WPTL returns after Helene

[vchimpanzee]

Canton, west of Asheville, was one of the worst-hit communities. WPTL is the community radio station in the county, after two others were moved to Asheville by iHeart.

A voice in the dark: how WPTL got back on air against all odds after Helene

Dawn was just starting to break when Teryll Evans was forced abandon ship at WPTL radio station in downtown Canton and make fast tracks for home before the Pigeon River

www.themountaineer.com

 

[secondchoice]

This why I hope local radio doesn't go away. National networks might work in other countries but I doubt a European style radio network station or even KLove would have local folks to respond to a "local" emergency when EAS doesn't function.

 

[vchimpanzee]

This why I hope local radio doesn't go away. National networks might work in other countries but I doubt a European style radio network station or even KLove would have local folks to respond to a "local" emergency when EAS doesn't function.

There's another article with more but you would be asked to pay. I can see all of them with my library card. It's a year in review series.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

This why I hope local radio doesn't go away. National networks might work in other countries but I doubt a European style radio network station or even KLove would have local folks to respond to a "local" emergency when EAS doesn't function.

klove can and has broken in to programming with their team for large scale emergencies like wildfires... they can use their news team and push updates for a specific station to their satellite receiever

 

[secondchoice]

As the article said, there was limited local communion. No way someone in California or Nashville could have accurate information. Supposedly the EAS should allow the local authorities to take over station but that rarely happens. No Internet data, no phone, no cell service so I believe it would be difficult to get info to KLove ( or any other satellite service so they could send it to the satellite and activate the local receiver even if the transmitter is working. Canton was lucky in that someone with knowledge was "in town" and they could hook up a generator and start emergency programming instead and of waiting for day for someone to get over closed I40.

I dealt with local emergency authorities twenty + years ago and you would be surprised how many county emergency services centers back then don't even have pages in their manuals on accessing local radio, and cable systems. Even now not everyone has thier Facebook account on 24 / 7.

The National Weather Service (Atlanta Office) does a good job with cell phone and traditional media notifications but too many rural countries are not good at notifying folks of non weather emergencies. Reverse 911 is the exception rather than then norm in a lot of rural areas.

BTW my former employer had reverse 911 capable switches as an option but some of the smaller phone companies would not spend the money. Voice over Internet puts and extra layer of difficulty for any 911 center to keep everyone accessible.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Something I noticed was that it was the translator they got on the air first. Even with the power out, I don't know if they would have good results with the AM signal in Maggie Valley or Waynesville based on my experience. Certainly not at night. And the translator is high on a mountain though repairs had to be made to get there. Their signal is about the same as the Class A FM that used to be up there. That station moved to Asheville to have a better signal.