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WVLT and Lightning

R

Radio Wreck

Recently I spoke with someone I know who is associated with WVLT (who shall remain nameless) who told me one of the most baffling things I’ve ever heard. Apparently WVLT had to order a new board for the main studio because the last one got struck by lightning. Yes, you read that correctly. Supposedly whenever there is lightning in the area, they run the risk of their tower getting struck and the board getting fried. He said it’s happened multiple times in the past but the last strike was so severe that the board can’t be fixed this time.

Has anyone ever heard of this? How is this even a thing? I don’t understand how a radio station can operate knowing that they’re literally a lightning strike away from going off the air. He said they usually turn off the main studio and go to a computer feed during a bad storm but whoever was on the air failed to do so when they got hit again a few weeks ago. My question is, if they don’t fix whatever is causing this, how long until the new board is blown out?
 
IIRC, WVLT's studios are in a literal trailer, so I can't believe they have any of it grounded to, say, a cold water pipe. With that being said, no, there shouldn't be any reason on earth that a board would get struck by lightning. It's not physically impossible, of course, but under any normal circumstance, this shouldn't be a thing that happens. I've seen ham radio guys work contests in the woods before, during storms, and have no issues (though no one would recommend doing so, but you get my point).

WVLT is a great local radio station though, don't get me wrong. It's a downright miracle they're still on the air, lightning and all!

Final point - listen closely to their signal. When they have silence on air, you can actually hear their Spanish AM station (WMIZ 1270) bleeding through on their FM signal. It's quiet, but it's very noticeable. That pretty much says it all about WVLT.
 
radiodx10 said:
IIRC, WVLT's studios are in a literal trailer, so I can't believe they have any of it grounded to, say, a cold water pipe. With that being said, no, there shouldn't be any reason on earth that a board would get struck by lightning. It's not physically impossible, of course, but under any normal circumstance, this shouldn't be a thing that happens. I've seen ham radio guys work contests in the woods before, during storms, and have no issues (though no one would recommend doing so, but you get my point).

WVLT is a great local radio station though, don't get me wrong. It's a downright miracle they're still on the air, lightning and all!

Final point - listen closely to their signal. When they have silence on air, you can actually hear their Spanish AM station (WMIZ 1270) bleeding through on their FM signal. It's quiet, but it's very noticeable. That pretty much says it all about WVLT.
Click to expand...
radiodx10 said:
IIRC, WVLT's studios are in a literal trailer, so I can't believe they have any of it grounded to, say, a cold water pipe. With that being said, no, there shouldn't be any reason on earth that a board would get struck by lightning. It's not physically impossible, of course, but under any normal circumstance, this shouldn't be a thing that happens. I've seen ham radio guys work contests in the woods before, during storms, and have no issues (though no one would recommend doing so, but you get my point).

WVLT is a great local radio station though, don't get me wrong. It's a downright miracle they're still on the air, lightning and all!

Final point - listen closely to their signal. When they have silence on air, you can actually hear their Spanish AM station (WMIZ 1270) bleeding through on their FM signal. It's quiet, but it's very noticeable. That pretty much says it all about WVLT.
Click to expand...
Our studios are not in a trailer. Yes we have been struck by lightning
 
So Tommy -T and I went through the whole audio stream from the transmitter to the building and cleaned up all of the audio. Yes our equipment is old but some of that old stuff makes it sound good. We are currently working on the ground situation.
 


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