Dorian Crawling Toward The Coast
• As of yesterday, Hurricane Dorian was responsible for the deaths of at least five people in the Bahamas, weakening slightly to a Category 4 storm packing 145 mph winds, but remained “extremely dangerous,” according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. NBC News reports that Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach international airports had shut down on Monday ahead of the storm, and more than 200 flights were canceled to and from Orlando’s airport. Amtrak had also canceled some of its East Coast service.
As of Monday morning Dorian had stalled more than 105 miles east of West Palm Beach, and residents from Palm Beach County up toward Jacksonville were on warning to evacuate as the storm continued on a still-uncertain course toward the east coast of Florida, with possible impact on the low-lying coastal areas of Georgia, South Caroline and the Outer Banks of North Carolinas by the end of the week, pushing a potentially life-threatening storm surge ahead of it.
As always, radio groups were already executing their emergency plans to help keep their listeners informed and safe. Phil Michaels-Trueba, Director of Branding & Programming for Cox Media Urban AC WHQT (Hot 105)/Miami told RAMP, “For the past few days we have been in information mode, telling our listeners where to find gas, buy supplies and encouraging them to have a plan. Gas and bread are gold right now! Broward County is still under a Tropical storm watch. We only have essential personnel in the building as we broadcast to our audience LIVE and LOCAL in collaboration with our TV partner, WSVN 7.” He continued, “By Tuesday we anticipate this storm to finally move out of our area after stalling for 24 hours over the Bahamas.” And speaking of which, he added, “We need to pray for the Bahamas — they have been devastated by this storm and we are already ramping up our efforts to start our cluster relief drives to benefit our neighbors to the east. This will be our focus after the storm moves away from the area.”
• Tommy Chuck, SVP of Programming for iHeartMedia Tampa Bay told RAMP, “Over the past few days all iHeartMedia stations in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas have been busy preparing our facilities and personnel. We are holding regular status update meetings with our leadership team and reviewing all of our emergency plans. As the storm draws closer to the State of Florida, several of our stations have begun long-form storm coverage, branded as Operation Stormwatch™. These stations include WIOD/Miami, WJNO/West Palm Beach, WMMB/Melbourne, WFLF/Orlando and here at WFLA/Tampa. These broadcasts will continue as conditions warrant. We have teams of on-air hosts, producers and engineers stationed all around the state ready to provide long-form coverage for as long as conditions warrant.”
Chuck added, “Here in Tampa, although it does not appear we will see major effects from this storm, all of our stations have been carrying Hurricane Dorian updates several times per hour since Friday. We will continue to provide updates until the storm is safely out of our neighborhood.”
Will We Dodge A Direct Hit?
• Steve Stewart, Director of Programming Operations for Cox Media Group Orlando explained, “As of now we think we’re in a better place but still not 100% sure. Our teams have been doing multiple conference calls a day and staying close with the WFTV meteorologists on timing. At 1mph this storm is still a big question mark. What we do know is to expect a lot of wind and rain regardless.” He added, “Our team has been prepping for a while now. We had our plans in place months ago and are finalizing based on the timeframe of Dorian. First and foremost we’re very focused on the safety of our staff members and our community and are making sure that we know our staff’s personal plans before the storm hits. We have the largest news radio station in central Florida and are fully staffed on 96.5 WDBO, and PD Keith Memolyis leading the charge with his team’s coverage. The current plan has us messaging live updates all weekend on our music stations as we get closer to landfall and then going to a complete seven-station simulcast once Dorian arrives. Many of our music station personalities will then join the WDBO team to assist with on-air coverage, answering phones, gathering information and even translating for our Spanish-speaking listeners. We have a great partnership with our sister TV station WFTV, and they have given us full access to their meteorologists and a direct air feed should we need it. They also have a remote studio that we have access to should our building experience any challenges.
He continued, “Our engineering team has been amazing, and they are prepared to immediately address any signal losses. Our marketing department has been working on messaging to get out to the community on social media and our digital billboard campaigns. Finally, we have been in very close contact with our corporate support teams and they are ready to assist from our other markets if/when needed.”
• Further to the north, Mike Klein, Operations Manager of SummitMedia Greenville, SC and his team are also keeping close watch on the erratic path of Dorian. ” We have already activated our Hurricane Plan,” he tells RAMP. “Right now we are out of the cone, but we expect to get evacuates from Charleston. We are teamed up with WHNS (Fox 21) for hourly updates on the storm. We have also double-checked our generators at the station and at all of our transmitter sites.” On a lighter note, Klein says they are teaming up with the local Dave & Busters’ location to organize an “Evacuation Party.” He added, “We did this last year too and it was huge for us.”
