Power outages and their effect on Houston radio

[PTBoardOp94]

That article shows that the state of Texas did not provide necessary or useful information... not radio. The radio stations that normally provide news and talk services seemed to be, for the most part, covering what they could.

While the state government of Texas was arguably not doing much, there was plenty to report on, with the updates primarily originating from mayors and local utility officials, especially in the Houston area.

Most stations had their staffs working from home since early in the pandemic. Most of those home-based broadcasters don't have emergency generators. And the stations had not remodeled or partitioned to be safe during the pandemic, so trying to get to the studio location under horrible road conditions only to find that work could not be done was not an option.

The pandemic is a weak excuse. It's not like modern stations have such an extensive staff that providing adequate physical distancing is hard. Leave an empty cubical between the two reporters working the phones. Every station I've ever worked at has at least one auxiliary studio. Let the news staff do their on-air hits from there if the main studio cannot safely accommodate more than one person.

So are road conditions. This winter storm in Texas was well forecast, the radio operators had time to make plans. ERCOT even said in advance that rolling blackouts were possible, although the scale and duration of the outages were severely underestimated.

My company made provisions for a few staff to stay on cots in company buildings this week so they wouldn't need to navigate the roads. I work for a podunk operator you couldn't find on a map, that has damn near been put out of business by Covid. But we have continued to broadcast the news every day, even though we had no crisis in the way that Texas did. To say that it was too hard for major, national operators in cities like Houston and Austin to put important information on their air because getting to work was hard is insulting to my colleagues.

As far as Mr. Turner, I am sympathetic to stations which lost all ability to broadcast due to the extended power failures. There are many places I've worked where generator power failed before utility power was restored, because the genset was designed to run for a few hours, or there was no genny at all. I don't think it is reasonable to expect a broadcaster to endure every eventuality, and it may not be worth creating a contingency for the once-in-10 years power failure that lasts more than 6 hours.

But I vociferously object to David saying information could not be broadcast because it was inconvenient to the staff.

 

[davideduardo]

But I vociferously object to David saying information could not be broadcast because it was inconvenient to the staff.

It's not about being "inconvenient". It is about "dangerous" or "impossible" or "risky" or "stupid".

If the STL is not working, or there is no power in the building, all bets are off. There are many situations where no matter how many people may want to get to the station and on the air, it's just impossible because roads are impassible or the station is not "intact".

I've seen a number of situations like the Puerto Rico hurricane or the one in New Orleans where all but one or two stations were left able to broadcast. New Orleans was before most STLs were net based and in PR the issues was total loss of towers, sites, STLs, roofs, windows, etc.

In the Northridge quake, most phones quit working in the northern half of the LA market, traffic lights were down, and many employees of stations could not even get the gate at their apartment or the garage door of their home to open... often because the frame had become warped and jammed. An at the station, the parking lot gate was jammed, the walls around it crumbled and to get inside you had to climb over the barbed wire fencing all around it. Some of us did it, and with engineering tools opened a front window for entry by brute force.

And staff in a situation where a family has had no heat in freezing weather is unlike the aftermath of a hurricane or a quake. Families may depend on the working member of the household to protect them; the car may be the only "warm up" place they can all be for a while.

We can't blame radio for the fact that people with an immediate family will put the family first.

And many station groups may have 8 station and 3 studios. They just can't originate content live on each. The most important thing is for at least one station to be make "hard" enough to have multiple backup systems. In the current economy and state of radio, this has to be a government plan financed by them, not stations.

This situation is a "Groundhog Day" event for radio... day after day, the same thing (or worse) happens. Things do not get better, and people look out for family first even if they could, at some risk, get to work.

Most of us are just Jimmy Olsen, not Clark Kent.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

It's not about being "inconvenient". It is about "dangerous" or "impossible" or "risky" or "stupid".

Being in a radio studio is none of those things, even during the coronavirus pandemic unless the staffers are reckless.

If the STL is not working, or there is no power in the building, all bets are off. There are many situations where no matter how many people may want to get to the station and on the air, it's just impossible because roads are impassible or the station is not "intact".

None of the radio studios in Houston were physically damaged or destroyed in this event. You're building straw men.

I've seen a number of situations like the Puerto Rico hurricane or the one in New Orleans where all but one or two stations were left able to broadcast. New Orleans was before most STLs were net based and in PR the issues was total loss of towers, sites, STLs, roofs, windows, etc.

Obviously I'm not expecting air talent to put the station back on the air if there are failures with the physical plant. But since very few stations in Houston were prevented from broadcasting by equipment or power failure, it's mostly irrelevant to the discussion at hand.

