Radio never warned me (regarding Spfld tornado)

[Kevin Vahey]

Springfield radio should at least work out something with ch 22 or 40


-----Original Message-----
From: "Dave Doherty" <dave@skywaves.net>
Date: Sat, 11 Jun 2011 19:55:57 
To: <kvahey@gmail.com>; <billohno@gmail.com>; <boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org>
Subject: Re: Radio never warned me (regarding Spfld tornado)

> You CAN NOT plan for a tornado or earthquake...

Fukushima is a perfect example of such thinking. Memorials exist many 
kilometers inland and many meters higher of a tsunami over a thousand years 
ago.  These signs were ignored because it happened so long ago, and a safety 
assumption was made because the likelihood of a recurrence within the 
projected lifetime of the plants was small. Yet the earthquake happened 
within the lifetime of the plants, and the tsunami overwhelmed the 
assumption as well as the plants.

Violent weather and seismic events have occurred nearly everywhere on the 
planet.  We need only look back about 50 years to the Worcester disaster in 
the 1950s to see that tornadoes do occur in central Mass.  Agreed, they are 
rare; but they do happen, and on the scale of centuries, they happen fairly 
often.

You don't need to project the actual location and severity to make a 
disaster plan.

You do need to set up "meet-up" locations for your family and your 
employees, students, and/or co-workers.  These should include phone numbers, 
email addresses, and websites like Facebook, but they should also include 
physical locations, some far away. (My family knows that if all else fails, 
they should head out to our camp in the Adirondacks.)

As for what broadcast stations can do...

EAS has a variety of codes, and any station can be programmed to forward 
alerts matching those codes.  My stations automatically and instantly 
broadcast tornado and tsunami warnings, amber alerts, and other specifically 
chosen types of alerts.

Work out agreements with other local broadcasters in the area. Nobody can 
predict who will be on or off the air, but we all can agree that everybody 
who is left standing will broadcast the audio from the best available 
source. It may be by radio relay from a backup exciter at somebody's studio, 
by Internet, or by cell phone, but somehow, it will get through if we plan 
it in advance.

Arrange for backup transmitter locations, official or not.  The FCC is great 
about responding to requests for temporary transmitter locations in disaster 
scenarios, but it is best to have aux sites licensed in advance.

Have disaster plans written up, including scripts containing advice to 
listeners with regard to various disaster scenarios.  Be sure that the 
entire staff - including management, sales, volunteers and interns - is 
thoroughly educated and knows the basics of opening a microphone and 
speaking on the air. Your traffic clerk might be the only one capable of 
getting to the station.

Hoping to open a dialog here...  Other ideas???