Topic: Disaster Relief and Recovery
Posted on 2/19/2021
Entercom Communications Corporation’s radio stations in Texas fought to stay on the air amid power outages due to the winter storm. At KRLD-FM Dallas, Brand Manager Gavin Spittle scrambled to relocate studio equipment and connect it into power generators on different floors of the station building. George Lindsey, morning show host at KILT-FM Houston, lost power at his home and stayed at the studio with his wife, working together to provide critical news and answer listener calls. Ten other employees joined Lindsey at the station for several nights, maintaining COVID-19 protocols and relying on the 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel for the generators. Entercom’s four stations in Austin, including KKMJ-FM and KAMX-FM, endured power outages when transmitters lost power and needed to switch to backup generators, leading to five or six 30-second bursts of dead air. The morning show at KAMX-FM often shifted focus from its normal entertainment news format to providing critical emergency information. “Our show is very entertainment-based, very relationship-driven. We reined back quite a few segments and focused more on what was happening,” said co-host Brad Booker. “Radio is still the number one way of getting content.”
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