Power outages and their effect on Houston radio

[davideduardo]

As far as cellphone use, T-Mobile has been susceptible to the power outages all over Texas. Even on sites that have generators, they seem to be going off-line along with the (un)rolling outages. I'm guessing it is a power issue with their backhaul provider (they use Zayo). T-Mobile has generators on most sites (along with several permits with the City of Houston to install/replace generators over the past three years). I doubt so many of them would be broken this fast.

My understanding is that most urban locations have a UPS... essentially batteries... for short term outages of less than 24 hours. Due to safety, zoning, space requirements, noise, those cellular transmitters on office buildings and the like don't have actual generators and the ones that do can't last for an extended period.

 

[davideduardo]

You know, all the big 100,000 watt stations that are just playing music and not giving local updates should be shut off, so others who need power can actually have it.

Many stations do not have a news department and what little news they provide (such as in AM drive) comes from an outside source. Further, many stations that have an actual news service may not have connectivity with that source.

I don't think that turning off a few radio stations will affect the entire power grid, particularly since many are running off their own generators and are not at the moment connected to the grid.

 

[BamaTX]

You know, all the big 100,000 watt stations that are just playing music and not giving local updates should be shut off, so others who need power can actually have it.

I was extremely disappointed by this. The commercial FM stations were just playing music in the afternoons when people needed information the most.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Many stations do not have a news department and what little news they provide (such as in AM drive) comes from an outside source. Further, many stations that have an actual news service may not have connectivity with that source.

News updates are the easiest thing in the world to do, especially in a time like this. The city of Houston, CenterPoint Energy, ERCOT, and others were continuously putting out statements with information on shelters/warming centers, the water supply, weather forecasts, progress on power restoration, and so on.

You need a news department if you're doing original reporting, but any jock can repeat what the Mayor said at his most recent press conference, or the most recent update from the power company.

Not having a news department is not an excuse for not providing updates to the populace, particularly in a time of crisis. Having jocks voice tracked from out of market is not an excuse, either.

Obviously a jock sitting alone in a studio can't do wall-to-wall, but a couple of minutes an hour of updates is the least the people of Houston should have received.

 

[davideduardo]

News updates are the easiest thing in the world to do, especially in a time like this. The city of Houston, CenterPoint Energy, ERCOT, and others were continuously putting out statements with information on shelters/warming centers, the water supply, weather forecasts, progress on power restoration, and so on.

I learned long ago during a severe hurricane in Puerto Rico that people know what stations to go to for news and they don't want, need or trust news from non-traditional news providers.

We had around a 30 share in the books prior to the hurricane. We decided to do non-stop storm coverage, and did a very good job of it, even hiring free-lance journalists to cover strategic spots for us. The book came out, and we lost over a third of the audience; during the days of the hurricane and the aftermath, nearly nobody turned to us.

We should have just played the music and advised people of which station was carrying the best hurricane data.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

David, obviously you of all people understand the ratings during the hurricane were bogus. I'm not sure why you brought it up. Filling out that diary properly wasn't high on the priority list that week.

Second, even if the ratings were right, you did the right thing. Sometimes business executives need to do the right thing, even when it is inconvenient for the business.

Finally, I'd be fine with a cluster designating one of its stations for news updates, as long as they all frequently point that out. Or even designate a competitor!

 

[davideduardo]

David, obviously you of all people understand the ratings during the hurricane were bogus. I'm not sure why you brought it up. Filling out that diary properly wasn't high on the priority list that week.

It was not a diary. It was The Pulse, using a door to door 24 hour recall. Obviously, they skipped several days and made them up at the end of the survey period, but the result was seeing that doing what we were not "famous for" did not work. One of the worst decisions I ever made.

Second, even if the ratings were right, you did the right thing. Sometimes business executives need to do the right thing, even when it is inconvenient for the business.

No, we deprived lots of people, taking refuge in a concrete home or a concrete public building, of some entertainment that they liked. They knew where to check up on the hurricane, but they did not want 24-hour non-stop coverage.

Finally, I'd be fine with a cluster designating one of its stations for news updates, as long as they all frequently point that out. Or even designate a competitor!

Yes, that is a good solution. But trying to be a "wolf in sheep's clothing" does not work.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

Many stations do not have a news department and what little news they provide (such as in AM drive) comes from an outside source. Further, many stations that have an actual news service may not have connectivity with that source.