In the Northridge quake, most phones quit working in the northern half of the LA market, traffic lights were down, and many employees of stations could not even get the gate at their apartment or the garage door of their home to open... often because the frame had become warped and jammed. An at the station, the parking lot gate was jammed, the walls around it crumbled and to get inside you had to climb over the barbed wire fencing all around it. Some of us did it, and with engineering tools opened a front window for entry by brute force.

Again, you give an example of you yourself doing the right thing during your career, but giving modern radio employees a pass for not doing so. I don't get it.

And staff in a situation where a family has had no heat in freezing weather is unlike the aftermath of a hurricane or a quake. Families may depend on the working member of the household to protect them; the car may be the only "warm up" place they can all be for a while.

We can't blame radio for the fact that people with an immediate family will put the family first.

Obviously, if a staffer feels their family is at risk, they should be given leave to deal with that. However, for someone in good health, people who were at home without heat were uncomfortable but not at risk in Houston. It wasn't dangerously cold indoors, even after the power had been out for 4 days.

And many station groups may have 8 station and 3 studios. They just can't originate content live on each. The most important thing is for at least one station to be make "hard" enough to have multiple backup systems. In the current economy and state of radio, this has to be a government plan financed by them, not stations.

Three studios is plenty to have two staffers have a conversation on one station, while maintaining Coronavirus isolation. We're not trying to produce a Cher album, just get a news brief on the air.

This situation is a "Groundhog Day" event for radio... day after day, the same thing (or worse) happens. Things do not get better, and people look out for family first even if they could, at some risk, get to work.

Most of us are just Jimmy Olsen, not Clark Kent.

You're making it sound like doing news briefs on the radio is some herculean effort. It is not. I've done thousands of them, on fair days and in worse weather than what Houston had this week. Not once was I prevented from showing up to my scheduled shift.

If any of the Houston clusters want a "Clark Kent", I'm willing to listen to their pitches.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

Most non-radio news media reporters don't know how EAS works. It is not equipped or organized to do ongoing reporting and it's system is not usually of the quality to deliver listenable content over a long period.

This was a life-threating situation and people died, some from hypothermia. If that's not a situation where EAS is relevant -- to inform people where to find warming shelters, get clean water, get boil-water advisories and power restoration updates -- then the system is totally irrelevant and should be fixed or shut down.

Would you like to volunteer to be the person to tell a congressional inquiry that during one of the biggest emergencies in recent memory -- where power, internet and cell phone service are out and radio is the only medium working -- that EAS isn't meant to get emergency info to people? I'd like to see that inquiry happen.

EAS did not fail,; it was not intended to replace station news. It is intended to provide official alerts, nothing more.

Yes it failed. It was time for someone to think even just a little bit out of the box and make it relevant. Don't tell me someone couldn't come up with a code that would apply to the situation and find a way to make emergency announcements. That's ridiculous. Again, people were dying.

And radio did not fail; our "new" communications systems based on advanced technology failed and radio could not overcome them alone.

Yes it did. According to the reports in this forum, some stations were playing music and others were running syndicated talk, probably because they had laid off everyone in the company's newsroom.

Example: in the Puerto Rico hurricane...

I appreciate your personal experience but we should expect the infrastructure in the lower 48 states to be quite far ahead of Puerto Rico from 40 years ago. A better comparison would probably be how WWL performed during hurricane Katrina. That's the kind of performance we should have expected from the big operators in Houston and around the state on this occasion.

 

[davideduardo]

Being in a radio studio is none of those things, even during the coronavirus pandemic unless the staffers are reckless.

Given the road conditions, inoperative traffic lights and the inability to get gas for a car, getting to the studio is the real issue.

None of the radio studios in Houston were physically damaged or destroyed in this event. You're building straw men.

But many roadways were dangerous, many people could not leave their homes and family alone, etc., etc. Would you as a mother or father leave your family in an unheated home with no water and limited or no cellphone communication to try to get to work via a dangerous route?

And several of the stations and groups did not have enough fuel for sustained generator operation.

Example: after one hurricane in Puerto Rico, 6 out of 10 staff members who tried to get to the station facility couldn't because after only a few miles, they had two or more flat tires due to debris on the roads. My point: there are many reasons why, in a disaster, people can't get to work. And if there is nobody at the studio location to gear up the equipment, having people there won't help.

Obviously I'm not expecting air talent to put the station back on the air if there are failures with the physical plant. But since very few stations in Houston were prevented from broadcasting by equipment or power failure, it's mostly irrelevant to the discussion at hand.

