1972

[travist102]

John Summers brought up in the where are they now post about 1972 and the Agnes flood. I've never heard any stories about how the situation was covered by media in Harrisburg until now.I've heard all sorts of stories for Wilkes-Barre, Milton, Sunbury etc., but I'm interested to read what happened in the capital area, and how they recovered if they were flooded out.Thanx ahead of time.

 

[John-Summers]

I wish I could remember more about the media coverage. I think the media was as much caught by surprise as the general population. It just didn’t seem possible that such an event could really happen, so I don’t think there was a lot of preparation for it. The studios of WKBO, WFEC and WHP AM/FM/TV were all downtown at that time, and were all knocked off when the power went out. WHP may have moved radio studios to their transmitter in Summerdale, but I don’t remember. WCMB was on high ground across the river overlooking Wormleysburg (where the first two blocks were underwater), and I think stayed on the air. WFEC went back on with an emergency generator for a while but didn’t last long. Power was off for a day or two. WFEC was in the basement of the Blackstone Building, on Market just a half-block from the river. I can’t imagine they didn’t have some water in there.A friend of mine was a news photographer for Channel 27 (WTPA at that time) and shot miles of amazing film. Yes, film, which had to be processed and edited in-house. I wonder if they still have that in their archives. I hope so; it’s invaluable history. Paul Baker, 27’s Program Director, was on the air for long periods with Mike Ross, showing film of the flooded areas and updating information. My friend even got to come on and narrate his unedited film. Channel 27 was located off North 6th Street uptown and did not lose power. They did a great job with minimal resources, and as I think 21 was off, 27 was pretty much it. The power was still on in the city the day after the flood but went out the next day.27 was owned at that time by Newhouse, publisher of the Patriot-News, which took a terrible hit. A long stretch of Cameron Street was deeply flooded as were areas westward toward the river, including the lower part of Market Street where the Patriot was/is located. Their building was flooded to the second floor and one staffer died when she fell out of a rescue boat and drowned. The presses were ruined and the Patriot published by using the presses of the Allentown Morning Call, which graciously volunteered their services.To make a comparison, Harrisburg's previous bad flood was in, what, 1936? At that time, there were only two radio stations, WHP with 1,000 watts at 1430, and WKBO with 100 watts at 1200. No TV of course. And two daily papers, the morning Patriot and the afternoon Telegraph. People were a lot better informed in 1972!Getting back to radio: I think everyone did the best they could under the circumstances. I’d like to think there would be better preparation today, with the more sophisticated weather forecasting available. I’m sure WHP would do excellent coverage and the two TV stations would be on top of it long before it hit. The Patriot’s presses are on high ground in Hampden Township now, though the offices are still at 812 Market Street. Probably everyone has emergency power back-up. You have to remember that in the aftermath of Agnes, the water came up fast, within a few hours. The Cameron Street corridor was flooded by storm sewer backwash, Front and Second Streets by the Susquehanna, and parts of the West Shore by the river and various creeks. A lot of Steelton just disappeared. It happened very quickly, during the overnight hours.I wish I'd paid better attention in 1972, or had better recall. Anyone else?

 

[timmyb]

whp-tv had bruce cummings as anchor and he did do reports. there was also john sebastian and melissa herman as weather "person". i recall that they were off the air a lot, but seemed to broadcast from a back-up studio.wtpa also had normal newsanchor john micka along with ross and baker.and i remember ron drake admonishing listeners on whp to "stay the h--- out of harrisburg!!!" as gawkers were blocking help from the red cross and other volunteers.tb

 

[travist102]

2006

Deja Vu All Over Again...

In this age of consolidated and downsized news departments... who do you think will be the primary sources of info in the days to come?

WHP and WSBA should lead here, plus Wink 104 should have a great deal of info too...

Will we see any point where all the CC/Harrisburg or Cumulus outlets simulcast each other if the worst happens?

Any sticks in danger of going off for long periods if we surpass Agnes levels?