Hurricane Ian Devastating Florida
• Hurricane Ian made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast just south of Punta Gorda near Pirate Harbor, around 4:30 Wednesday afternoon as a strong Category 4 storm packing maximum sustained winds of 145 mph. The National Hurricane Center warned of Ian’s life-threatening and “potentially historic” storm surges and warned that certain locations may be “uninhabitable for an extended period.”
NBC News reports that Ian is the 4th strongest hurricane to make landfall in Florida, and at press time, more than 2 million Floridians were without power. Estimates of possible damage run into untold billions of dollars.
Tommy Chuck, SVP of Programming for iHeartMedia West Central Florida tells RAMP, “We are all good in Tampa Bay. Unfortunately, our friends to the south aren’t as lucky — really awful video coming from the Ft. Myers, Punta Gorda area. We have been in longform coverage on WFLA since 5am Tuesday, and WMTX (Mix 100.7) joined that coverage at 8pm Tuesday. All other iHeart Tampa Bay and Sarasota stations joined the coverage by 7am Wednesday.” Chuck added, “We have a dedicated broadcast team formed from personalities across our Tampa stations along with the 24/7 News Team spread across the state. We are providing a radio-specific broadcast around the clock, utilizing experts from local TV affiliate as well as Weather Channel. We don’t plan to stop until this is all behind us.”
• As of Wednesday afternoon, Naples, FL, the corporate hometown of Beasley Media Group, had already set a new storm surge record of 9+ feet. Beasley spokesperson Heidi Raphael reports that the offices are closed and will reopen once Hurricane Ian has passed, and the roads are clear. “The health and safety of our employees is our top priority,” she said.
AJ Lurie, VP/Market Manager of Beasley Ft. Myers & Naples reports: “All is holding steady in Fort Myers. We stuck to our original timeline and went syndication at 6pm Tuesday. We are simulcasting NBC-2. The team is holding up well.” Steve Triplett, VP/Market Manager, Beasley Tampa said, “Our live shows signed off at 11am Wednesday and we are simulcasting WFTS (ABC) weather on all stations. Power is out at the WLLD tower site, but the generator is running, and we can move to the back-up site if necessary. It’s windy and rainy here at the building but no issues so far.”
Beasley is partnering with the American Red Cross as part of the company’s ongoing Community of Caring Initiative to support Individuals and families who are directly impacted by Hurricane Ian. BMG stations will invite listeners and advertisers to show their support by making monetary donations online. In addition to running on air and online public service announcements, the initiative will be supported utilizing Quu in-car dashboard messaging to encourage listeners to donate to the Red Cross.
• As you read this, Ian is slowly moving inland toward the Orlando and Daytona Beach area. We checked in with Bob Walker, VP of Programming for Hall Communications in Lakeland, FL, who tells us that Ian’s eye wall was expected to pass through their metro very early this morning near Winter Haven. “Our main concern is river flooding,” Walker says. “12 inches of rain in a day will even saturate our soil. We joined Bay News 9 coverage simulcast on all of our stations while the storm rages. We’re manned 24/7 to answer calls and insert our own content. Once Ian moves out of the metro, our people will go back on live for hyper-local content street by street on WPCV, WWRZ and WLKF. For now, we’re all safe and hunkered down.” [Map courtesy of FOX 35/Orlando]