But most stations are not in the news and information format. You could have the whole staff there, and they would not have the contacts, sources or facilities to do a good job... and a bad job in an emergency is dangerous to other.s

Again, you give an example of you yourself doing the right thing during your career, but giving modern radio employees a pass for not doing so. I don't get it.

My point is that I did NOT do the right thing by covering a hurricane. We should have realized we could contribute much less than the several news stations and "shut up and played the hits". People needed that, but not an inexperienced news coverage.

Obviously, if a staffer feels their family is at risk, they should be given leave to deal with that. However, for someone in good health, people who were at home without heat were uncomfortable but not at risk in Houston. It wasn't dangerously cold indoors, even after the power had been out for 4 days.

Yet there was poor and inconsistent cell phone service, and a family with children would not want to leave them alone. And think of how many families have single parents, who could not leave the home. And people with cars that did not have enough gas to safely get to work and back... or places where the garage door would not open, even with the emergency pull handle, due to the cold?

Stations have very small staffs today, so if even a few can't get to work, there are not enough to run the station even if they have a source for news. And consider that often you have an entire full cluster with just one or two engineers today... so getting stuff to work and 5, 6, 7 or more stations on short notice is next to impossible.

Three studios is plenty to have two staffers have a conversation on one station, while maintaining Coronavirus isolation. We're not trying to produce a Cher album, just get a news brief on the air.

And if the station has no news service? How do inexpert music jocks do news coverage? How does that help when there are stations in the market that do that fairly well that have sources and contacts? Trying to do something they are not meant to do is dangerous.

It like asking your auto mechanic for his opinion on your heart condition.

You're making it sound like doing news briefs on the radio is some herculean effort. It is not. I've done thousands of them, on fair days and in worse weather than what Houston had this week. Not once was I prevented from showing up to my scheduled shift.

Doing it right when one has zero experience is, as I said, dangerous.

If any of the Houston clusters want a "Clark Kent", I'm willing to listen to their pitches.

Many of them don't want to be in the news business. In most markets, there are a couple of "go to" stations for news, and that should be adequate.

The people in New Orleans did fine with just WWL, the only truly hardened station in the city. WWL had staff, and news people from TV and other radio stations pitched in the the first few days. That is a better use of resources and manpower (personpower?)

The comparison is to an 8.5 earthquake in Los Angeles. Were one to occur, the estimates are between 100,000 and 1,000,000 deaths. Most would be due to inadequate construction. But the stats say that the chances of that intensity every hitting are one in several million based on the fault lines, and the cost of building for that intensity of a quake is so high that nothing would be built ever again. We live with certain risks, and a "Hundred Year Storm" is one of them.

 

[davideduardo]

This was a life-threating situation and people died, some from hypothermia. If that's not a situation where EAS is relevant -- to inform people where to find warming shelters, get clean water, get boil-water advisories and power restoration updates -- then the system is totally irrelevant and should be fixed or shut down.

EAS is a bulletin warning system. That is why the word "Emergency" and the word "alert" are in the name. It's not the "Disaster Relief System" which is why it was not activated in NYC for 9/11 or in Puerto Rico for their "hundred year hurricane".

The system is basically a mike and some buttons and a way to code into it. The quality is not intended to be other than the mayor or civil defense person making a short statement or giving a warning. No acoustics, not studio... just the equivalent of a mike and a lo-fi relay system to connect multiple stations.

Would you like to volunteer to be the person to tell a congressional inquiry that during one of the biggest emergencies in recent memory -- where power, internet and cell phone service are out and radio is the only medium working -- that EAS isn't meant to get emergency info to people? I'd like to see that inquiry happen.

The origination points are intended to be where people can be warned, not where people can be given ongoing service. CONELRAD, the EBS and EAS are intended and designed for short warnings and are connected to places where civilian authorities can warn about a storm, a bomb, a fire, a war. For the last 65 years or so it has not been intended to serve any other purpose.

Yes it failed. It was time for someone to think even just a little bit out of the box and make it relevant. Don't tell me someone couldn't come up with a code that would apply to the situation and find a way to make emergency announcements. That's ridiculous. Again, people were dying.

It did not fail because it was not intended to do what you think it should. And, there is no way to localize a region's EAS to just one specific area. Again, the system was not designed for ongoing reporting. It has neither the quality nor the origination equipment to do that.

If you listen to the EAS tests done from the primary station, you know that they are marginally intelligible on most stations. Having every station in a large area running nearly unlistenable information is absurd. What is needed is support from outside so that one or two stations can provide, in the event of a "hundred year storm" or the like, a necessary service on a good signal.

Yes it did. According to the reports in this forum, some stations were playing music and others were running syndicated talk, probably because they had laid off everyone in the company's newsroom.

