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Power Back On In Mount Vernon

Bongwater

Bongwater

I was working late at an apartment complex than ZAP!

Power goes out.

For a minute, I'm thinking I better flip a circuit breaker somewhere when other residents came and told me the power was out all over Mount Vernon....

So I flip on KBRC....dead air

KAPS.....totally off the air

KWLE....dead air

KSVR.....some program about Ukrainian politics

.....so I dial in KOMO and they were Johnny-on-the spot. The outage covered all of Skagit County and parts of Snohomish, Whatcom, Island and San Juan Counties...

DAMN!

So yet another MAJOR KUDOS AGAIN to KOMO for being the MOST RELIABLE source of LOCAL news (when KBRC went back on, they were playing "Jumping Jack Flash" from the bird and the same country-wise with KAPS.)

As of this writing, KWLE is still dead air......
 
The power went out about 5:45pm and came back on around 7......
 
KRKO cut in right in the middle of a Dan Patrick replay this evening to inform listeners of the situation! :D

Actually, Kudos to them.. based on past performance regarding "Local Emergencies" ;)
 
Geez. When I worked at KBRC back in the old days (and I mean OLD) we had an automatic generator that got us back on the air in less than a minute. Not quite at 5kw, but not too bad. Worked out well in floods.

But that was back when there were actually people working there. There's nobody to give a darn about it now, I guess. Weird about KWLE...hope they didn't break something.
 
IndigoCoyote said:
Geez. When I worked at KBRC back in the old days (and I mean OLD) we had an automatic generator that got us back on the air in less than a minute. Not quite at 5kw, but not too bad. Worked out well in floods.

But that was back when there were actually people working there. There's nobody to give a darn about it now, I guess. Weird about KWLE...hope they didn't break something.
Click to expand...

When I brought in my radio (it still had fresh batteries luckily) KBRC was brought up amongst some residents without any input whatsoever on my part. Here was that exchange:

"Is there anything on that oldies station?"

"KBRC? Are you SERIOUS? That station's a JOKE!"

"What about 'em?"

"They're in Mount Vernon, but they make you call a 1-800 number to talk to the DJs"

"I think I called in once and they gave me a phone menu of buttons to push"

"When they had that big flood a few years back and things were getting really bad, the DJs acted like they didn't know anything about it....I thought 'what the f---'..."

"What about that country station?"

"Which one?"

"That one on 666"

"You mean 660...it's the same thing......just shut up and listen....."
 
Bongwater said:
When I brought in my radio (it still had fresh batteries luckily) KBRC was brought up amongst some residents without any input whatsoever on my part. Here was that exchange:

"Is there anything on that oldies station?"

"KBRC? Are you SERIOUS? That station's a JOKE!"

"What about 'em?"

"They're in Mount Vernon, but they make you call a 1-800 number to talk to the DJs"

"I think I called in once and they gave me a phone menu of buttons to push"

"When they had that big flood a few years back and things were getting really bad, the DJs acted like they didn't know anything about it....I thought 'what the f---'..."

"What about that country station?"

"Which one?"

"That one on 666"

"You mean 660...it's the same thing......just shut up and listen....."
Click to expand...

In KWLE's defense, they at least have some local people. I'm guessing they are *not* the area's emergency alert station, so they don't have to keep a generator, etc. It's unfortunate as it sounded like lots of news was being generated out of Anacortes.
 
SeattleObserver said:
Bongwater said:
When I brought in my radio (it still had fresh batteries luckily) KBRC was brought up amongst some residents without any input whatsoever on my part. Here was that exchange:

"Is there anything on that oldies station?"

"KBRC? Are you SERIOUS? That station's a JOKE!"

"What about 'em?"

"They're in Mount Vernon, but they make you call a 1-800 number to talk to the DJs"

"I think I called in once and they gave me a phone menu of buttons to push"

"When they had that big flood a few years back and things were getting really bad, the DJs acted like they didn't know anything about it....I thought 'what the f---'..."

"What about that country station?"

"Which one?"

"That one on 666"

"You mean 660...it's the same thing......just shut up and listen....."
Click to expand...

In KWLE's defense, they at least have some local people. I'm guessing they are *not* the area's emergency alert station, so they don't have to keep a generator, etc. It's unfortunate as it sounded like lots of news was being generated out of Anacortes.
Click to expand...

At best, radio in Skagit County is a 9-5 job, Monday to Friday. Anacortes really got hit hard by the power outage so I don't blame KWLE (I'm not sure if they participate in EAS or anything) for their problems. At least KWLE is live and local at least 9 hours out of the day. But KBRC/KAPS, being the most powerful stations in Skagit County AND having the most resources SHOULD be doing a hell of a better job at dealing with something like this and any other emergency situation. But they're on the bird almost 24/7. It's not the most cost effective thing to pay people to just babysit a computer. But really, if you think about it, wouldn't just having live and local airstaff in the first place around the clock just make more sense?
 
...Hence the importance of "backup generators" when something like this happens. A radio station is no good for emergency information, when the power to it's studios and transmitters go out. This would not have been good if an earthquake or other emergency had happened.

...Also no good if there is no local talent to deliver the news, or administer the EAS box at the station...
 
SeattleObserver said:
Bongwater said:
KSVR.....some program about Ukrainian politics
Click to expand...

Did KSVR staff up? Did you check back?

I think it's pretty amazing a town that size can maintain a community radio station.
Click to expand...

KSVR is run by Skagit Valley College. It doesn't have much of a signal to begin with, but they weren't much help either.....
 
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