More Radio Hurricane Stories

Stevens

Hurricane (and Tropical Storm) IRENE is a memory now, but stories about the storm's affect on radio continue to roll in. 

COX MEDIA GROUP/CONNECTICUT has taken all of its stations, (WPLR, WEZN, WFOX, WSTC and WNLK) and have created a "IRENE Aftermath" simulcast. where key talents from each station work together on-air to answer questions from listeners, interview officials and give out important information.

"In the two days that we’ve done this, we’ve spoken to Sen. JOE LIEBERMAN, Gov. MALLOY, as well as the state attorney general and numerous state reps, mayors and power officials." CMG/CT Rock PD KEITH DAKIN said. "It is the only coverage of its kind in CONNECTICUT, a state that had more the 700,000 people without power."

JAMES CRYSTAL RADIO Talk WFTL-A/MIAMI-FORT LAUDERDALE-WEST PALM BEACH host RICH STEVENS checks in to note that his show following up on the storm MONDAY (8/29) included several guests whose names will be familiar to the radio industry, calling in to talk about the storm from the NORTHEAST.  Among the radio and music folks calling in were music industry veteran ANTHONY IOVINO, former CLEAR CHANNEL Top 40 WHTZ (Z100)/NEW YORK personality JOHN BELL, CBS RADIO Hot AC WBMX (MIX 104.1)/BOSTON morning co-host KARSON TAGER, CBS RADIO Oldies WCBS-F/NEW YORK's RON PARKER, and several more.  STEVENS also went on MERLIN MEDIA News WEMP (FM NEWS 101.9)/NEW YORK after WFTL simulcast that station's hurricane coverage over the weekend.

Meanwhile, the BALTIMORE SUN's DAVID ZURAWIK reports that HEARST News-Talk WBAL-A/BALTIMORE went off the air for five hours due to what GM ED KIERNAN called "a major power issue, and it is weather-related."  The station was on the air for the duration of the storm but lost power MONDAY, returning at 5:30p (ET) in time to air the ORIOLES game; in the meantime, regular programming streamed online.

And the hurricane even had a radio casualty in the WHITE HOUSE, where the basement booth used by SALEM RADIO NETWORK was flooded.  "I walked into the booth this morning and noticed the smell first. It was not fresh," SRN WHITE HOUSE correspondent GREG CLUGSTON told POLITICO. "Then I realized the floor was wet."  Power-drying equipment left the area with "smelly-feet odor," POLITICO reported.

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