And when 2020 revenue was, by my calculation, at about 20% of the 2000 revenue, what do you expect? There is very little revenue in radio news as people get their news from the Internet; the problem is that the Internet fails in emergencies as it is not hardened.

But radio can't be expected to anticipate via big news staffs and facilities, something that does not happen even once in a decade or more.

Better is that the government subsidize the hardening of a couple of stations per market and arrange for them to have direct communication with local officials and the ability to originate from off-site at City Hall or the Civil Defense HQ or the like. But having 20 or 30 or 40 stations with no news staff trying to do that is dangerous.

I appreciate your personal experience but we should expect the infrastructure in the lower 48 states to be quite far ahead of Puerto Rico from 40 years ago. A better comparison would probably be how WWL performed during hurricane Katrina. That's the kind of performance we should have expected from the big operators in Houston and around the state on this occasion.

WWL's facility was "hardened" by Civil Defense. I was part of the purchase of a station in Florida that had an underground bunker studio, two week's worth of fuel, a complete emergency transmitter and even a folding tower that could be put up if "the bomb" took out our 1000 foot main mast.

That facility was rusting and rotting away, as there was no plan to make it work and no way to get staff to the transmitter if an atom bomb went off... or if a hurricane covered the roads with downed trees and power lines.

Civil Defense is a government duty because private radio stations can not afford to build and maintain hardened facilities and can not be expected to have staff members who will sacrifice family for a radio service.

 

[davideduardo]

Again, you give an example of you yourself doing the right thing during your career, but giving modern radio employees a pass for not doing so. I don't get it.

I'm answering this separately because in the Northridge quake I was in a unique situation. I had no family in the country, let alone in the market. I had nobody who needed me in order to be safe... no children, no elderly parents, nothing. And I was of an age and situation where I could take a risk. I got out of a partially destroyed apartment using a hammer to break open a wall, and thought I'd be safer at the station where there was a gennie and some emergency supplies.

It was the same station where I had sat on the roof with a rifle two years before to keep the rioters from burning us down. Some people take risks, but we can't expect others to do so.

Most people had other priorities, impediments and needs. Several staff members were injured, one with a chimney that fell over them. Others had cars in inoperable garages. Others had sufficient home damage that leaving would open the location to vandals. And so on.

A few of us got to the station, but most couldn't and wouldn't. Nobody blamed them as even the owner could not get there until over 12 hours after the incident.

I've been inside stations that were bombed by terroists, siezed by revolutionaries, attacked by rioters, shaken by earthquakes, flooded by rains, torn apart by hurricanes and even firebombed by Cuban guerillas. One thing I have learned is that you can't expect staff members to put your station first, ahead of children and families. And that is a big part of the current issue in Texas.

 

[BamaTX]

One thing I have learned is that you can't expect staff members to put your station first, ahead of children and families. And that is a big part of the current issue in Texas.

It wasn't an issue during Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Ike, or even the few close calls we had during the 2020 hurricane season (KLVI did a decent job during hurricane Laura). I remember hearing about Cox employees renting out hotel rooms across the street from their studios for hurricane harvey. Some even brought brought sleeping bags into the building.

Radio failed us this time. There was a time when some radio stations would do anything to get information out. If their studios were inaccessible, damaged or lost power, they would rebroadcast one of the local tv stations instead of their regularly scheduled programming.

 

[JustinT]

Giving credit where credit is due -- during the week, Ernie Manouse's new midday show on KUHF stepped up, interviewing various UH energy experts and taking at least one call from Mayor Turner.

Today, during some quick listening, heard KTSU provide a lengthy break with extensive detail on where to obtain bottled water, along with discussion on life-hacks learned from the storm that might help those still struggling with power. KBXX provided a phone number twice to dial if you need FEMA assistance, along with specific details on which prompts to follow once you dial (the kind of thing you'd need to write down). To the above conversation, goes without saying that neither KTSU nor KBXX are news/talk stations. I thought The Eagle may have turned the corner playing "Here Comes The Sun"... but the personality I heard next just promoted an irrelevant giveaway.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Given the road conditions, inoperative traffic lights and the inability to get gas for a car, getting to the studio is the real issue.

But many roadways were dangerous, many people could not leave their homes and family alone, etc., etc. Would you as a mother or father leave your family in an unheated home with no water and limited or no cellphone communication to try to get to work via a dangerous route?

Would I leave small kids alone? No, but I also wouldn't leave small kids alone in the house on a sunny day in April.
Would I leave small kids with their mother? Yes. The conditions in Houston simply were not that dangerous even in light of the power outages. Possibly in they were in North Texas, but I have fewer contacts in that region.