Where was the EAS in all of this? The FCC can't stop fining radio stations that don't have it set up and ready to go. Isn't a disaster like this the whole point of that service?

 

[davideduardo]

Where was the EAS in all of this? The FCC can't stop fining radio stations that don't have it set up and ready to go. Isn't a disaster like this the whole point of that service?

The EAS is an alert system, not a news service. It is controlled by vairous government offices to give important warnings such as a dangerous chemical spill, an encroaching forest fire, an explosion, an enemy attack. It is not intended to provide ongoing reporting as there are no newspersons or reporters in the offices that are enabled to originate such reports.

For example, in the worst hurricane in 80 years in this Hemisphere, the Puerto Rican Hurricane Maria episode, there was no use of the EAS as there was plenty of advance warning in all the news media. There was nothing more that could be done.

 

[Brian Bowers]

This is definitely a time when radio could have shined, but didn't. In times like this, residents simply need vital information...if for nothing else but to simply stay alive. How do radio programmers not understand that? How embarrassing for you.

Texas failed to give vital information during power outages, winter storm

When the lights went out this week and Texans lost access to power and clean drinking water, the Texas Division of Emergency Management failed to provide accessible and life-saving updates on outages and inclement weather.

www.texastribune.org

 

[davideduardo]

This is definitely a time when radio could have shined, but didn't. In times like this, residents simply need vital information...if for nothing else but to simply stay alive. How do radio programmers not understand that? How embarrassing for you.

That article shows that the state of Texas did not provide necessary or useful information... not radio. The radio stations that normally provide news and talk services seemed to be, for the most part, covering what they could.

Most stations had their staffs working from home since early in the pandemic. Most of those home-based broadcasters don't have emergency generators. And the stations had not remodeled or partitioned to be safe during the pandemic, so trying to get to the studio location under horrible road conditions only to find that work could not be done was not an option.

And the stations that had changed their STL and communications to services based on digital landlines instead of microwave links found that many of the services were dead. Even reporters for the news stations found their Internet, texting and phone services to be out or intermittent or slow.

And in the middle of the pandemic, we had stations with significantly lower revenues which were unable to sustain full staff size.

This is truly a "perfect storm" for radio: staff at home, loss of power, loss of communication, shattered revenue to pay for things, and sometimes impassible roads.

It's unfair to blame radio stations as 90% of the issues were outside their ability to control; you have constructed a circular firing squad.

 

[Brian Bowers]

If nothing else, turn off the damn music, and just open up the phone lines, and talk to residents living through this catastrophe. If radio is not even capable of doing that, or wanting to do that, then it's worthless. Maybe it doesn't even matter anymore, since everyday radio becomes more and more useless.

 

[wildthangjim]

I recall that during Hurricane Ike in 2008, KTRH and possibly others did wall to wall coverage. A lot of it was just as Brian Bowers suggests, people calling in to give real time information on power availability, road closures, locations of open businesses, etc. I recognize that with the pandemic, lots of stations have cut back their onsite staff (and their staff was probably at home w/o power). However, while we were sitting in our house with no lights, cell service, or internet, it would have been good to have somewhere to turn to for information. In the old days, that would have been radio.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

That article shows that the state of Texas did not provide necessary or useful information... not radio.

This is true, and the article also points out how EAS should have been used (as I commented above), but wasn't.

We can play the blame game all day, and there's plenty to go around. But the fact is those who still defend radio's relevance today nearly always point to its role in a hypothetical emergency situation that turns out to be exactly like this -- no power, no internet, cell phone service down, a battery-powered radio being the last resort to get information out to people.

Regardless of whose fault it is, radio failed. There was a time in the not-too-distant past, before all the deregulation, consolidation and cost cutting, where it would not have failed.

So we can stop defaulting to radio's role in an emergency situation as a valid reason to keep telling people it's relevant. All you need to do is bookmark this post and link back to it every time someone brings it up. EAS failed, and radio failed in this situation. What makes anyone think it will be any better next time?

The radio stations that normally provide news and talk services seemed to be, for the most part, covering what they could.

Most stations had their staffs working from home since early in the pandemic. Most of those home-based broadcasters don't have emergency generators. And the stations had not remodeled or partitioned to be safe during the pandemic, so trying to get to the studio location under horrible road conditions only to find that work could not be done was not an option.

