Dallas Radio Responds To Shooting Tragedy

George Cook

Once again, radio has become the first responder in the midst of a civic tragedy -- this time in DALLAS. SERVICE BROADCASTING/DALLAS Urban KKDA (K-104) and Urban AC KRNB (105.7) were at the peaceful non-violent rally in downtown DALLAS last night which turned violent; resulting in the shooting deaths of five police officers.

Dir./Operations GEORGE ‘GEO’ COOK told ALL ACCESS, “We started giving updates as the story broke last night/overnight. Our K104 morning show anchor DEDE MCGUIRE is on vacation in MEXICO and was unavailable. We stopped best of programming to have DEDE IN THE MORNING co-hosts LADY JADE and MICHAEL SHAWN and community leaders update, inform and comfort the audience."

We are all heartbroken by the devastating and disturbing sniper ambush of Dallas Police and DART officers last night in downtown Dallas.

"We are all heartbroken by the devastating and disturbing sniper ambush of DALLAS POLICE and DART officers last night in downtown DALLAS. Dedicated members of our K-104 Street Team and KRNB Smooth Crew were there covering the peaceful protest and witnessed the chaos. We are glad for their safety. Our prayers and deepest condolences go out to the families of the officers who were killed or injured while putting themselves in harm's way to protect our citizens. We applaud our Mayor MIKE RAWLINGS and our Police Chief DAVID BROWN for providing great leadership and resolve to secure our great city and save lives. All of us at SERVICE BROADCASTING stand strong with our police department, city officials, community leaders and the great citizens of DALLAS as we heal our city and begin to recover from these tragic events. Please continue to #PRAYFORDALLAS."

"KRNB MD KEITH SOLIS gave updates this morning on KRNB during THE STEVE HARVEY MORNING SHOW along with community leader interviews.  He has also been giving updates on the situation to various stations around the country."  

SOLIS shared with ALL ACCESS, “It has been a crazy morning, not only were KRNB AND K-104 street vans were there, but SHANNON THOMAS, who works in our street department, took her own car down there and was down there all night, not able to leave because it’s an active crime scene. In fact, her vehicle is still there, she had to UBER out. SHANNON was down there taking video of the peaceful rally with her smart phone for us when all the shooting started. Part of downtown DALLAS is still shut down and there is nobody allowed in are out.”

For updates on the situation check here.

iHeartMedia Responds

iHEARTMEDIA's DALLAS cluster went all-news THURSDAY night; the nonstop coverage continued in the next day's morning shows. Each morning show provided updates along with Traffic focusing on downtown closures. Local business owners, the city's Public Service director, local police officers along with the market's listeners aired grief and thoughts throughout the morning

Also, iHEARTMEDIA stations re-imaged to include “#Dallas Strong; its websites were completely focused on latest news events and local information. Social networking was also activated to inform as well, and reinforce the “#DallasStrong” messaging, while news updates continue to run every hour on all stations.

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