The Flood & WHAM's Lonsberry

[dampier]

Living on Elmwood near 12 Corners put me dead on target for the nasty flooding that trashed the southeastern part of the city and Brighton on Friday. I got caught trying to get back home from Perinton after loading a trunk of groceries that were totally soaked (along with me), before coming to a dead stop on 490 along with everyone else.

I did a quick bandscan and found WHAM was really the only one spending a lot of time on this so I listened and actually found Lonsberry to be tolerable for a change. No annoying side remarks - just putting forth support for everyone stuck up to two hours on the road.

Getting home was no small feat. We managed to get up 490W in the passing lane approaching Culver Road when we made our own path by U-turning by the elevated hill with the flag and flowers between the east and west lanes. That turned into a trend soon enough as a lot of cars started heading down the also-near-empty eastbound lanes.

After managing to navigate around the mini-lake that had formed just before 490E breaks into 590, we ended up... stopped... again. The Highland Avenue bridge was flooded (it ALWAYS floods in the southbound lane on 590). I never did hear anyone reference that, but over 20 minutes we managed to get into the far left lane (the highest) and west through water that nearly reached the engine block. I was actually surprised the public safety officials let us drive through it because it was so deep. Several cars never made it. After getting through that, I managed my quick exit to Elmwood and discovered lots of problems all along the Elmwood/12 Corners to Winton/490 area... lots and lots of basements flooded... yards flooded, etc. A huge mess.

My house, built in 1940, doesn't even have a floor drain or sump pump, yet I discovered a small puddle at the lowest point of water which must have come up through the floor. I've been through more than a few of these drainage floods and wasn't in the mood for it again.

I spent the rest of the afternoon with WHAM until they went back to Limbaugh, who was as annoying to me as ever, and then it was just wait and see what would happen next.

I was somewhat surprised why I didn't see more of this all over the news, but then realized it didn't really cause too much drama outside of a corridor that worked its way from Monroe Avenue Pittsford basically up 590 all the way to Irondequoit, where water pooled all over the place near Hot Dog Row by the lake.

 

[Element9]

Radio's Best

>
> I spent the rest of the afternoon with WHAM until they went
> back to Limbaugh, who was as annoying to me as ever, and
> then it was just wait and see what would happen next.
>
> I was somewhat surprised why I didn't see more of this all
> over the news, but then realized it didn't really cause too
> much drama outside of a corridor that worked its way from
> Monroe Avenue Pittsford basically up 590 all the way to
> Irondequoit, where water pooled all over the place near Hot
> Dog Row by the lake.
>


These are the times when local radio can shine most brightly by informing and assisting those in need. Live and local wins. Unfortunately, some radio stations aren't as prepared as they should be.

Buffalo radio performs best when a blizzard approaches or hits the community, forcing even the FM iPods to respond with information and well-measured assurance that "we're all in this together and it's gonna be all right."

It's a time when listeners, can judge the professionalism and acountability of the men and women who are usually rolling through "ten in a row." Quite pleasantly, most of the music jocks rise to the call to duty. Yet there have been PD's who've told their staffs "not to make a big thing of it... keep playin' the hits." That's wrong.

It will be interesting to see how Buffalo Jack responds to such emergencies, when and should they occur this winter. When bad weather and calamity strike, it likely won't be Jack FM or the stations that are voice-tracked that repond to listeners' needs with reports of closings, traffic snarls, power outages and where or how to get food and shelter. WBEN, WBFO, WNED-AM, 97 Rock and WYRK likely will be in the forefront of any storm reporting.

What would happen if a New Orleans situation befell Buffalo and/or Rochester this winter: A devastating blizzard or ice storm that knocks out some, but not all, radio stations' capabilities to originate programming from their own studios.

Would we see in Buffalo and Rochester the co-operation exhibited (albeit by necessity) between Entercom's WWL and Clear Channel in New Orleans? That may have been a marriage of necessity, but if you've listened to WWL during the last 12 days, you've heared Clear Channel air talent sharing the on-air chores with the Entercom people from WWL... and commercial breaks packed with insurance company commercials and other hurricane related commercials.

What Buffalo cluster would be in the best position to originate programming? Entercom, ensconsed in upper-crust digs in Amherst? Infinity, high above it all in the Rand building? Citadel, in its spartan but well-situated ground floor complex in East Buffalo?

The answer depends largely on the scale of the disaster, where it hits and where the power fails. Most listeners would like to think there'd be co-operation, but the realist and skeptic might be inclined to believe there'd most likely be vindictive exclusivity along the lines of, "We're on. They're off. It sucks to be them. Call their clients and get them on our stations."

I suspect WBFO and WNED-AM would pool their resources. As to the commercial stations, is there one GM in Buffalo that would rise to greatness?

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