Radio Stations brace for "Frankenstorm"

Story by Inside Radio and Kirk Tanter

From Virginia to New England, broadcasters are gearing up for what forecasts say could the biggest hurricane to strike the Northeast in decades. Hurricane Sandy is massive and her impact being felt across much of the region. More than two dozen markets may eventually feel Sandy’s impact.

Radio One cluster and Sydication One Talk Shows in Washington DC Market are getting updates from NBC-TV's News Channel 4's Veronica Johnson, Majic 102.3's newscaster Sheila Stewart, and special reports from Syndication One News-Talk Network's Ebony McMorris and Tamika Smith.

The storm is expected to make landfall somewhere along the New Jersey coast in the coming hours. Stations in the Atlantic City market are bracing for the storm’s arrival. “We take a great deal of pride in being ‘live and local’ but especially at times like this,” Longport Media general manager Dave Coskey says. That includes a team of three meteorologists to call on. But because the transmitter for “News Talk 1400” WOND sits adjacent to the bay and a predicted storm surge could knock it off the air, Coskey says it’s likely they’ll end up simulcasting WOND on CHR “AC-102.7” WWAC.

Across town, Equity Communications president Gary Fisher says, “We fully expect to lose power at some point however we have enough fuel to keep our five emergency generators and nine stations going for three days.” He says they have air talent holed up in a hotel across the street from the studios.

Further up the coast in the Monmouth-Ocean market, Press Communications co-owner Rich Morena says most of his cluster staff spent last night in sleeping bags at the station and plan to ride out the storm in their studios keeping listeners up to date. “The radio refrigerator is full and the staff is energized to have radio once again be the shining beacon through the chaos of the storm,” Morena says. Press engineers began preparing last week as forecasters warned a storm could be on the way.

Townsquare Media’s talk/oldies “NJ-101.5” WKXW, Trenton and its “Townsquare News Network” cover the widest territory in the Garden State. Townsquare regional director of engineering Jay Pierce says they were busy over the weekend checking backup systems, servicing generators and stocking up on supplies for staff that will be riding out the storm at the stations. “Obviously we are more concerned about our stations nearest the shore,” he says. WKXW will air a special edition of its “Ask the Governor” show tonight with Governor Chris Christie. Townsquare’s AC “Lite Rock 96.9” WFPG kept the tunes rolling while offering storm updates, appropriately sponsored by a local roofing company.

It’s not just New Jersey that’s prepping for the storm. The same is true in the nearby Philadelphia market where CBS Radio all-news KYW (1060) and Merlin Media news/talk WWIQ “IQ 106.9” were providing extensive storm coverage. Some Philly music FMs aired storm updates, including AC “B101” WBEB and Beasley Broadcast Group’s country WXTU (92.5), which plans to simulcast WPVI-TV at the height of the storm. It’s a similar story in the New York market with stations planning to step up coverage Hurricane Sandy draws even closer.

With a storm path that includes a westward turn that meteorologists haven’t seen before, several inland markets are also readying for Sandy. In the Wilkes Barre-Scranton metro Nassau Broadcasting director of programming Rob Bauman tells the Pocono Record that they took a lot of lessons away from Hurricane Irene a year ago when they literally were using candlelight in the studio. “We were in the dark and we got hurt just like everyone else. We’re trying to be better prepared this time,” he says. “We have all our ducks in a row this time.”