> I know that the mainland of South Florida isn't getting the
> major brunt of the storm, but are still effected. Are any
> stations off the air or doing special coverage? How are the
> stations in the Keys doing? Any updates?
>
What I heard - most stations relying on hourly or more updates from their TV partners or in the case of Clear Channel stations, from WIOD. Other than WIOD, WFTL and, of course, the FM broadcast of WTVJ audio at 87.7FM, not a lot happened - RIta wise - in the Miami FtLauderdale market.
WIOD was live with non stop coverage from 6pm Monday, thru at least 3pm Tuesday. Now (9pm), they are local again, taking calls from listeners effected by Rita. I think, during the height of the storm I heard WIOD mention they were being simulcast by BIG and LOVE as well as WINZ. I also heard them refer to a whole bunch of Clear Channel stations in the Keys, so I assume it was like last year, when IOD was simulcast on all of CC's Treasure Coast stations during Jeanne and Frances. I've said this before - take your shots at CC - many of them are well deserved, but when it comes to crisis coverage, CC knows how to do it.
WFTL was live most of the day with local coverage - lots of Kelly Mitchell which isn't a bad thing - but they were running their syndicated fare last night and a Marlins game tonight - which are not bad decisions. I figure they are finally coming to their senses and realize they are a West Palm station that happens to have a good Broward signal - but still need to serve and win - in West Palm - hence, Rita wasn't as big a deal to them as it was to IOD, which is the primary English speaking EAS AM station. <P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">
Edited by RatchetUp on 09/21/05 01:23 AM.</FONT></P>
