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Hurricane Michael Takes Panama City Off The Air

Lance Ventaby Lance Venta
October 10, 2018

Update 10:30pm: A handful of stations in Panama City have returned to the air. iHeartMedia’s 92.5 WPAP and 98.5 WFSY are back on with locally originating storm coverage. Gulf Coast Community College’s Public News/Talk 90.7 WKGC-FM is airing programming from Bay County Emergency Operations Center and with WMBB-TV staffers.

Original Report 10/10 7:00pm: As Hurricane Michael made landfall just east of Panama City FL this afternoon, nearly every broadcast facility in the market went off the air due to downed towers and power outages.

The first to go off the air were WJHG/WECP, the co-owned NBC and CBS affiliates in the market. As their STL tower crashed outside their studio facility the storm quickly ripped off parts of the station’s roof and power was lost. The WJHG STL tower was also the main antenna for Horizon Broadcasting Sports “ESPN 104.3” WGSX.

Across town ABC affiliate WMBB lost its main power and its backup generator taking it off the air as well leaving the area with no local television news. WMBB’s cable and web viewers were given special coverage for the area produced by co-owned WFLA-TV Tampa as was WDHN-TV Dothan AL.

At the time WJHG went off the air, its programming was airing on multiple radio stations including the iHeartMedia cluster in the market. Country 92.5 WPAP morning host ‘Dr. Shane’ Collins was leading coverage across the iHeartMedia stations all morning with some cut-ins to WJHG. As the storm made landfall, the stations all switched to programming from the Tallahassee cluster. Eventually though the STL tower at their facility fell over as well with their Director of Engineering Charlie Wooten posting on Facebook that the staff is trapped at the facility due to flooding.

Powell Broadcasting’s four FMs in the market also were taken off the air due to a tower loss as theirs completely bent over leaving the transmission antennas intact.

We have not seen or heard any updates from Magic Broadcasting’s four station cluster in Panama City or Public News/Talk 90.7 WKGC, but they too are off the air as of this writing.

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Lance Venta

Lance Venta

Lance Venta is the founder and publisher of RadioInsight.com. Lance has been covering the radio industry since founding the first radio industry discussion forums in the mid 1990s. He also advises and builds content strategies and web platforms for stations and programs across America.

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Comments 2

  1. Mike Fitzpatrick's avatar Mike Fitzpatrick says:
    8 years ago

    I’ve started a thread on our Virtual Engineer forum for engineers who could help down there.

    Services, Parts, Supplies, etc….

    https://www.broadcastengineering.info/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6555

    Loading...
    Reply
  2. radioguy805's avatar radioguy805 says:
    8 years ago

    As of tonight I heart has their 92.5 and 98.5 towers back up as well as streaming. Listening to the on air staff fighting back tears while trying to stay strong to help those who need a voice in the dark leaves me speechless. My heart goes out to everyone.

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Hurricane Michael Takes Panama City Off The Air

Lance Ventaby Lance Venta
October 10, 2018

Update 10:30pm: A handful of stations in Panama City have returned to the air. iHeartMedia’s 92.5 WPAP and 98.5 WFSY are back on with locally originating storm coverage. Gulf Coast Community College’s Public News/Talk 90.7 WKGC-FM is airing programming from Bay County Emergency Operations Center and with WMBB-TV staffers.

Original Report 10/10 7:00pm: As Hurricane Michael made landfall just east of Panama City FL this afternoon, nearly every broadcast facility in the market went off the air due to downed towers and power outages.

The first to go off the air were WJHG/WECP, the co-owned NBC and CBS affiliates in the market. As their STL tower crashed outside their studio facility the storm quickly ripped off parts of the station’s roof and power was lost. The WJHG STL tower was also the main antenna for Horizon Broadcasting Sports “ESPN 104.3” WGSX.

Across town ABC affiliate WMBB lost its main power and its backup generator taking it off the air as well leaving the area with no local television news. WMBB’s cable and web viewers were given special coverage for the area produced by co-owned WFLA-TV Tampa as was WDHN-TV Dothan AL.

At the time WJHG went off the air, its programming was airing on multiple radio stations including the iHeartMedia cluster in the market. Country 92.5 WPAP morning host ‘Dr. Shane’ Collins was leading coverage across the iHeartMedia stations all morning with some cut-ins to WJHG. As the storm made landfall, the stations all switched to programming from the Tallahassee cluster. Eventually though the STL tower at their facility fell over as well with their Director of Engineering Charlie Wooten posting on Facebook that the staff is trapped at the facility due to flooding.

Powell Broadcasting’s four FMs in the market also were taken off the air due to a tower loss as theirs completely bent over leaving the transmission antennas intact.

We have not seen or heard any updates from Magic Broadcasting’s four station cluster in Panama City or Public News/Talk 90.7 WKGC, but they too are off the air as of this writing.

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  • Share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
Lance Venta

Lance Venta

Lance Venta is the founder and publisher of RadioInsight.com. Lance has been covering the radio industry since founding the first radio industry discussion forums in the mid 1990s. He also advises and builds content strategies and web platforms for stations and programs across America.

Log In

Join Now | Lost Password?

Comments

Comments 2

  1. Mike Fitzpatrick's avatar Mike Fitzpatrick says:
    8 years ago

    I’ve started a thread on our Virtual Engineer forum for engineers who could help down there.

    Services, Parts, Supplies, etc….

    https://www.broadcastengineering.info/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6555

    Loading...
    Reply
  2. radioguy805's avatar radioguy805 says:
    8 years ago

    As of tonight I heart has their 92.5 and 98.5 towers back up as well as streaming. Listening to the on air staff fighting back tears while trying to stay strong to help those who need a voice in the dark leaves me speechless. My heart goes out to everyone.

    Loading...
    Reply

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

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