And several of the stations and groups did not have enough fuel for sustained generator operation.

Again, I repeat: none of the major stations in Houston were off the air for a sustained period of time. If they were able to play the hits, they could open a microphone. The tangent about WWL being hardened by the government is therefore off-topic.

But most stations are not in the news and information format. You could have the whole staff there, and they would not have the contacts, sources or facilities to do a good job... and a bad job in an emergency is dangerous to other.s

And if the station has no news service? How do inexpert music jocks do news coverage? How does that help when there are stations in the market that do that fairly well that have sources and contacts? Trying to do something they are not meant to do is dangerous.

It like asking your auto mechanic for his opinion on your heart condition.

Doing it right when one has zero experience is, as I said, dangerous.

There are no contacts necessary. Frankly, you're right, having upstart "reporters" who were spinning the hits last week pestering public officials during a crisis is at best useless and at worst dangerous.

Instead, you take the public statements from the mayor, governor, and the other important authorities, and you repeat them for those who have no other means to receive such information. If you need guidance on who these authorities are, pick up a newspaper or turn on a television and see who they are quoting.

It's the same thing I did for 7th grade newspaper class.

Many of them don't want to be in the news business. In most markets, there are a couple of "go to" stations for news, and that should be adequate.

I actually agree that radio news on a music-formatted station is mostly a pointless endeavor in ordinary times.

The past 7 days in Houston were not ordinary times, and it appears that the music stations did not lift a finger to inform the public, even to the minimum of inserting a liner "for hourly updates on the winter storm in our area, tune to KQQQ 101.5"

You will not convince me that the conditions were too bad for staff to report to work, or that the public would have had no use for such updates, or that the staff would have been so incompetent as to be incapable of delivering such updates -- and I suspect I will not convince you either. So this will be my last reply to you on this thread.

 

[davideduardo]

It wasn't an issue during Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Ike, or even the few close calls we had during the 2020 hurricane season (KLVI did a decent job during hurricane Laura). I remember hearing about Cox employees renting out hotel rooms across the street from their studios for hurricane harvey. Some even brought brought sleeping bags into the building.

But hurricanes have extremely long preparedness periods, with the course being known days ahead. Yes, folks in TX knew a storm was coming but nobody anticipated the degree of impact and, thus, less preparedness.

Radio failed us this time. There was a time when some radio stations would do anything to get information out. If their studios were inaccessible, damaged or lost power, they would rebroadcast one of the local tv stations instead of their regularly scheduled programming.

The problem is that there was no infrastructure to do things like that, right down to multi-station clusters that have perhaps just two engineers dealing with five or six transmitter sites, studios, etc. Trying to set up a rebroadcast of TV, unless in the same building, would be a challenge.

On that subject, KLTN took huge amounts of news from its sister Univision TV outlet. The main issue was that listeners without power or with no home radio could not hear them.

 

[davideduardo]

Instead, you take the public statements from the mayor, governor, and the other important authorities, and you repeat them for those who have no other means to receive such information. If you need guidance on who these authorities are, pick up a newspaper or turn on a television and see who they are quoting.

You are doing what others do better. Amateurs should not engage in life-threatening issue reporting.

It's the same thing I did for 7th grade newspaper class.

No, it's not. In a Junior High newspaper, the most important thing is Junior Varsity sports and the menu in the lunchroom. And not public safety and survival.

I actually agree that radio news on a music-formatted station is mostly a pointless endeavor in ordinary times.

At any time. I don't take my iPhone to be repaired by a cobbler.

The past 7 days in Houston were not ordinary times, and it appears that the music stations did not lift a finger to inform the public, even to the minimum of inserting a liner "for hourly updates on the winter storm in our area, tune to KQQQ 101.5"

Did you monitor every station? KLTN, KOVE and its sister stations were giving reports and sending those with electricity to the Univision TV channel and taking info from their newsroom. But none of the four radio stations has a news staff as such; they leaned on the TV station for accurate reports, tailored to the areas where the audience predominantly lives.

You will not convince me that the conditions were too bad for staff to report to work, or that the public would have had no use for such updates, or that the staff would have been so incompetent as to be incapable of delivering such updates -- and I suspect I will not convince you either. So this will be my last reply to you on this thread.

Most if not all music station staffers are not trained to do reporting. And, again, we are in a pandemic. Most people do not want to go to a workplace where they are close to others, particularly if they have family at home they can take contamination back to.

The main issue here is that many won't or can't leave home due to health concerns. And with power outages, the can do little from home anyway.

