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WIOD under fire by Broward County

I think it's interesting that the Herald had more information and a better overall story than Broward's own Sun-Sentinel.

WLRN? Get serious. They get their news from the Herald or a simulcast of TV. FTL? Get double probation serious. They don't even have a news department. I'm sure the deal will go thru - when it comes to storm coverage, no station comes close to WIOD's. Plus, I'm sure the commisioners are getting whacked because they are looking pretty stupid and petty.
 
Just a mysterious visitor from the Northeast: one point Rush was making in favor of WIOD is the "fact" that WIOD has the strongest Miami-based signal in Broward County. If you use www.v-soft.com's signal-strength feature and enter a random Zip Code for Lauderhill, the strongest signal belongs to WINZ-AM (if you must use AM). It's a 50KW signal ND-Days transmitting from NW of Miami; WIOD is a DIRECTIONAL 5KW signal from Miami itself. The computer says no!
 
I'm not from your area, but...

If Broward County's Commission was truly serious about disseminating information during a natural emergency (such as a hurricane), they would air their press conferences on every station. (Or offer them to every station.)

I thought something like a hurricane (which to me seems to qualify as a reason to activate the
Emergency Alert System) is something you want everybody to know about...not just the 2-share News-Talk audience. I would think your music stations would also want to air hurricane related info. If they're not,
I'd be challenging them at license-renewal time.

And, for the Commission to try and play partisan politics here smacks of rube-ism. They're making themselves look very foolish.

Sorry, WIOD. There can be an "official weather station". But, to me, there shouldn't be an "official emergency weather station". No station should hold "exclusivity" on an emergency.
 
WINZ does have a terrific signal but WIOD has better reach, probably because of its lower dial location, not to mention x-mitter towers in salt water.

The "deal" such as it is, as I see it, ensures that information gets out. It doesn't exclude any station from doing their duty. WIOD has the biggest news department - may be the only radio news department in South Florida - and has access to 6 other signals to simulcast on. The "deal" merely allows Broward County to tel residents that FOR SURE where information can be broadcast. Souinds pretty smart for county to do this and,yes, certainly good for WIOD.
 
Laurence Glavin said:
Just a mysterious visitor from the Northeast: one point Rush was making in favor of WIOD is the "fact" that WIOD has the strongest Miami-based signal in Broward County. If you use www.v-soft.com's signal-strength feature and enter a random Zip Code for Lauderhill, the strongest signal belongs to WINZ-AM (if you must use AM). It's a 50KW signal ND-Days transmitting from NW of Miami; WIOD is a DIRECTIONAL 5KW signal from Miami itself. The computer says no!
Click to expand...

WIOD is actually transmitting at 10,000 watts day and night under an STA. WINZ is in a simular situation with a 25,000 watt nighttime STA. They have a good daytime signal, but at nighttime the way their signal is propogated, it's hugged within Broward and Dade counties along the coastline. When I lived in Miami, I had no trouble picking up WIOD in Broward and Dade counties. The computer can be very generous with the AM patterns, as it doesn't take into account things like ground-friendly dial positions, interference from nearby or Class A frequencies (ex: WIOD is on a frequency with no Class A stations, while WINZ has to deal with XEQ on 940 from Mexico City), and interference from Cuba.
 
WIOD is actually transmitting at 10,000 watts day and night under an STA. WINZ is in a simular situation with a 25,000 watt nighttime STA. They have a good daytime signal, but at nighttime the way their signal is propogated, it's hugged within Broward and Dade counties along the coastline. When I lived in Miami, I had no trouble picking up WIOD in Broward and Dade counties. The computer can be very generous with the AM patterns, as it doesn't take into account things like ground-friendly dial positions, interference from nearby or Class A frequencies (ex: WIOD is on a frequency with no Class A stations, while WINZ has to deal with XEQ on 940 from Mexico City), and interference from Cuba.
[/quote]

Hurricane season runs from June through November, with the highest incidents June, July and August, plus a chance of one or two in September. These are very long days when WINZ would be running 50KW NDA from sunrise to sunset. The 940 in Cuber (we talk funny up here) is a puny 1,000 watter, not one of Fidel's border blasters.
 
Faraway said:
WINZ does have a terrific signal but WIOD has better reach, probably because of its lower dial location, not to mention x-mitter towers in salt water.

The "deal" such as it is, as I see it, ensures that information gets out. It doesn't exclude any station from doing their duty. WIOD has the biggest news department - may be the only radio news department in South Florida - and has access to 6 other signals to simulcast on. The "deal" merely allows Broward County to tel residents that FOR SURE where information can be broadcast. Souinds pretty smart for county to do this and,yes, certainly good for WIOD.
Click to expand...


I agree. But, wouldn't it be better if, during an emergency, every station paid attention to its' charge from the FCC to serve "the public interest, convenience and necessity" and broadcast the emergency information?

One of the lessons radio learned after 9/11 was, if you have a big emergency, you're better off airing news (even if it's in
"update" form) than sticking to your format and playing "another 12 in a row"! I would assume Floridians do consider hurricanes a little bit bigger than your average thunderstorm.
 
KevinFodor said:
I agree. But, wouldn't it be better if, during an emergency, every station paid attention to its' charge from the FCC to serve "the public interest, convenience and necessity" and broadcast the emergency information?
Click to expand...

It would be better, but not all stations choose to do so, sadly. Stations that don't have an in-house news staff will plug in something like a local TV simulcast. The brokered paytoilets won't do anything because the shows paid good time for those airwaves.
 
If there were a true emergency, WINZ would simulcast WIOD's programming. They are both under the same roof, in fact, with studio right next to one another.
 
raydioaydio said:
If there were a true emergency, WINZ would simulcast WIOD's programming. They are both under the same roof, in fact, with studio right next to one another.
Click to expand...

Don't forget the FMs. They'll break away from music for emergency information.
 
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