Jump to content

Panama City Radio post-Michael


tyrannical bastard

Recommended Posts

It's clear that the effects of Hurricane Michael have devastated the Panama City area.

 

IHeart has gotten at least 92.5 WPAP and 98.5 WFSY back up and running....

 

Magic Broadcasting has WILN 105.9 Island 106 simulcasting WJHG's efforts (essentuially relaying the audio of their Facebook live videos since they are still off the air)

 

Now comes the word that Powell Broadcasting is ceasing operations after the extensive damage at their facility which included their STL tower snapping in 2, and falling onto their roof, which allowed their facility to take on water... This silences 4 stations... WRBA Classic Rock 95.9. WKNK Kick'n Country 103.5, WASJ BOB FM 105.1, and WPFM Hot 107.9 (which was already in the process of being sold to the Educational Media Foundation).

 

Hopefully someone comes in and does something with these stations, although the outcome will likely be weaker stations (like 95.1, 100.1 or 104.3) trading up to these more powerful stations, or someone else will buy the cluster (or parts of it) and start over. The reality is that this is a way-over-radioed market and there is lots of format overlap...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

WJHG and WMBB are *both* on the air. WMBB as of today and WJHG/WECP as of Thursday afternoon. Contrary to some stories I’ve seen, WJHG’s barely decade-old STL tower held up beautifully and is fully upright — STL dishes got blown out of alignment but it’s still hitting the transmitter site! NFL football currently on NBC, a necessary distraction. Biggest problems in the area are Verizon being unusable and cable/internet infrastructure. Power was the priority for crews obviously, and many of the cable lines had to be cut to support power restoration. I have a feeling it will be a while before home internet and TV access is available to everyone. Glad some people still have rabbit ears!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good to hear that WJHG is back on as well! Are they able to run semi-normal operations?

WMBB may be back in their building tomorrow and could resume telecasts from their studios. I think their generator issues is what has kept them off.

By the looks of things, the news side of the building fared OK, but the back-office portion sustained most of the damage (including sales, creative, traffic support & administration)

 

 

As for the radio stations...wasn't Powell the radio partner of WMBB? It was Styles/Magic until mid-2007, when Magic was removed and Double O (now Powell) took over....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good to hear that WJHG is back on as well! Are they able to run semi-normal operations?

Operationally they’re in great shape for having been through a Cat 4.999 Hurricane. All broadcast equipment is working perfectly.

As for the radio stations...wasn't Powell the radio partner of WMBB? It was Styles/Magic until mid-2007, when Magic was removed and Double O (now Powell) took over....

Yup, it’s a strange and abrupt end to the partnership, Powell really gave a big slap in the face to their employees, parenters and their listeners, especially now when local media is proving to be absolutely essential.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using TVNewsTalk you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.