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Hurricane Michael: Coverage/Operations


GoldenShine9

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They were able to put together a makeshift newscast outside their building. The backdrop was metal roofing that was torn off from the First Baptist Church complex that completely surrounds their station.

https://www.mypanhandle.com/news/florida/news-13-hosts-newscast-online-after-losing-power-sustaining-damage-during-hurricane-michael/1517939437

 

Meanwhile, over at WJHG, crews from their station were able to make it across the bridge into Panama City (since they're based in PCB). You have to feel for them since they (station employees) have literally been cut off from the outside world and even their colleagues trying to cover this disaster. Needless to say, the crew was overcome seeing the damage in the city itself firsthand.

https://www.wjhg.com/content/news/WJHG-tours-damage-in-Panama-City-496975951.html

 

Even Megan Gannon, formerly of WMBB (and now with WPMI in Mobile) recalled her upbringing in Port St. Joe and was able to see the damage in her hometown through the coverage.

https://mynbc15.com/news/local/nbc-15s-megan-gannon-reacts-to-hometown-storm-devastation

 

Aside from the eastern part of the beach, (mainly the Thomas Drive area), PCB's damage is minimal as you head westward. The Pier Park area is as if nothing happened. It was Panama City itself, Lynn Haven, going eastward to Mexico Beach & Port St. Joe that got decimated.

 

That probably explains why the damage at WJHG was not catastrophic in comparison. It wasn't nearly as bad in PCB as they missed the eyewall, and as long as the area isn't off-limits, they should be able to work out of their studio. I'm not aware of anyone from other Gray stations being brought in there though (they'd have to come from far away since WTVY and WCTV are likely very busy with their own viewing areas), but I could be wrong. I know Nexstar has brought quite a few to WMBB. I know during Florence, all the affected companies brought in a lot of staff to stations in the Carolinas from all over the country.

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WMBB is reporting that WDHN is back on the air and is able to produce their own newscasts.

 

Is anyone else back on the air yet in Panama City? I thought I heard that WMBB was relaying WFLA, but it's probably only the special feed that is being produced out of Tampa that's being shown on WMBB's website.

 

Of greater significance, it may be a while before the Panama City area has power restored. And if WMBB's damage is as severe as it sounds, they may take longer getting back on the air. From what it looks like, the western half of the beach may be up and running with power today and then the eastern half could be back on by Monday if the damage isn't that severe.

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On the radio front, the damage from Hurricane Michael was so catastrophic for Powell Broadcasting's operations, that instead of rebuilding, they have decided to shut down their operations in Panama City permanently.

 

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/171126/powell-broadcasting-to-cease-panama-city-operations/

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Hopefully someone is able to absorb these stations before the licenses lapse....

 

Ironically, this was posted on one of their (now former) stations...

43595923_1921596241249599_6373225670440386560_o.jpg?_nc_cat=104&oh=a275a57901bfdecdcdf156ff34b57ca1&oe=5C52D574

 

Adding to the fact that WPFM 107.9 was already slated to be sold to the Educational Media Foundation, means that there was probably trouble even before the storm hit...

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WMBB is reporting that WDHN is back on the air and is able to produce their own newscasts.

 

Is anyone else back on the air yet in Panama City? I thought I heard that WMBB was relaying WFLA, but it's probably only the special feed that is being produced out of Tampa that's being shown on WMBB's website.

 

Of greater significance, it may be a while before the Panama City area has power restored. And if WMBB's damage is as severe as it sounds, they may take longer getting back on the air. From what it looks like, the western half of the beach may be up and running with power today and then the eastern half could be back on by Monday if the damage isn't that severe.

 

Is there an old retail store or something in PCB that is empty right now? WMBB could look into a temporary facility there.

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It appears that WMBB is back on the air, and they say they may be able to resume some operations in their building tomorrow.

Probably in the long term, a move may be in the cards, but it looks like they are close to being able to resume semi-normal operations at their current facility.

 

As for relocating, many other businesses are in the same boat, or even worse, have to move or rebuild. Some may leave the market, and others may choose to enter it.

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WIAT, WFLA, WKRG, and WSAV all have their satellite trucks in the Panama City area to help produce WMBB's makeshift newscasts (WMBB has no satellite truck of their own). KARK and KLFY might have their satellite trucks there too; if not, Nexstar nevertheless has people from those stations assisting WMBB. WFLA is using their NBC News Channel uplink to feed WMBB's over-the-air transmitter.

 

Here's a video showing some of the damage inside the WMBB building.

 

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Is there an old retail store or something in PCB that is empty right now? WMBB could look into a temporary facility there.

