Though any landfall is apt to be different, Hurricane Earl and 1989's Hurricane Hugo are similar monsters which shared a similar track as well as being three weeks apart on the calendar.
During the overnight in honor of Hugo, Jacksonville's WOKV 690 was 50,000 omni and was quite present on the dial in Northeast Philly. NE Florida residents were biting their nails while Hugo somehow overlooked landfall and headed north. The former 'Big Ape' kept listeners updated all the way through the near-miss. WBT Charlotte's nighttime crew -- they were live and the only other station I could get in Philly from that direction -- were joking a bit and then getting back to their talk show.
Hugo crashed inland at Charleston SC and *kept going inland*. In a short time, WBT was merely an open carrier. Hugo then blew into another Charleston -- West Virginia -- and even gave the unlikely local of Eastern Ohio a bad time.
Earl is certainly proximate enough to act similarly.
In 2010, are there any coastal stations in harm's way likely to be broadcasting at night in the next two days or so with emergency power (wheteher they volunteer to do it or not)? I suspect that even the full-time stations in NC and SC are nowhere nearly as staffed as they had been even as relatively recent as 1989.
Yet, even with the paucity of big signals in the Carolinas and DelMarVa, many of the regionals are now nighttime , albeit with minimal power. Law of averages says that some operators will get to high ground and let the puppy run full power even though broadcasting nothing but syndicated rubbish of no local interest.
What can we expect from AM radio in those places tonight?
During the overnight in honor of Hugo, Jacksonville's WOKV 690 was 50,000 omni and was quite present on the dial in Northeast Philly. NE Florida residents were biting their nails while Hugo somehow overlooked landfall and headed north. The former 'Big Ape' kept listeners updated all the way through the near-miss. WBT Charlotte's nighttime crew -- they were live and the only other station I could get in Philly from that direction -- were joking a bit and then getting back to their talk show.
Hugo crashed inland at Charleston SC and *kept going inland*. In a short time, WBT was merely an open carrier. Hugo then blew into another Charleston -- West Virginia -- and even gave the unlikely local of Eastern Ohio a bad time.
Earl is certainly proximate enough to act similarly.
In 2010, are there any coastal stations in harm's way likely to be broadcasting at night in the next two days or so with emergency power (wheteher they volunteer to do it or not)? I suspect that even the full-time stations in NC and SC are nowhere nearly as staffed as they had been even as relatively recent as 1989.
Yet, even with the paucity of big signals in the Carolinas and DelMarVa, many of the regionals are now nighttime , albeit with minimal power. Law of averages says that some operators will get to high ground and let the puppy run full power even though broadcasting nothing but syndicated rubbish of no local interest.
What can we expect from AM radio in those places tonight?