 

[b-turner]

I really doubt any minds will be changed here but I can reflect on where radio is. Radio has always been a profession where there's more to do than people to do it. Radio stations operate normally with just enough, barely enough. If you're a music station, chances are you contract for news and generally speaking, that's all you get. You might even contract for weather. You might run news once an hour in AM drive, if any at all, but there's nobody in the building doing news and certainly no employee getting news releases. So, you're not on the list to get a fax or email if something happens. For example, say you contract with The Weather Channel for weather. You get your forecast but if you have a tornado warning, the Weather Channel is not doing live updates for you. You're on your own there.

Most stations are operating remotely during Covid-19. Likely your own air staff is not in the building or in some cases it might be limited to one or two. (I'm working sales at a station and not allowed in the building...if I need to drop something off or get something I have to make arrangements)

Covid-19 killed billing. Many stations (and salespeople like myself) saw 50% of revenue fall off instantly. One month you're doing $100,000 in billing and the next month it's $50,000 and your expenses might be $95,000. A business can handle that a month or two but at some point, cuts have to be made to survive. That usually means more time for your station to be a computer in a closet because you can control that. And the worst part you have seen several advertisers that were regulars for years just shut their doors permanently. If you didn't see that happen, you might hang on a little longer. You can bet the electric company isn't discounting your rate, nor the tower company reducing rent. Your landlord isn't taking half rent either. I can see real logistic issues if a jock is voice-tracking from states away. Sure they can research online for their breaks but there's nothing like being in the thick of it.

A sales secret is it always takes a long time to cultivate a relationship with a business owner that results in regular month-after-month buys. As a salesperson told me early on in my radio career as he bemoaned the fact he lost a $500 a month client, he'd rather have 100 clients at $50 a month versus 10 at $500 a month because it's easy enough to find another $50 a month client when they cancel but much, much harder to replace that $500 a month buyer. You see, that $500 a month buyer is on every media's radar. You literally have to outwork everyone out there after those dollars and somehow build enough loyalty with that client to not try one of the other guys next month because they're always trying to build a better mousetrap than yours.

My point is, radio has always been lean, probably too lean, and Covid-19 just shot radio in the kneecaps. Then this 'emergency' happens at a time radio is least prepared to react financially and from a Covid standpoint.

Also, consider radio stations are at the mercy of power companies, internet providers and fuel providers if there is a generator (my last station analyzed the cost to install and maintain a generator versus lost airtime in the past and we figured it would pay off about 60 years down the road. We figured the best route was when the power goes we give up some billing and move on or we cut an employee to make the generator happen). Consider most employees are working from home and just as subject to power failures, loss of internet and such. If your afternoon drive is in a house with no power, it's kind of tough to do your show.

These are not excuses. From living in Houston, I have memories of trying to get info as Tropical Storm Allison made freeways canals where 18 wheelers bobbed in the water. What I am saying is this emergency happened at the very worst time for radio to respond to it. Sometimes people fail to remember radio is a business. And regardless of your expectations, radio, like you personally, cannot spend money your don't have. We're all stuck living in the financial position we are in.

 

[BamaTX]

But hurricanes have extremely long preparedness periods, with the course being known days ahead. Yes, folks in TX knew a storm was coming but nobody anticipated the degree of impact and, thus, less preparedness.

Not necessarily. People in Texas know that any amount of ice/snow is a very big deal. We saw temperatures dipping into the teens in the forecast long before the storm came. This is the type of event that generates interest because we never see ice/snow. We had every indication needed to at least make preparations in case roads froze over (which they did).

I wasn't expecting 24/7 coverage. But I sure did expect more than a TOH update reminding me to stay warm (redundant information).

The problem is that there was no infrastructure to do things like that, right down to multi-station clusters that have perhaps just two engineers dealing with five or six transmitter sites, studios, etc. Trying to set up a rebroadcast of TV, unless in the same building, would be a challenge.

Infrastructure was there at one point. It may not be there today, but it was at least a decade ago. Radio facilities/studios have been gutted with cost cutting measures to the point were they can no longer act as a reliable source of information. I'm actually surprised many of them had functioning generators since I doubt they're maintained properly anymore.

 

[davideduardo]

Infrastructure was there at one point. It may not be there today, but it was at least a decade ago. Radio facilities/studios have been gutted with cost cutting measures to the point were they can no longer act as a reliable source of information. I'm actually surprised many of them had functioning generators since I doubt they're maintained properly anymore.

Many groups long ago got stations to subcontract services for generator maintenance and the like. The average engineer did no maintain the generator anyway... they just set it to do a regular test and they called the maintenance firm if it did not test correctly.