 

Is the old Sears store On N Highway 231, Panama City still standing?

 

If so then you have an instant win-win for both..

You could actually put a bunch of stations in an old Sears and maybe a nice shelter too.

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Is the old Sears store On N Highway 231, Panama City still standing?

 

If so then you have an instant win-win for both..

You could actually put a bunch of stations in an old Sears and maybe a nice shelter too.

 

Well, probably not. I was thinking in Panama City Beach, especially the west end, where damage was much less severe.

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Is the old Sears store On N Highway 231, Panama City still standing?

 

If so then you have an instant win-win for both..

You could actually put a bunch of stations in an old Sears and maybe a nice shelter too.

 

Yes, but it has been damaged. It was a fully functioning location until the storm and it was announced it will be one of the stores closing as a result of them filing for bankruptcy. Because of this, it's doubtful it will reopen.

 

The Dillard's at the mall sustained some major damage as well.

 

There was a Toys R Us across the street on 23rd street but I don't know the status of their lease whether it's been auctioned off or not.

 

WMBB was one of the few stations under Media General ownership that was never hubbed, and even Nexstar has not hubbed their Master Control yet. If it was hubbed, then getting the station back on the air would have been much easier as much of their programming would have been controlled remotely from a distant source far away from the threat of a hurricane.

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How many satellite trucks do most stations have?

 

Typically 1 or 2 in medium to large markets, 0 or 1 in small markets, and anywhere from 1 to half a dozen or more in major markets. "Truck," I suppose, is a bit of a misnomer these days too, since Viasat's Excede internet service is a player in the news gathering market now, and the relatively small, lightweight dishes required for that can be fitted to SUVs and cars.

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I really doubt that damage is enough for them to have to move out of the building permanently. This isn't a KHOU situation with 5 feet of water in the building, it's just a leaky roof and water damage. They can recover from it given a little time. I've seen worse in the midwest from frozen pipes.

 

Really, a lot of the "roof damage" was probably already there and made worse by the hurricane.

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I really doubt that damage is enough for them to have to move out of the building permanently. This isn't a KHOU situation with 5 feet of water in the building, it's just a leaky roof and water damage. They can recover from it given a little time. I've seen worse in the midwest from frozen pipes.

 

Really, a lot of the "roof damage" was probably already there and made worse by the hurricane.

 

The only thing that will have to be redone is the STL tower unless they now plan turning to fiber for some resiliency.

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For today's newscasts, WMBB has people, and a satellite truck, from WKRN.

 

If Michael had hit a few years ago, WMBB would be under even more trouble. At least they have a lot of hands they can reach to. I couldn't imagine how they could recover under Hoak ownership...

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Going back to the Media General days, they relied on staff from their legacy group for covering storms like Ivan and Dennis. For Dennis, they brought in Jamey Singleton from WSLS (who would get canned a year later due to a "MySpace incident") and a Titan radar to cover the storm. I believe WDEF provided a satellite truck.

 

Gray has brought in some scattered crew members from across the country, notably former WJHG reporter/anchor Leanna Scachetti who is now with WDBJ.

 

Nexstar is making it more pronounced, even going as far as referring to their imported colleagues as the "Nexstar Nation"...

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As of tonight, WMBB is still wall-to-wall coverage in their studio (at least on their website...) and WJHG is in wall-to-wall mode for most of the day, dumping out at 10:35 to pick up NBC's late night shows.

 

...and WJHG is streaming again on their Livestream and Roku feeds (including the post-coverage feed with NBC programming with the crawl on the bottom!)

 

Here is the schedule that WMBB is using from their website:

https://www.mypanhandle.com/news/news-13-to-go-live-starting-at-1-pm/1525384675

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If Michael had hit a few years ago, WMBB would be under even more trouble. At least they have a lot of hands they can reach to. I couldn't imagine how they could recover under Hoak ownership...

 

yeah... hoak wouldn't know how to handle that... they never had to deal with a disaster.... like... a studio building burning to the ground....

 

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

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The only thing that will have to be redone is the STL tower unless they now plan turning to fiber for some resiliency.

 

All the fiber in the area was mostly overhead, and It was trashed.

https://www.cnet.com/news/fiber-outages-slow-cell-recovery-after-hurricane-michael/

 

The TSL/STL can be rebuilt and redeployed much quicker as you know.

 

But let's all remember this is considered rural, so there is not a lot of support readily available like in a major metro area.

 

It takes time to get stuff in there.

 

And with the repack and all that other stuff there is a major shortage of tower crews out there...and all of them have been booked for months.

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