Florida and Georgia radio stations are ready for Hurricane Helene. The Category 3 hurricane is gaining strength in the Gulf of Mexico. Experts expect it to move inland in northern Florida on Thursday. Reports say the hurricane will extend into Georgia, as well as part of the Carolinas.
Radio has the balancing act of serving the listener’s needs while keeping their staffs safe. Here’s how radio’s top companies are planning for the situation.
Cox Media Group, Jacksonville:
Jules Riley, PD at 96.9 The Eagle (WJGL), says preparation begins long before the predicted event. “We have a plan book together. It gets revised every season.”
All of Cox’s Florida stations run a long-form program at the beginning of hurricane season.
Additionally, the management team has daily meetings, and all stations in the cluster run hourly forecasts. Beginning Thursday, essential staff only will be in the building.
Beasley Media Group, Corporate Office, Naples:
- We are carefully monitoring the weather situation and will close the office as needed. We have a back-up generator in the event that power goes out.
Beasley Media Group, Tampa:
- We’re closing the office on Thursday to all except the storm team.
- Engineers will work from remote locations to troubleshoot anything that may go wrong.
- All stations will stay in format with continuous weather updates from Denis Phillips from ABC News, unless Hurricane Helene reaches a critical level.
- Personalities have computer reconfigured to be able to track and broadcast remotely.
- If Hurricane Helene reaches life-threatening levels, the stations will break format, as determined by Operations Manager Rick Thomas, and broadcast local television stations.
- Q105 Afternoon Drive personality Geno Knight has been reporting on the storm’s path. Updates on the website will be socialized out to users as well as information regarding available sandbag locations and school closures in Tampa Bay counties.
- The Tampa Digital team has a scheduled newsletter to send out to our database with the latest updates and prep tips. In addition, they have scheduled graphics going on all stations to encourage listeners to download the app in case they lose power.
- On Thursday evening, Beasley Regional VP and Tampa Market Manager Ron deCastro will assess the situation and email the staff an update regarding Friday’s plans.
- After the storm, we’ll share recover tips on our social accounts and update the featured ribbons on storm pages for post-hurricane advice.
- Quu in car messaging will encourage listeners to go to the station websites for Hurricane Helene updates.
At Beasley Fort Myer/Naples:
- We are going to close the office to non-essential storm-team personnel on Thursday (and possibly Friday if there is flooding).
- Our engineering team will be on standby to troubleshoot anything that may possibly go wrong.
- We’ve tested all generators and topped them off with fuel. We recently acquired a new “buggy” vehicle that will be able to get our engineer to all tower locations in the event of flooding.
- All stations will stay in format with continuous weather updates from NBC-2, unless the hurricane reaches a critical level.
- Personalities have computer reconfigured to be able to Track and broadcast remotely.
- If Hurricane Helene turns east and reaches severely threatening levels, the stations will break format and go wall to wall coverage supplied by NBC-2.
- We currently have Hurricane features and important information and a Hurricane Guide up in Featured Ribbon on the station websites.
- We will assess the situation on Thursday night and send an email to the staff regarding Friday’s plans.
- Quu in car messaging will encourage listeners to go to the station websites for Hurricane Helene updates.
Salem Media Group, Atlanta:
Mike Blakemore VP Programming and PD of 104.7 The Fish (WFSH) says, “Our Salem Atlanta stations are on high alert. Fortunately, we have the Weather Channel (based right here in ATL) as our weather provider so we have the best!
Blakemore continued, “We are upping our report frequency, and have live and local show hosts and traffic reporters that can cover what’s happening on the ground. In an extreme emergency, we can simulcast the Weather Channel TV broadcast if needed. Hopefully it won’t come to that, but we are prepared to keep our listeners safe and informed.”
Cat Country 98.7 (WYCT) in Pensacola, FL, posted an extensive list of preparation tips on its website’s hurricane checklist page.
Cumulus Media’s Country WPAP Panama City’s Operation Stormwatch web page has extensive coverage of the hurricanes path as well as other storm related information.
