Radio post wildfires?

[RFCCRadioAudio]

Have any stations in the Knoxville market lost their transmitters since the wildfires started?

Also, what are the remaining stations in the Knoxville market airing right now?

 

[ThePowerCow]

Been listening to WIVK online. They mentioned they were on generators last night. The tower is on Bluff Mountain. Their coverage has been excellent.

 

[knoxbob]

I tried tuning into WSEV FM @ 105.5 and WPFT FM @ 106.3 today and both must be off due to either no power or the fire got to their shared tower. Their web site doesn't mention anything about being off the air, or the fires for that matter.

 

[gr8oldies]

I heard WSEV-FM this morning in the 9am hour, I didn't check for WPFT.
WIVK's Jimmy Holt tweeted that they were live 1:30pm or so. About the same time Jack Ryan (usually on Merle) posted that he was on his way to go live on Praise 96.3. 98.7 had extensive coverage this morning.

 

[RMarino]

I checked around for some Sevier County coverage this afternoon. 105.5 and 106.3 were all off the air. Even 930 was off. However, 104.1 was loud and clear. So since they were the lone Sevier County based station broadcasting, were they providing a valuable public service for local residents and tourists? Of course not! They were rolling the same automated playlist and same 10 commercials in a row.

 

[gr8oldies]

I imagine nobody in the Newport cluster gave a second thought to providing any coverage; but then again, who'd have known to go look for it there?

 

[KayJayJay]

Sad to see places in Gatlinburg that I watched as a child being built in the 60s and 70s end so tragically. Trusting that all is well with our friends in Sevier County. gr8oldies, any impact on your end?

 

[gr8oldies]

Not directly as I live in South Knoxville and my workplace is in downtown Sevierville. One of my co-workers and her family lost their home, which they had 3 minutes to escape. Other friends have lost homes as well. Working in Sevier County tourism, I can tell you it's a constant battle against #fakenews (claims that Gatlinburg is "gone" or "destroyed" as only one example.). Not to minimize the horrific fire that people have just gone through (my co-workers' story of escape is harrowing), but we still have a tourist economy-and lots of jobs- to preserve.

Sad to see places in Gatlinburg that I watched as a child being built in the 60s and 70s end so tragically. Trusting that all is well with our friends in Sevier County. gr8oldies, any impact on your end?

 

[Tibbs4]

I happened to catch a live interview with a caller on WATE-TV who said he had gone by WSEV-FM and had talked to Gypsy Jess or had gone on the air with her. I cannot exactly recall what this caller said. He sounded like an experienced broadcaster. Smooth and articulate, etc. He did a very good job of describing his ordeal, including helping get people to safety. I don't know/recall the exact details, as I was having trouble getting a good signal online from WATE. He did point out that there was very little actual news or warnings on any of the stations and that everything was automated and there were no emergency systems or live coverage from the local radio stations. I do think he said Jess had him in the studio or on the air, but I swear he said Jess was a male. It may have been another person at the station as I would not have expected Jess (11:30A - 6P on air) to be at the station so late in the evening. . I wonder if there was any actual local minute-by-minute radio/TV coverage that was not coming from Knoxville and I wonder what stations in Knoxville (radio) were doing any live updates or suspended music to help warn the people in Gatlinburg.

 

[TheBigA]

I wonder what stations in Knoxville (radio) were doing any live updates or suspended music to help warn the people in Gatlinburg.

Keep in mind that the way this is supposed to work is local emergency officials are in charge of the situation. They contact radio and tell them what to say. From what I can see, that hasn't happened. It's not radio's job to warn people, unless they've been told what to say. Otherwise they could incite panic, which is exactly the wrong thing. But here's a story that outlines what a couple of stations in Knoxville have done:

https://www.countryaircheck.com/art/48609

 

[davideduardo]

He did point out that there was very little actual news or warnings on any of the stations and that everything was automated and there were no emergency systems or live coverage from the local radio stations.

While stations may report on the news, as BigA states, it is the local authorities (Civil Defense, Fire, Rescue, Police, governments) who issue "warnings". The general method for this is to do an EAS alert, including TV radio and cellular phones. Whether a station is automated or not, the EAS system can be activated and messages aired under the authority of the proper authorities.

No station has the ability or capacity to declare an emergency or issue a warning.

wonder if there was any actual local minute-by-minute radio/TV coverage that was not coming from Knoxville and I wonder what stations in Knoxville (radio) were doing any live updates or suspended music to help warn the people in Gatlinburg.

There is a difference between news coverage and emergency alerts. As someone who has seen California and Arizona wildfires up close, I know that the media does not have access to the front lines as they are "kept safe" and out of the way. If the authorities want to broadcast detailed information, they ask for it or trigger the EAS.

In the case of fires, the first lines of the alert system are calls to all landlines and cellphones in the area. This is followed by door to door Fire Department orders of evacuation. In most cases, deaths and injuries are attributed to failure to heed such warnings by people who did not want to leave their homes.

 

[TheBigA]

The general method for this is to do an EAS alert, including TV radio and cellular phones. Whether a station is automated or not, the EAS system can be activated and messages aired under the authority of the proper authorities.

In terms of practicality, officials typically get the word out to the media by a press conference. We saw that a lot with various hurricanes around the coasts that necessitated evacuation. Emergency officials hold a press conference informing everyone of the situation. That way, their message reaches all media, not just broadcasters.