The main reason why there are fewer engineers today is that equipment is so much more reliable. And there is practically no mechanical gear such as cart and tape machine motors and solenoids and belts and gears. Transmitters may have individual module fans... computer grade that last 30,000 hours or more. Many of us are replacing critical system hard drives with SSDs, reducing even more the mechanical devices.

The 50 transmitters my group was planning to install in Bolivia were from Europe and hand arrays of fans on each module; it could run normally although a bit hot with one, but they had 5 so that multiple failures would not matter. And they were plug-in and can be hot replaced. In an old hollow-state rig, a fan replacement requires several hours off the air, and on a big transmitter it might require two people to do the job.

When I was CE of a 9 station cluster, I had multiple people helping me and it still took hours out of every day. Today, I would need one full-timer and I could just supervise.

 

[Mikey Radio]

This discussion reminds me of some points I brought up in another thread on this site a few months back. I described a situation where I was in a mid-sized market, some very severe weather including tornado activity had passed through the area, and my first inclination was to tune into radio to get information about what had occurred, the severity, if more severe weather was expected and to get guidance. I went up and down both the AM and FM dials (is that still correct terminology?) and all I heard was music and canned jocks being played by computers, and nationally syndicated talk shows. Not a single station was "live and local" even with a jock opening the phone lines to get stories and updates in real-time from listeners, while trying to get any news or factual information they could from utility companies or local government agencies to pass along.

As some of you have stated in this case in Texas, I also felt that, in the particular situaion I was involved in, radio had failed. Radio professionals are often describing themselves as being on the frontlines and providing invaluable information and assistance in times of disaster or major incident or emergency. In some states, broadcasters have tried to have themselves registered as "first responders" so they can ensure their stations remain on the air, that they get priority for fuel deliveries, etc. so they can be there to provide valuable information to the public in times of need...But as we've seen here and in my situation and in handfuls of others, when those disasters strike or times of need arise when listeners just need information and updates and if nothing else some comfort, radio simply isn't there to carry out what many in broadcasting claim is one of their stated purposes and why they're still needed and relevant.

When I posted my comments here in that other discussion months ago, I was also debated, was told it takes money that small market stations don't have for newsrooms, etc., was told that it takes too much time, effort, funding and staffing to pull together a live broadcast on short notice when a disaster strikes, especially if it happens on an evening or weekend when staffing is at minimum, etc. Their points were well taken and perhaps even valid...But it still doesn't change the fact that radio failed in what is supposedly one of it's stated missions...To be there when listeners need them the most, to deliver timely information, facts and updates.

 

[JustinT]

On that subject, KLTN took huge amounts of news from its sister Univision TV outlet. The main issue was that listeners without power or with no home radio could not hear them.

That's actually what made this storm different. TV outlets were doing a great job, but their product could only be consumed if you had either power and a television, or a charged cell phone with data service -- both of which were quite a rarity.

Listeners without power could actually hear KLTN and other Houston stations. That's because many listeners were spending time in their cars, in their driveways, cranking the heat and trying to warm up as best they could. TV and streaming services didn't have a way to reach these listeners. But radio did. And that's what makes the limited/non-coverage so frustrating. Running ABC13's latest newscasts on a loop would have been more valuable than what I heard The Eagle and KRBE doing last week.

 

[davideduardo]

This discussion reminds me of some points I brought up in another thread on this site a few months back. I described a situation where I was in a mid-sized market, some very severe weather including tornado activity had passed through the area, and my first inclination was to tune into radio to get information about what had occurred, the severity, if more severe weather was expected and to get guidance. I went up and down both the AM and FM dials (is that still correct terminology?) and all I heard was music and canned jocks being played by computers, and nationally syndicated talk shows. Not a single station was "live and local" even with a jock opening the phone lines to get stories and updates in real-time from listeners, while trying to get any news or factual information they could from utility companies or local government agencies to pass along.

A station that does not do its own news is not going to suddenly be able to create a contact list and a staff of reporters to call on already exhausted public officials and utility staffs to get information, write and produce it.

With local staffers of music stations mostly working from home, many if not most could not even broadcast. So quite a few stations brought in voice traced shows from other markets if they had communication. Otherwise, the engineer set up

As some of you have stated in this case in Texas, I also felt that, in the particular situaion I was involved in, radio had failed. Radio professionals are often describing themselves as being on the frontlines and providing invaluable information and assistance in times of disaster or major incident or emergency. In some states, broadcasters have tried to have themselves registered as "first responders" so they can ensure their stations remain on the air, that they get priority for fuel deliveries, etc. so they can be there to provide valuable information to the public in times of need...But as we've seen here and in my situation and in handfuls of others, when those disasters strike or times of need arise when listeners just need information and updates and if nothing else some comfort, radio simply isn't there to carry out what many in broadcasting claim is one of their stated purposes and why they're still needed and relevant.

