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Hurricane Michael: Coverage/Operations


GoldenShine9

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With another hurricane heading for our coastline (this time the Gulf Coast), I made this thread on how stations are covering it, whether they have to move or if they bring in staff from elsewhere.

 

The Panama City and Tallahassee markets look to be hardest hit, with significant impacts as well in the Mobile-Pensacola, Dothan, Albany (GA), Macon, Gainesville and other markets.

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In terms of Mobile/Pensacola, WEAR is closest to the storm and covers the Florida side of the market almost exclusively from the AL/FL state line to Destin.

 

Panama City is ground zero. I could see WJHG deferring to WTVY or WCTV if needed, and even WMBB deferring to WKRG or WDHN if either station is forced to evacuate.

 

WJHG is located in a class "C" evacuation zone, and WMBB is across the street from one (same class), but they have flooded before.

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In terms of Mobile/Pensacola, WEAR is closest to the storm and covers the Florida side of the market almost exclusively from the AL/FL state line to Destin.

 

Panama City is ground zero. I could see WJHG deferring to WTVY or WCTV if needed, and even WMBB deferring to WKRG or WDHN if either station is forced to evacuate.

 

WJHG is located in a class "C" evacuation zone, and WMBB is across the street from one (same class), but they have flooded before.

 

I would think WJHG would go to WTVY, due to the fact it is farther inland (and there are no Gray stations in Mobile/Pensacola). WMBB would probably go to WKRG, since I believe their facility is much larger than WDHN.

 

I don't think either WTXL or WCTV are in flood zones from either the river or storm surge?

 

As for shared coverage, I'd be curious how WTXL grabs resources, since they are a Raycom station being shuffled off to Scripps, while most Raycom employees become sisters to WCTV soon. Who helps whom?

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WMBB is now streaming storm coverage on their website (mypanhandle.com...or WMBB.com for the pre-Nexstar crowd.)

 

They would need to set something up remotely, since there is no news operation there.

 

I believe WPGX is largely ran out of WBRC in Birmingham with no local technical presence. It would honestly be better if they were able to simulcast WTXL coverage for the benefit of the Panama City viewers than going on as planned with regular programming.

 

With that being said, does Sinclair have any plans for WTWC? Might be nice to pipe in storm coverage from a sister station that actually does news.

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Given the expected path, I would be more concerned about WMBB flooding with a water coming out of the bay, than WJHG-TV. WMBB is only a couple of blocks from the standard flood zone, without taking storm surge into account. Fortunately, this hurricane is moving quickly, unlike Florence.

 

I would be more concerned about the wind right now. This storm may bomb out and knock down every power line in the city. I've never been there, and I have no idea how well each station's building is constructed.

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Given the expected path, I would be more concerned about WMBB flooding with a water coming out of the bay, than WJHG-TV. WMBB is only a couple of blocks from the standard flood zone, without taking storm surge into account. Fortunately, this hurricane is moving quickly, unlike Florence.

 

I would be more concerned about the wind right now. This storm may bomb out and knock down every power line in the city. I've never been there, and I have no idea how well each station's building is constructed.

 

WJHG's is pretty solid. I believe it was built in the 50s when they signed on. A tornado passed over it during Ivan that later did some serious damage on Thomas Drive...

 

WMBB's is much older even though they've only been there for 30 years or so. And the flood was not during a hurricane but a thunderstorm about a decade ago.

About an inch of water made its way into the building causing most of the carpet having to be replaced.

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WMBB is now streaming storm coverage on their website (mypanhandle.com...or WMBB.com for the pre-Nexstar crowd.)

 

 

 

I believe WPGX is largely ran out of WBRC in Birmingham with no local technical presence. It would honestly be better if they were able to simulcast WTXL coverage for the benefit of the Panama City viewers than going on as planned with regular programming.

 

With that being said, does Sinclair have any plans for WTWC? Might be nice to pipe in storm coverage from a sister station that actually does news.

 

I doubt they will do anything with WTWC. It would not be local anyway - everyone would turn to WCTV or WTXL.

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WMBB is now streaming storm coverage on their website (mypanhandle.com...or WMBB.com for the pre-Nexstar crowd.)

 

What's going on with the hyperactive breaking news banner? It's cycling between the slides unusually fast.

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Looks like both WMBB and WJHG are dunzo as Panama City is getting a direct hit from the eyewall around 12:30pm local time. WJHG's livestream is showing a "technical difficulties" slide and WMBB's livestream has been stuck at 12:15pm for a while now.

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I'd anticipate Albany GA--TV stations and all--to be in some trouble.

 

I expect places like Panama City and Tallahassee to be decently fortified for stuff like this--but Albany's 100+ miles inland, this thing isn't weakening a huge amount, and they could easily get Cat 2, if not Cat 3 conditions very soon.

 

What a bonkers storm. This is looking to be a disaster a good 150-200 miles inland, and as bad as Panama City got it, they were probably 20 miles away from being wiped off the map.

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I'd anticipate Albany GA--TV stations and all--to be in some trouble.

 

I expect places like Panama City and Tallahassee to be decently fortified for stuff like this--but Albany's 100+ miles inland, this thing isn't weakening a huge amount, and they could easily get Cat 2, if not Cat 3 conditions very soon.

 

What a bonkers storm. This is looking to be a disaster a good 150-200 miles inland, and as bad as Panama City got it, they were probably 20 miles away from being wiped off the map.

 

At least Raycom has plenty of options nearby to cover WALB: they could do it out of WSFA, WTVM, WFXG or WTOC.

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