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WRMI Hurricane IAN damage and GoFundMe site

According to the RW article you linked to, they have 14 transmitters and 23 antennas. If that's the case and they're in FL which is hurricane-prone, did they not have insurance? Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see many mention of insurance in that article.

EDIT: On the GoFundMe page, they mention they had no insurance.
 
Mikey Radio said:
According to the RW article you linked to, they have 14 transmitters and 23 antennas. If that's the case and they're in FL which is hurricane-prone, did they not have insurance? Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see many mention of insurance in that article.

EDIT: On the GoFundMe page, they mention they had no insurance.
Click to expand...
What were they even thinking? Yes money may be tight but what if there was a liability issue?
 
gr8oldies said:
What were they even thinking? Yes money may be tight but what if there was a liability issue?
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Before it was purchased by the fairly small Radio Miami International 10 years ago or so, the site was owned and run by Family Radio (WYFR), which seemed to spend far too much on it, moving the old Radio New York Worldwide transmitters from Scituate, MA there and buying and actually building their own transmitters, and at least some of the antennas. Probably insurance for that was not obtainable or far too expensive for WRMI. That gamble worked until IAN struck, it would seem.
 
Gotta say Jeff White is so easy to deal with too.. i buy some time from him a few times a year.. and the process is so smooth, hassle free and trouble free. And I deal directly with Jeff, not someone else
 
WRMI has been reported as off the air again due to Hurricane Nicole.

it is surprising that the station has no insurance, when it is located in a hurricane prone area. Jeff White claims they can’t afford it, but having insurance is a necessary operating expense for any business owner, unless you are willing to cover such events out of your own pocket. Would seen to indicate they need to charge more for air time. And if potential clients “can’t afford“ those higher rates, then you have an unsustainable business model.

I will admit that I am annoyed that a for-profit business would go begging on GoFundMe because they choose not to carry insurance. As far as I can tell WRMI is not a charity, and should be covering their own expenses through business income.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
WRMI has been reported as off the air again due to Hurricane Nicole.

it is surprising that the station has no insurance, when it is located in a hurricane prone area. Jeff White claims they can’t afford it, but having insurance is a necessary operating expense for any business owner, unless you are willing to cover such events out of your own pocket. Would seen to indicate they need to charge more for air time. And if potential clients “can’t afford“ those higher rates, then you have an unsustainable business model.

I will admit that I am annoyed that a for-profit business would go begging on GoFundMe because they choose not to carry insurance. As far as I can tell WRMI is not a charity, and should be covering their own expenses through business income.
Click to expand...

They turned the stuff off before the hurricane hit full force, if i recall correctly.

And sure while WRMI is not a charity, i do know they are very flexible and work with small clients who sometimes dont have the big budgets
 
Mediafrog+ said:
WRMI has been reported as off the air again due to Hurricane Nicole.

it is surprising that the station has no insurance, when it is located in a hurricane prone area. Jeff White claims they can’t afford it, but having insurance is a necessary operating expense for any business owner, unless you are willing to cover such events out of your own pocket. Would seen to indicate they need to charge more for air time. And if potential clients “can’t afford“ those higher rates, then you have an unsustainable business model.

I will admit that I am annoyed that a for-profit business would go begging on GoFundMe because they choose not to carry insurance. As far as I can tell WRMI is not a charity, and should be covering their own expenses through business income.
Click to expand...
The other insurance-related question that should be raised is, what happens if someone gets injured while on their property or is involved with a mishap with their equipment? Accidents happen. It's why insurance is more or less a necessity and should indeed be mandatory.
 
This is not a "relatively" simple 1 - 5 tower array. Per their web site - there are 23 antennas. It would likely be prohibitively expensive to insure these days.

--355 A and B medium range log periodics ( Eastern North America )
--44C 2 X 4 long range curtain antenna ( Europe )
--44 A & B long range nested double rhomboids ( Europe )
--87 long range nested double rhomboids ( Africa, centered on Lagos in West Africa )
--140 A long range log periodic ( Brazil and northern South America )
--142 A medium range nested double rhomboids ( Brazil and northern South America )
--151 A medium range log periodic (southern Caribbean and northern South America )
--160 A medium range nested double rhomboids (northwest South America and western South America )
--160 B long range log periodic (northwest South America and western South America )
--181 short range log periodic (main service to Cuba with some auxiliary service to Central America
and northwest South America )
--222 A & B medium range log periodics (Central America and southern Mexico )
--285 A & B medium range log periodics (northern Mexico and western USA )
--315 A & B medium range log periodics ( Western North America )
Note: The numeric designation of an antenna gives its orientation in degrees from true North.

https://www.radioworld.com/wp-conte...iew_of_transmitter_building_area_-_Copy_3.jpg
 
channel99 said:
...and buying and actually building their own transmitters, and at least some of the antennas. Probably insurance for that was not obtainable or far too expensive for WRMI.
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channel99 said:
This is not a "relatively" simple 1 - 5 tower array. Per their web site - there are 23 antennas. It would likely be prohibitively expensive to insure these days.
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I don't mean to put words in your mouth here, but just because a facility is large or complicated or partially made of "home brew" transmitters and equipment, that shouldn't excuse them from having insurance in case someone is seriously injured or killed while on their property or involved with their equipment. Now, if their stuff gets damaged in a storm or natural disaster and they're unable to afford to rebuild, that's a bit less serious and that's on them.
 
When the station I managed took a direct lightning strike, it took a bit over 5 months before our insurance company paid anything. We had, at our expenses, paid out of our pocket to get back on because there was too much to lose waiting for insurance to pay. A big issue was the appraisers we say had no clue about what they were looking at or how it fir together in the 'air chain'. But my boss was patient I think because he had bought the policy from his grandson.
 
b-turner said:
When the station I managed took a direct lightning strike, it took a bit over 5 months before our insurance company paid anything. We had, at our expenses, paid out of our pocket to get back on because there was too much to lose waiting for insurance to pay. A big issue was the appraisers we say had no clue about what they were looking at or how it fir together in the 'air chain'. But my boss was patient I think because he had bought the policy from his grandson.
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I worked at a TV station that was hit by a severe ice storm. Power lines were down across the region for a week or more, the transmitter couldn't be fired up with the power outage and ice. Someone got the idea to feed programming via a remote truck to the cable head-end for customers in town that still had power and cable. Commercials were run, and because of that the insurance company would not pay for lost revenue.
 
Theater of My Mind said:
Yeah, it's shortwave radio, pretty much the definition of an unsustainable business model.
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Jeff White seems to have had his hands in commercial shortwave for decades, and finds the money to do it. I can even remember his project with Radio Clarin on 4850 in the Dominican Republic, which also included Rudy Espinal, one time spokesman for Republica Dominicana Tourism on the same station.
 
Mikey Radio said:
I don't mean to put words in your mouth here, but just because a facility is large or complicated or partially made of "home brew" transmitters and equipment, that shouldn't excuse them from having insurance in case someone is seriously injured or killed while on their property or involved with their equipment. Now, if their stuff gets damaged in a storm or natural disaster and they're unable to afford to rebuild, that's a bit less serious and that's on them.
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They admitted to not having commercial property insurance on the antenna farm - but that does not necessarily mean they do not have the normally separate comprehensive general liability insurance, which would cover injuries.
 
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