The Opportunity And Responsibility In Hurricane Irene

This morning I listened to some New York stations to see how they were covering the coming hurricane, which could affect a potential 65 million people in the New York area and the East Coast. I was pleased with the coverage on the news stations; they are superserving their audiences with lots of information.

I was less thrilled with the coverage on the music stations. One station was discussing the hurricane and merely suggesting that listeners stock up on liquor for hurricane parties, which sounds like fun, but is bad advice. Two other music stations made no mention of the hurricane within a 15-minute listening period.

WABC, airing the nationally syndicated Imus, filled every possible local block with hurricane chatter. Another station with a syndicated morning show ran only promos during local breaks and made no mention of the storm. Though my sample is small and the time I listened was brief, Hurricane Irene is the biggest story to hit New York in a long while, and this storm could impact the lives of all these stations' listeners. I would have liked to hear more discussion about preparedness on the music stations and those airing syndicated programming.

Only once in the time I spent listening did I hear stations advising listeners to be prepared to rely on their radios. One station simply told listeners to be sure they have a radio and batteries. That's a start. But shouldn't radio in all markets in danger from Hurricane Irene reinforce listeners' reliance on radio during the storm?

Based on the tornadoes in Alabama earlier in the year and other events through history, including most hurricanes, we know that radio stays on the air when other media go down. Your listeners may not think about the fact that their power will be out and they won't be able to watch television, recharge their cellphones, or go online. They probably don't realize that their cellphones likely won't work during the storm and possibly for days or weeks after. After Hurricane Hugo, power was out for three weeks and there was no way to power cellphone towers and operations.

Advertising people in New York have a skewed reality when it comes to radio, in part because a high percentage don't commute in cars and don't get the in-car time most listeners in other cities experience. If and when this storm shuts down other media, radio will shine. Maybe we should be pointing this out by reminding listeners that other forms of communication may be unavailable. (This may be the case in Washington, DC, too, which is a great place to reinforce radio's importance to legislators).

As a practical matter, it's important for radio to be there for listeners during the storm, but also to remind them to be ready as the storm approaches. Listeners who don't have a radio and batteries could be trapped with no reliable information.

Radio has been the lifeline for many communities after catastrophic events. And though we all hope the storm takes a right turn and heads out to sea, at this moment all signs are that it is headed for the mid-Atlantic region and some of America's largest cities, and evacuations have begun in many areas, including low-lying areas around New York. But in all cities, when situations like these arise, I encourage your stations to make the point to listeners that radio may be their only lifeline.

 

Comments

[Danny Czekalinski]

I have been through three hurricanes on the air. I can tell you what people want to hear. After the hurricane they want to know about water, food, gas, ice, what restaurant has power, curfew information and damage reports. They want a connection. They want a familar voice. They don't want muisc!

[JJ Duling]

I was never more proud of a broadcast team than our crew at Big 100/Orlando during the 3 hurricanes of 2004. We took our veteran classic hits air staff (Mike Harvey, Bob Berry, Chris Rivers, Deanne Schulz) and did a simulcast with our 50kw sister station WFLF. Our rock & roll jocks paired up with the AM air staff and did exceptionally great radio and public service during a critical time. Put a 100kw FM, 50kw AM and decades of radio savvy together and you get an amazing broadcast experience.