations always report stories live from the scene. What's different is that WGNO is broadcasting its entire newscast outdoors. It has to. Hurricane Katrina damaged its studio beyond repair. Like many New Orleans residents, WGNO and its WB sister station, WNOL, are homeless, and will be for a while.

Twenty staffers lost their homes, and another 60 are still in temporary housing. While execs search for a permanent new home, master control and production operate out of two doublewide trailers, and business operations, including sales and promotions, are in makeshift offices in suburban Covington, La. For the first six weeks after the storm, WGNO broadcast out of WBRZ Baton Rouge, the ABC affiliate.

But every night, WGNO still broadcasts its usual 5, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts. "When you watch us on-air, you wouldn't know the difference," says station General Manager Larry Delia.

WGNO's plight is representative of broadcasters' struggles across the Gulf Coast. All the New Orleans stations except for Belo's CBS affiliate WWL were temporarily knocked off the air, and stations spent time broadcasting from other faraway facilities.

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