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Are any smaller, local stations covering the storm this weekend?

F

frnkp2000

Are any local stations going full-blown "stormcenter" during this event? Here in the Merrimack Valley, Dubbleyouuu CAP seems to be, but at reduced power. A quick scan of the AM dial isn't showing much promise up here. Forget the FM dial..can't break format for any reason!

Don't these folks realize that being "live and lively" during an event such as this promotes their mere existence in many cases? Not to even mention it's a gold mine for local sponsors such as hardware stores, convenience stores and the like.

Since when did "serving in the public interest" drop out of the broadcasters' lexicon?
 
kc1ih said:
Why would WCAP be at reduced power?
Click to expand...

I have no idea! I'm guessing they are, because they sound like it. Were it up to me, I'd be running my plant at "full crank" during something like this. Always seems to happen during bad weather. Isn't their Xmtr in Dracut? I'm in Wilmington.
 
It's WAY too early for any station to be in wall-to-wall coverage. There's NOTHING to talk about right now. This is radio 101: Entertain through the storm, go wall-to-wall information when people are in need of information, and are in disaster/recovery mode.
 
reelyreal said:
It's WAY too early for any station to be in wall-to-wall coverage. There's NOTHING to talk about right now. This is radio 101: Entertain through the storm, go wall-to-wall information when people are in need of information, and are in disaster/recovery mode.
Click to expand...

Seriously?? As of the time of your post, there is a travel ban in Massachusetts, ordered by the Governor, as well as a state of emergency in the Commonwealth. People are now stranded wherever they are. Drive, and you risk a $500.00 fine. Snow is falling at the rate of about an inch an hour right now. I would say the time is NOW.

I'm not sure where you took Radio 101, but I'd request a refund! :)
 
How come 4x4 vehicles are in the ban? I thought winter tires and 4x4 vehicles helped with this stuff. If you have someone with a heart attack, and you need to go to the hospital ASAP - do you have to wait for the ban to expire? Just wondering.

Praying for you guys tonight!

-crainbebo
 
crainbebo said:
How come 4x4 vehicles are in the ban? I thought winter tires and 4x4 vehicles helped with this stuff. If you have someone with a heart attack, and you need to go to the hospital ASAP - do you have to wait for the ban to expire? Just wondering.

Praying for you guys tonight!

-crainbebo
Click to expand...

Thanks crainbebo! :) The ban exempts emergency & public safety vehicles, health care workers, fuel delivery, and media. Soo...if you're a jock who's having a heart attack, you can drive yourself to the hospital, just flash your business card to the cop! :)
 
btw talking about bigger stations

--WRKO has June Knight from 7-9 pm instead of Levin, local coverage
--WZLX ran promos telling people to tune to Ch 4/38, AM 1030 and the WBZ site
(and yes WBZ is on 98.5 HD 3 folks)
 
It will be interesting to see if WBOQ Gloucester covers the storm. They are 100 percent autopilot on weekends outside of high school football season.
 
The River is live... got a jock, engineer on site (me) and another set of hands if needed. Staying all night through the storm to tend to any generator/technical issues should the power go out.
 
Here in the South Coast / Rhode Island region, I would have to tip my hat to WPRO-AM, and 1480-WSAR. Both stations are nicely blending in storm coverage with thier regular news/talk formats.

Trailing far behind is 920-WHJJ......whose idea of covering the storm is simply to simulcast the audio portion of Providence's WJAR-Channel 10.
 
frnkp2000 said:
Not to even mention it's a gold mine for local sponsors such as hardware stores, convenience stores and the like.
Click to expand...

I don't know about where you live, but in my town, most of the hardware stores are owned by national chains, and don't do local buys. The one "local" hardware store is part of the Ace buying collective, and they have a national agency. Same with convenience and grocery stores. Emergency storm coverage usually ends up being unsponsored.
 
Wonder if due to the travel ban, about all gas stations, 7-11s, grocery stores etc. have closed down for the storm?

-crainbebo
 
Given that there is a travel ban, the vast majority of your audience is at home, probably still with power. If they are interested in stormcenter coverage, they likely will want pictures to go with that audio.
 
I've been watching the streaming stats for all of my client stations... there are a LOT of people streaming the stations tonight.

Phones have been ringing quite a bit too, more than I would have expected.
 
frnkp2000 said:
reelyreal said:
It's WAY too early for any station to be in wall-to-wall coverage. There's NOTHING to talk about right now. This is radio 101: Entertain through the storm, go wall-to-wall information when people are in need of information, and are in disaster/recovery mode.
Click to expand...

Seriously?? As of the time of your post, there is a travel ban in Massachusetts, ordered by the Governor, as well as a state of emergency in the Commonwealth. People are now stranded wherever they are. Drive, and you risk a $500.00 fine. Snow is falling at the rate of about an inch an hour right now. I would say the time is NOW.

I'm not sure where you took Radio 101, but I'd request a refund! :)
Click to expand...

So at 3pm, there was a travel ban. How exactly would you fill a full hour with that information?

NOW is the time to be on, and most stations are.
 
via @bostonradio:

>>680 will have live local talk tomorrow 12 to 3 w/June Knight and 3 to 5 w/Avi Nelson. 1030 will have Dan Rea from 6 to Midnite
 
kc1ih said:
Why would WCAP be at reduced power?
Click to expand...

WCAP has sounded like they have been at reduced power (especially at night) for at least a few weeks now. Whatever their problem is, it's not due to this storm, it happened at least a few weeks ago.
 
We had only moved to here in NEPA (the other end of I-84 :- ) for a few months when the March 13th blizzard of 1993 hit.

That was also at its full fury on a Saturday.

She is from Philly, and I'm from NYC. There was little to do under those conditions but question, 'What have we done moving to here?' Yet, since I drove for a living, we both wanted to know where and when the storm was, as someone wrote, NOW.

Of the three main local stations:
One was giddily reading closings over some 120 BPM disco bed as if they were valentines, then roaring back to ten-in-a-row.
The second had on a Phillies spring-training game.
The third was broadcasting a Flyers hockey game -- and lost all audio when a part of the Spectrum roof collapsed because of the snow!

Well, this year, Saturday February 9th, the iconic WABC 770 in New York is running infomercials and other syndication today. To its east, Long Island and a lot of those people in that WABC coverage area are buried. But hey .... ka-ching/ka-ching.
What a disgrace.

Just about 20 years ago, while something like 24 inches of snow was still falling, the wife and I had no choice but to tune the portable radio to 1070 WKOK from Sunbury, back and forth with WYNS 1160 Lehighton. (Both stations played pop music at the time, and had live staffers even if they were marooned there on the weekend).

Point is : Both stations sounded terrific, doing their live and local format, and doing their best to tell us what was going on 'now'.

It's hard for me to imagine how anyone can gripe about stations doing their communications jobs before, during, or after a storm. These stations should be commended. There are few enough of them left.
 
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