And the stations that had changed their STL and communications to services based on digital landlines instead of microwave links found that many of the services were dead. Even reporters for the news stations found their Internet, texting and phone services to be out or intermittent or slow.

And in the middle of the pandemic, we had stations with significantly lower revenues which were unable to sustain full staff size.

This is truly a "perfect storm" for radio: staff at home, loss of power, loss of communication, shattered revenue to pay for things, and sometimes impassible roads.

It's unfair to blame radio stations as 90% of the issues were outside their ability to control; you have constructed a circular firing squad.

That is a huge string of excuses and by the way, the dog ate my homework but it wasn't my fault so don't give me a 'F'.

 

[BamaTX]

Regardless of whose fault it is, radio failed. There was a time in the not-too-distant past, before all the deregulation, consolidation and cost cutting, where it would not have failed.

It think the turning point was in 2008. After the recession, radio didn't return to 'business as usual'. Lots of positions were permanently eliminated and several cost-cutting measures diminished emergency preparedness. The AM News/Talk flagships around Texas (KTRH, KTSA, WOAI, KLVI, and KLBJ) were all back to syndicated programming by Wednesday to get in on the passing of Rush Limbaugh.

I'm not here to chastise corporate radio. They did what they had to do in order to survive in the long run. They traded-in reliability and local content for a few more decades of making money. Let's enjoy terrestrial radio while we still can. At some point down the road when radio is no longer profitable, the government will likely explore new ways of getting better use of those 20 Mhz on the FM band.

 

[b-turner]

I get the need to communicate to the public. So, tell me what to do: Power went off at my station at 7:30 am Monday and was not back until Thursday morning.

Other broadcasters I know that were able to stay on were not getting information from the state, county or local officials.

What we did do is post everything we could find on Facebook when phones could get a signal long enough to upload.

 

[Brian Bowers]

In your situation b, there probably wasn't much more you could do. As Theater of My Mind stated, there's plenty of blame to go around. For station owners and engineers, how well is your station (or stations) backed up in an emergency - do I have a generator or generators. Are they tested regularly. Can I get needed generator fuel in an emergency. It's times like this when your STL's will also become possible life savers for someone, to hopefully keep your station(s) on the air. How about an air personality emergency plan. Does anyone live close by. Who can get into the studio the quickest. Forget about revenue (for once). Throw out all regular programming and just communicate with anyone listening. It's times like this when radio station emergency plans need to be ready and implemented. I would hope your station already has these in place, in case of severe weather.

 

[davideduardo]

In your situation b, there probably wasn't much more you could do. As Theater of My Mind stated, there's plenty of blame to go around. For station owners and engineers, how well is your station (or stations) backed up in an emergency - do I have a generator or generators. Are they tested regularly. Can I get needed generator fuel in an emergency. It's times like this when your STL's will also become possible life savers for someone, to hopefully keep your station(s) on the air. How about an air personality emergency plan. Does anyone live close by. Who can get into the studio the quickest. Forget about revenue (for once). Throw out all regular programming and just communicate with anyone listening. It's times like this when radio station emergency plans need to be ready and implemented. I would hope your station already has these in place, in case of severe weather.

Lets start with generators and fuel: I spent decades in areas where there was no power grid, and we might have weekly power outages. So we had generators, tested them weekly. But, just like a car being driven for 3 or 4 days straight, they break. And in the aftermath of a hurricane, storm or other disaster, fuel providers have issues with delivery on impassible roads with hundreds or thousands of gallons of flammable liquid; they don't deliver then. And forget about generator service... in a bad situation, employees stay with their families and don't risk going out in dangerous situations.

And in many places, the amount of fuel you can store is limited by law. At some point, you run out.

In many markets, there are not enough RF based STL channels to serve all stations. So they use lines... fiber, copper, digital or analog. And if the central points on the distribution system fail, the STL is dead.

In cases like floods, quakes, hurricanes it may be nearly impossible for staff to get to the station, and any ability to originate from "home" goes away when the power and landlines fail. And in a dangerous emergency, most people will have to consider whether the station or their family need help more than the station... particularly if the station is a music-formatted one and has no capability of serving the immediate issue.

And then there is practical economics: radio revenue in real dollars is off by almost 70% between 2000 and 2019; it was off another 30% or so from 2019 in 2020 due to the pandemic. Most stations, like most restaurants and many retailers are losing money.

