Radio has had a definite weather theme lately, first with Hurricane Harvey and then Hurricane Irma. Coverage of Irma by Florida stations was virtually wall-to-wall. Here’s a brief rundown of their broadcast activity as of Monday morning…
iHeart Media:
• News/Talk WFLA Tampa began its “Operation StormWatch” coverage on Saturday, simulcasting across all of the company’s Tampa FMs.
• In Miami, News/Talk WIOD’s wall-to-wall coverage is simulcasting on CHR “Y100” WHYI, Classic Rock WBGG, Sports WINZ, and Urban WMIB.
• Spanish contemporary WZTU is simulcasting coverage from “Telemundo 51” WSCV-TV.
• The company’s stations in Orlando, Sarasota, Ft. Myers, West Palm Beach, and Jacksonville joined forces to provide wall-to-wall coverage.
Cox Media Group:
• Miami stations broadcast TV partner WSVN-TV’s audio.
• In Tampa, CMG’s studios were closed on Sunday but carried audio from TV partners.
• The company has also been preparing for the storm’s impact in Georgia. CMG is headquartered in Atlanta and owns radio, TV, and newspaper assets there.
Entercom:
• In Miami, Entercom’s daytime WAXY received FCC approval to broadcast around the clock.
• Entercom had corporate staff on standby to come to Miami on Tuesday.
• All four of the company’s stations were simulcasting audio from a local TV partner.
Beasley Media Group:
• Clusters in Ft. Myers and Tampa had round-the-clock storm coverage.
• In Ft Myers, WXKB, WJPT, WRXK and WWCN simulcast coverage from TV partner “NBC TV2” WBBH-TV with local cut-ins from Beasley’s own team.
• As of Monday morning, all of Beasley’s Ft. Myers FM stations were off the air, due to major flooding at their studios.
• Beasley stations in Boca Raton were also off the air, including two having problems getting programming to the transmitter site.
• In Tampa, all Beasley stations were on the air Monday morning, except for WLLD.
• All of Beasley Tampa’s English-language stations began wall-to-wall news coverage Saturday at midnight.
CBS:
• In Miami, CBS Radio’s WQAM, WPOW, and WKIS were simulcasting TV coverage on Sunday.
Univision:
• Univision Miami planned continuous coverage through the storm and its aftermath, simulcast on UnivisionMiami.com, Facebook Live, and its local radio stations including WAMR, WAQI, WQBA and WRTO.
Sun Broadcasting:
• Ft. Myers stations – WFSX, WXNX and WARO – were also carrying TV coverage.
Genesis Communications and Charter Communications:
• The two companies teamed up to provide radio coverage throughout the state. Genesis’ AM 820 News, WWBA Tampa, and AM 1060 News WIXC Melbourne-Titusville carried the all-news cable channel Bay 9 News to supplement their local reporting over the weekend.
