The Caribbean Cleans Up Post-Irma As Florida Preps And Evacuates

The Islands Were Hit Hard

As FLORIDA prepares for the arrival of HURRICANE IRMA, many in THE CARIBBEAN are left cleaning up. ALL ACCESS reached out to radio on several islands, with some of them unlikely to have the resources to respond, but we reached RAAD Broadcasting Spanish Contemporary WXYX (LA X)/PUERTO RICO PD HERMAN DÁVILA, who told us, "We really got lucky this time. All of the three stations that transmit LA X were able to keep transmitting through the storm, and our Radio Visual App, 'LA X Radio Visual' kept going even though a lot of the fiber optics cables ended up in the ground."

"Before the storm we visited all transmitter sites," he continued, "got rid of possible threats, filled up all our electric generators. To keep our programming and keep our audience informed, here at the main station we had a two personality crew that practically lived at the station during the storm, going to the air alternating every 5 hours each. We had redundancy on internet suppliers to have access to weather radars, information, etc. We have cable to to have access to local TV news teams but the service ended early. The station staff made a chat group and kept sharing info with the air personalities, phone lines where kept active and our audience was reporting and sharing their stories on the air. Since we are doing visual radio too we were able to transmit through our web page and our app the Emergency Press Conferences, and other news from local reporters. We had a little trouble getting to the main studio with two big trees blocking our entrance to the station (photo) but we sure got them out."

DÁVILA summed up, "Now we are on a road to help recover the island, not everyone was so lucky, so we are working hard already with our main personalities on air. During the storm sometimes it felt like the world was going to end, I think we had a big break here."

UNO RADIO GROUP Top 40/R WTOK/PUERTO RICO OD HECTOR MATOS told us, "Thank God we're fine. HURRICANE IRMA was projected to pass very close to us, but fortunately turned north and the damage was minimal. During the day YESTERDAY at 4p, we joined the programming to the news station 'NOTI UNO 630,' and we were informing the audience of everything related to HURRICANE IRMA until 11p."

iHeartMedia Prepares In Florida

At iHEARTMEDIA/TALLAHASSEE, the market’s five radio stations are regularly tracking updates and are prepared with a full staff to broadcast wall-to-wall coverage of the storm, including up-to-date storm and traffic information as well as resources for emergency situations and community relief.  

An iHEART spokesperson said, "Currently we’re on-air reminding listeners that if their power goes out they can still hear our stations’ emergency broadcast information as well as updates on when it’s safe to return home via battery powered radios and the iHEARTRADIO app. On the web and social media our stations are showcasing a StormWatch page and providing storm tips to the community, such as how to report price gouging, keeping your cell phone charged in a storm and more. If the storm comes closer, we’re prepared to simulcast News/Talk WFLA/TALLAHASSEE across all stations with staff from each station helping with the broadcast, station operations and phones." 

In addition, iHEART has all local markets stocked up on items such as generator fuel, food, water, emergency supplies, extra batteries and chargers. Employee safety is a priority, and all markets are prepared to support our staff that stay to help the community during the storm. iHEART will also continue to work directly with local county Public Information Officers for LEO's and EMA's for relief information, shelters and traffic updates.

"Our stations in FLORIDA have also completed their standard operating procedures for hurricane preparation by checking on generators, fuel, transmitters, and by backing up systems and servers," iHEART told ALL ACCESS."Our disaster assets have been moved to a staging area in JACKSONVILLE, and supplemental engineering staff will arrive in ORLANDO today to assist local markets throughout the storm."

JOHN LUND, iHEARTMEDIA Markets Group SVP/Programming-PANAMA CITY and TALLAHASSEE, FL, tells ALL ACCESS, "Our market’s five radio stations -- 100.7 WFLA, 94.9 TNT, X101.5, 107.1 KISS FM and 105.3 THE BEAT -- are regularly tracking updates and are prepared with a full staff to broadcast wall-to-wall coverage of the storm, including up-to-date storm and traffic information as well as resources for emergency situations and community relief.

"Currently we’re on-air reminding listeners that if their power goes out they can still hear our stations’ emergency broadcast information as well as updates on when it’s safe to return home via battery powered radios and the iHeartRadio app. On the web and social media our stations are showcasing a StormWatch page and providing storm tips to the community, such as how to report price gouging, keeping your cell phone charged in a storm and more.

"If the storm comes closer, we’re prepared to simulcast 100.7 WFLA, TALLAHASSEE’s News Talk station, across all stations with staff from each station helping with the broadcast, station operations and phones. In addition we’ve stocked up on supplies, such as generator fuel, food, water, extra batteries and chargers. We’ll also continue to work directly with local county Public Information Officers for LEOs and EMAs for relief information, shelters and traffic updates."

The Latest From Beasley Media

VP/Corporate Communications HEIDI RAPHAEL updated ALL ACCESS on their preparations:

"All of our stations in TAMPA are doing regular updates on air with our weather partner, ABC Action News. The jocks are giving updates on weather, shelters, sand bag stations, etc. We’re directing everyone to the station websites /Storm (ex. 995QYK.com/Storm) for all updates.  

"On the Storm pages, we’re populating feeds from ABC Action News and posting information and announcements from our local governments and the state. The pages are featured in our rotators and we have a breaking news bar across the top of the sites. When we social any updates, we direct people back to this page where all of the information is being updated.  

Meanwhile, in the FT. MYERS cluster that includes WXKB (B1039), WRXK (96KRock), WJPT (Sunny 106.3), WRXK-HD2 (Playa 98.1), WWCN (99.3ESPN) and WJBX:

"Our Hurricane Action Plan is in effect. This will include teaming up with WBBH–NBC and WZVN-ABC affiliates, providing our listeners with the very latest Hurricane information.

* 72 hours prior to landfall, every other hour, we will encourage our listeners to tune in to your stations for the latest information on Hurricane Irma.
* 48 hours prior to landfall, every hour.
* 24 hours, twice an hour.
* Tracking and projecting landfall times and places every hour.
* 10 hours before landfall to ground zero, we will providing updates every 20 minutes covering landfall info, public shelter info, preparedness info as it relates to safety and advisories from the National Weather Service and Emergency Management."

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