Last week Radio Ink spoke to several managers that were hunkering down in North and South Carolina as Hurricane Florence took aim at the east coast. This morning we check back with Community Broadcasters South Carolina Regional Market Manager Wayne Mulling to see how his team performed. He tells Radio Ink, “Everyone was given instructions in advance, as to what was expected of them, who they were to contact every day to check in, etc. without exception every one did as requested and beyond.”
Mulling said those instructions and outstanding performance applies to production, programming, promotions, business office, engineering and operations. “We had one of our best rated talk stations that lost power on Thursday. Our Ops Manager took a generator out to the tower site, and powered it up from there. We had to go out in the storm every eight hours and gas up the generator, but we kept it on the air the entire time. (WFRK-FM Live 95- 95.3). And one of our on air staff volunteered to stay at the station all during the storm, to stay on top of any changes to programming.
Radio Ink: Was the storm as bad as predicted?
Mulling: Yes, absolutely. It was great having our TV partner (WMBF- Myrtle Beach) working closely with us. Granted in some areas of our coverage, the storm did not impact as heavily as had been expected….and in other areas I think it was worse. Bear in mind that as of 8 pm on Sunday, it is still raining here, and has been continually for the last three days. So, it goes without saying that the huge damage that will impact our NC and SC communities is yet to come. That will be the flooding.
I came here from managing a cluster in southwest Louisiana, and I personally have seen the devastation that comes after these hurricanes and tropical storms, in the way of flooding. As we speak there are already numbers of areas that are already flooded, as well as highways and towns. We are so very grateful for the linemen, power workers, and law enforcement, not to forget the thousands that have come from out of state to help. Right now, in Florence, the Florence Center is housing about 2,000 Duke Energy workers.
Radio Ink: What is happening in the community now and how are your stations helping?
Mulling: I see the citizens, and our listeners, being very careful, and following law enforcements directives to stay safe. It is very sad to report that at the time of this writing, 13 people have already lost their lives as a direct result of this storm. Our hearts and prayers go out to their families. We are back to regular programming, with regular weather reports. Tomorrow we will have 5 live local shows on the air across SC, and the majority of the on air conversations will be about the storm, the damage that it caused, much of which is still being uncovered and taking calls from our local listeners looking for direction to get their lives back to normal. Every new directive from officials, and every new development from the storm, is still being posted immediately day and night on all our station Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts as well as our 14 SC station websites. I cannot begin to tell you, after listening to our steam continuously for the past 3 1/2 days, how many listeners who called in, ended their call by saying how thankful/grateful they were to have our stations giving them live updates all thru the day. Really made us feel good to be of service in this fashion to our many communities at large.
In spite of all the difficulties, it was just one more effort that made us all proud to be in Radio, and particularly Community Broadcasters. Our name says it all.