In no case does every radio station present itself as a front line news service. Many stations are there for entertainment.

But I will add in an explanation, and one that is not intended to be an excuse but pure reality. When the FCC reacted to the Bonita Springs debacle which involved an application for an upgrade from a Class A to a C, they realized that improving a station should not involve jeopardizing the license by opening the frequency up to competing applicants. In the process of fixing this situation, they generated Docket 80-90 which opened the door to upgrades, moves of city of license and, addtionally, added several thousand new FM assignments.

Revenue did not increase. But may small markets with one or two stations suddenly had five or six. The end result there was cost cutting and, often, situations where nobody could make much, if any, money. So staffs were reduced. In larger markets, move-ins in some cases doubled the number of FMs with no added revenue.

By the early 90s. half of all US stations were not profitable.

When the FCC realized what had happened, they accepted the NAB and general industry requests for permission to consolidate and own more stations overall and in each market. That did not cure the problem, but it did allow some broadcasters to grow and become profitable in smaller markets.

But one of the big changes was that stations had smaller staffs and most abandoned news coverage entirely due to cost. The result, in the case of most music stations, was an increase in ratings due to better time spent listening. The greatest TSL numbers were, in fact, registered in that period (adjusted for other changes in methodology by Arbitron).

The end result was less news or no news at most stations. But in most markets, one or two stations became the news source, and maintained a service because it generated sales.

When I posted my comments here in that other discussion months ago, I was also debated, was told it takes money that small market stations don't have for newsrooms, etc., was told that it takes too much time, effort, funding and staffing to pull together a live broadcast on short notice when a disaster strikes, especially if it happens on an evening or weekend when staffing is at minimum, etc. Their points were well taken and perhaps even valid...But it still doesn't change the fact that radio failed in what is supposedly one of it's stated missions...To be there when listeners need them the most, to deliver timely information, facts and updates.

If you are talking about Texas today, the issue is that this happened during a pandemic where staffs had been cut with lay-offs and furloughs and the remaining people were working from home for the most part. Revenues at some have been off by as much as half during the worst months, and few station groups are making money and some are near bankruptcy or have gotten loans they perhaps can't pay.

People at home often did not have power, and generally could not access news sources anyway. Station studios could not accommodate the need for distancing... plus having ventilation that was not safe, and nobody to go around sanitizing all the time. So stations with already skeleton staffs just could not contribute to the coverage of the storms even if they wanted to.

It's really unfair to criticize radio in general for something they just could not do well during a pandemic that cut their revenue in half in many cases and caused nearly every station to reduce staff to the minimum.

 

[davideduardo]

You know, all the big 100,000 watt stations that are just playing music and not giving local updates should be shut off, so others who need power can actually have it.

You know that many, many of them were running on their own power during the worst days? They were not burdening the grid.

A 100 kw FM does not have a 100 kw transmitter. Most of the ERP comes from antenna "gain" where a 40 kw FM transmitter can provide 100 kw horizontal and 100 kw vertical ERP based on the antenna.

 

[b-turner]

My thought is to go to radio first but I find TV always shines where radio doesn't. That critical comment on radio comes from a former GM in a top 10 market. The simple fact is TV stations generally have the staff to pull it off.

At that top 10 market station, we had no TV in the control room or lobby. There was no news service, audio or subscription service. We had fax and email and phone. As events would happen, I would try to get information. We didn't get faxes, emails or calls. Most numbers we had went to voice mail. We had internet but this was before TV stations streamed a bunch. The most detailed info we could get was from EAS activations and the National Weather Service Weather Radio. There was a desire to report and an attempt to gather info. Our contacts were busy with the crisis and not picking up. As we normally did no news, not even the office of emergency management had us on their list to email or fax.

In an instance in Houston, I resorted to KTRH since the EAS had fired off several times and they were Houston's News/Talk station. They were running Astros Baseball. I had a few calls asking how the roads are and a caller said she understood I-10 was flooded. I sure couldn't go with that on the air nor could I find any source of info. We bought a TV after that. We called all our contacts for some way to reach them that was failproof. Still, for those that claim radio was lazy for no coverage, I say "not in every instance".

And just imagine: we tell people where warming centers are, grocery stores that are open, places to get water and such. People venture out in a place like Houston on icy and snow covered roads. Five minutes later 100 car pile-ups on every freeway and accidents at every surface street with a traffic light. Houston traffic is bad on a good day!