 

[gr8oldies]

There was literally NO warning! Certainly no time to activate an EAS. In the case of my co-worker, they were worried about the air quality but no one had any clue the fire was going to spread into town. (The air looked like the dead of night all day Monday). She was on Facebook on her phone and saw a video someone posted of fire nearby. Her husband looked out the window, saw burning embers and fire at their driveway. They gathered everyone up and out the door....driving down a mountain with fire on both sides. There were no police of fire directing traffic it came so fast. They lost 2 pets, one they couldn't find quickly and one that jumped out of their car and ran away once they had stopped at a motel. I don't believe any blame can be placed on radio (some stations were still live as of the time it started, including News Talk 98.7).
Press conferences are being held and broadcast twice daily.

 

[gr8oldies]

I didn't realize these 2 stations being off the air was going to be a longer term thing, noted both 105.5 and 106.3 both off this (Thursday) afternoon

I checked around for some Sevier County coverage this afternoon. 105.5 and 106.3 were all off the air. Even 930 was off. However, 104.1 was loud and clear. So since they were the lone Sevier County based station broadcasting, were they providing a valuable public service for local residents and tourists? Of course not! They were rolling the same automated playlist and same 10 commercials in a row.

 

[Ktownradioman]

According to 105.5 and 106.3's websites they are back on the air but power has not been restored to their facilities. I'm wondering what they are using and where they are broadcasting from. I can usually pick them up from my house in Maryville but still nothing on either frequencys. They did add online streaming though so that's a plus.

 

[Tibbs4]

I had written a mile long bashing of what happened and why radio was not a source for news/information. Out of respect to those who fought to help others, in good faith, which I think would have been all involved, I send out my thoughts and prayers to all who lost loved ones, property and the way of life in Gatlinburg and do not question the way they attempted to alert/warn or protect the community.

 

[davideduardo]

I had written a mile long bashing of what happened and why radio was not a source for news/information. Out of respect to those who fought to help others, in good faith, which I think would have been all involved, I send out my thoughts and prayers to all who lost loved ones, property and the way of life in Gatlinburg and do not question the way they attempted to alert/warn or protect the community.

That's gotta' be one looooong difficult to read paragraph.

Again, each area of the country has some form of natural disaster alert plan. It is in the hands of local authorities, and usually a combined effort of various agencies and governments.

In many cases, the EAS is not used for this type of event which moves relatively slowly over an area and can be predicted to some extent. Similarly, I have been in many hurricanes in Puerto Rico and Florida and the EAS was never activated. And I have been in huge forest fire areas in SoCal and the EAS was not triggered, either.

Automatic dialing devices are used for landlines in affected areas and for cell towers in the same regions. Police cars may drive through neighborhoods with loudspeakers. Fire personnel may go door to door to urge evacuation. Sometimes helicopters with speakers are deployed to spread the evacuation notice.

Hoping that residents in an area being approached by a fire are listening to the radio is not effective. At peak listening times, only about 10% of the population is using radio. At night the figure is about half that. Overnights it is likely to be perhaps one in a hundred people if that.

And again, whether there are live people at a station or not is irrelevant. In the event of an EAS, the stations in the system do not originate... local authorities do. Stations just relay messages, and they do that with no need for human intervention... in fact, it can be said that the system works better if nobody manually messes with it.

There is a danger in having stations that are all music based attempting to do what they can not do well which is cover the news. Any information they might give "manually" is likely to be coming from third parties and could be late, alarmist or wrong. Most folks are smart enough that, when notified by phone or the police going door to door, they will look for the "news source" station for additional info. They won't be wondering if Jack will stop playing what he wants to give fire information.

 

[davideduardo]

There was literally NO warning! Certainly no time to activate an EAS. In the case of my co-worker, they were worried about the air quality but no one had any clue the fire was going to spread into town. (The air looked like the dead of night all day Monday). She was on Facebook on her phone and saw a video someone posted of fire nearby. Her husband looked out the window, saw burning embers and fire at their driveway. They gathered everyone up and out the door....driving down a mountain with fire on both sides. There were no police of fire directing traffic it came so fast. They lost 2 pets, one they couldn't find quickly and one that jumped out of their car and ran away once they had stopped at a motel. I don't believe any blame can be placed on radio (some stations were still live as of the time it started, including News Talk 98.7).
Press conferences are being held and broadcast twice daily.

So the real issue was that local authorities were not anticipating the spread of the fire and did not notify area residents as they should have. In areas more prone to fires, there are well organized plans for notification at the address level in person, by landline and by cellular phone.

From your friend's experience, it sounds like no such plan was in place. And if they did not know where the fire was going, they could not give information to the media to disseminate.

There will likely be some finger pointing as to why there was no organized plan for alert and evacuation notices. That would seem likely to be the case where such a fire has not happened in a century. Here in Palm Springs, I'll betcha' they don't have a hurricane evacuation plan ready to implement, either.

 

[KayJayJay]

Pertaining to mobile devices:

http://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/...dcast-hours-after-fire-reached-city/94745606/

 

[TheBigA]

It's an interesting statement that even with all the electronic media available, we as a population don't necessarily monitor those kinds of centralized, mass media channels that once effectively reached large percentages of people. We're all locked into our own narrow interest devices, quite often time-shifting content from live delivery to a more convenient time. Thus, when "the big one" comes, we may be connected, but we won't be monitoring the most appropriate channel to receive warning. That's not a radio problem. That's a user problem. Too many channels, too many devices, reaching too many narrow interests to communicate emergency information. You can send texts, but their devices have to be registered on the system to receive those texts. Radio can pre-empt music with news, but people have to be monitoring your station when the warnings go out. The radio won't turn itself on. Just because you present the proper information is no guarantee anyone will HEAR it. And that's the situation we're in today.