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.
