Most of the FMs are on the Empire State Building and 4 Times Square. Most of the AMs are in flood prone areas. During the 2003 blackout, many stations were off the air for over an hour, and some were off the entire duration of the blackout.
The most important stations for news would be 880, 1010, 93.9, and 101.9. I would at least hope WCBS 880 gets simulcasted on 101.1 (on the analog signal) and 1010 WINS gets simulcasted on 102.7-HD1. CBS should shut off the IBUZ on 92.3 so that Long Islanders can get WLNG.
101.9 could use its focus as a talk station by getting its listeners to call in reports, but please, no news not related to the hurricane on Sunday. They dropped the ball with earthquake coverage, but how they handle the hurricane can make or break their reputation.
I'd hope that the Spanish stations do continuous hurricane coverage en Espanol.
Clear Channel, with 5 stations, should have complete hurricane coverage, with each station focusing on a different part of the NYC metro (Z100 covers Long Island, KTU covers Connecticut, Lite FM covers NJ, Power 105 covers NYC, Q104 covers the New York suburbs).
Stations that elect to keep playing music should dig deep into their music libraries this weekend, since there will be a high cume and high TSL from a captive audience listening on battery powered radios.
Even the pirate stations should serve their local community or go off the air (the FCC does allow unlicensed stations to operate during times of emergency). If Empire and 4 Times Square both lose power, the pirate stations and a handful of non-comms would be the only FM stations on the air.
The most important stations for news would be 880, 1010, 93.9, and 101.9. I would at least hope WCBS 880 gets simulcasted on 101.1 (on the analog signal) and 1010 WINS gets simulcasted on 102.7-HD1. CBS should shut off the IBUZ on 92.3 so that Long Islanders can get WLNG.
101.9 could use its focus as a talk station by getting its listeners to call in reports, but please, no news not related to the hurricane on Sunday. They dropped the ball with earthquake coverage, but how they handle the hurricane can make or break their reputation.
I'd hope that the Spanish stations do continuous hurricane coverage en Espanol.
Clear Channel, with 5 stations, should have complete hurricane coverage, with each station focusing on a different part of the NYC metro (Z100 covers Long Island, KTU covers Connecticut, Lite FM covers NJ, Power 105 covers NYC, Q104 covers the New York suburbs).
Stations that elect to keep playing music should dig deep into their music libraries this weekend, since there will be a high cume and high TSL from a captive audience listening on battery powered radios.
Even the pirate stations should serve their local community or go off the air (the FCC does allow unlicensed stations to operate during times of emergency). If Empire and 4 Times Square both lose power, the pirate stations and a handful of non-comms would be the only FM stations on the air.
