[BC] New Orleans - a matter of responsibility?

[Paul Smith W4KNX]

Having the distance reception in time of emergency of Class A stations is a
prime reason why IBOC should never be allowed at night. WWL did a fantastic
job during the Katrina aftermath.  Same thing happened a few years ago in
the midwest and northeast during the power blackouts.  People rely on low
tech ways to get info.  During the power outages, it was WJR, WTAM, the big
guys in NYC that had the backup equipment and even more important the staff
to be on the air with important info.  All that will be lost with IBOC at
night.  Again, my thought is that if nite IBOC is allowed, then part of the
deal should be the downgrading of the protection contours of class A
stations to that of a class B.

Paul Smith
W4KNX
Sarasota, FL

-----Original Message-----
From: broadcast-bounces at radiolists.net
[mailto:broadcast-bounces at radiolists.net]On Behalf Of davidgarland
Sent: Friday, December 02, 2005 1:17 PM
To: Broadcast Radio Mailing List
Subject: RE: [BC] New Orleans - a matter of responsibility?


I listened to WWL-AM here in Houston starting before Katrina hit...

Being in Houston you keep your ear to the ground about storms...and in
fact I cut out under a manditory evacuation ahead of Rita 3 weeks
later.  I live in Kemah and am about 200 yards from the nearest water.
While driving away from home I heard that Rita had gone to Cat 5 with
a target of the middle Galveston Island.  This would have put the
dirty side of the storm at the mouth of Galveston Bay and pushed
storm surge near the Beltway if you know Houston.  All of Galveston,
League City, Dickinson and the NASA area would have been under many
feet of water.

The stations in New Orleans quickly pooled resourses and formed
"United Broadcasters of New Orleans."  I monitored WWL as much as
I could for the next several weeks and was very impressed with the
professionalism demonstrated.  They had many thousands of listeners
on the air describing what was going on in their neighborhoods.
At the time I knew that the Houston area could be hit as well with the
next storm...and almost was.

Dave Garland


Dave Garland
Media Brokerage
1110 Hackney St.
Houston, TX 77023
713-921-9603 Voice
713-926-2694 Fax
http://www.radiobroker.com





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