ATLANTA — With its outer bands prompting tornado warnings as a suspicious package led to the temporary lockdown of Concourse F at Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport on Tuesday afternoon, Hurricane Ida’s travel complications were somewhat minimal. To the north in Arlington and Alexandria, Va., a ferocious series of lightning strikes pounded the Washington, D.C., suburbs across the 3am hour.
Down in New Orleans, the cleanup from the storm is underway. The damage to the market’s radio and TV stations is now being assessed. It’s not pretty.
According to the FCC’s daily report for August 31, some 31 FM radio stations were reported being operational. That’s up from 19 on August 30.
However, 8 FMs are being reported out of service, rising from three on Monday. They include KKND, KMEZ, FM translator W208FC, WJDR and WSSM.
Meanwhile, there’s no telling when Cumulus Media-owned Alternative WZRH-FM “ALT 92.3,” and iHeartMedia-owned Adult Hits KVDU-FM “104.1 The Spot,” which serve New Orleans, will be back to full power. Backup power for WZRH is presently not functioning. KVDU is running under emergency Special Temporary Authority at 850 watts of power, using the WYLD broadcast tower via generator power. The licensed KVDU tower site does not have electricity due to the storm.
The stations’ South Vacherie, La., broadcast tower was all but destroyed, with perhaps 200 feet left of what had been a 2,000-foot structure. It’s roughly 50 miles from Harrah’s Casino New Orleans and the familiar sights close to Bourbon Street.
Cumulus’ other three FM stations are reportedly back on the air.
For AMs, 12 were reported operational, up from 6 on Monday. Four were reported out on Tuesday: WCJU, WHSY, WSHO, and WYLD.