 

[davideduardo]

This is true, and the article also points out how EAS should have been used (as I commented above), but wasn't.

Most non-radio news media reporters don't know how EAS works. It is not equipped or organized to do ongoing reporting and it's system is not usually of the quality to deliver listenable content over a long period. The "A" in EAS stands for "Alert" and that means telegram-style quick messages. They can easily, though, tell listeners which stations to tune to that have ongoing coverage... but stations themselves can't do EAS bulletins.

We can play the blame game all day, and there's plenty to go around. But the fact is those who still defend radio's relevance today nearly always point to its role in a hypothetical emergency situation that turns out to be exactly like this -- no power, no internet, cell phone service down, a battery-powered radio being the last resort to get information out to people.

And in many cases, the most hardened radio station can fail at many points because it depends on third party channels, supplies or services. Or its own equipment is severely damaged and can no longer perform.

Example: one station I managed had three transmitters, the ability to go non-directional in an emergency, and a week's worth of fuel. But in a hurricane, the winds were so bizarre that the force outward air vents from the transmitter cooling were countered by 170 MPH wind gusts, and water was pushed into the transmitter. With winds that strong, nobody could go to the transmitter, and it was two days before the mountainous road was cleared. In the meantime, the water had shorted the electrical system. Between getting pre-FedEx parts flown in and fixing the transmitter, generator and electrical, we lost 3 days on the air.

Nothing we could have done would have prevented that. Oh, and nobody could come and go from the studios. The FM, located there on a little mountaintop, stayed on as those of us there at the time did shifts and slept in my office on the sofa, worrying about our families.

Regardless of whose fault it is, radio failed. There was a time in the not-too-distant past, before all the deregulation, consolidation and cost cutting, where it would not have failed.

My example was in 1980. Despite having the best technical facility in all Puerto Rico, we failed. Nothing we could have done would have helped.

So we can stop defaulting to radio's role in an emergency situation as a valid reason to keep telling people it's relevant. All you need to do is bookmark this post and link back to it every time someone brings it up. EAS failed, and radio failed in this situation. What makes anyone think it will be any better next time?

EAS did not fail,; it was not intended to replace station news. It is intended to provide official alerts, nothing more.

And radio did not fail; our "new" communications systems based on advanced technology failed and radio could not overcome them alone.

That is a huge string of excuses and by the way, the dog ate my homework but it wasn't my fault so don't give me a 'F'.

No, you are totally wrong. Start with realizing we are in a pandemic and what staff can and will do in such a situation is limited. And consider that the failures you mention are really not preventable: unavailability of generator fuel and maintenance, storm damage to the station buildings and facilities, loss of communications services that provide links to transmitter sites, impassibility of roads for staff mobilization, staff prioritization of family and self over a job, and much more.

Example: in the Puerto Rico hurricane, of over 130 AM and FM stations (and many more translators), just two, one AM and one FM, were able to stay on the air, and even then it was intermittent as temporary "fixes" were implemented when a roof blew off or the AM site flooded. Some of the stations, 3 years later, are still not back to their licensed facilities.

 

[davideduardo]

If nothing else, turn off the damn music, and just open up the phone lines, and talk to residents living through this catastrophe. If radio is not even capable of doing that, or wanting to do that, then it's worthless. Maybe it doesn't even matter anymore, since everyday radio becomes more and more useless.

Great, let unsubstantiated reports and opinions on in the middle of an emergency. That can only worsen the situation unless you have very skilled talk talent on the air. Most music stations don't.

The important thing for radio, as an industry, is to makes sure at least one station is on the air that can give important news and information. Not every station, now or in the past, could both stay on the air or provide local, verifiable news.

Note that TV is totally useless in emergencies as digital TV is not battery-friendly to portable battery operated TV receivers. TV was, at one time, a prime emergency provider, too. But now, if the power is gone, TV is gone. And so are most web-based services and streams.

It used to be that the government "fortified" stations in each market area with emergency studios and transmission gear. They were mostly intended to serve in the event of an enemy attack, but also worked for a natural disaster. But the don't do that much anymore.

And 30% and growing of US homes do not have a radio. Even more do not have a battery operated radio.

In emergencies, we are much worse off than we were 30, 40, 50 years ago.