The team at Townsquare Media gave us an update on what they are doing to help the local community now that Lake Charles is in day five of its recovery from Hurricane Laura.
KNGT-FM hosts Mike Soileau and Buddy Russ have been broadcasting live from the studio since Friday providing news, government agency announcements, relief center locations, where to get food and water, generators, air conditioners, tire repair (a lot of debris on the roads) as well as traffic information. The Townsquare studios were thankfully spared from serious damage, and Soileau and Russ knew what they had to do.
Soileau said, “Both of us are born and raised here. This is OUR city and we are so worried about our community. It is an absolute disaster area here and it is going to take not weeks but months for us to recover. But we are going to be here every step of the way as long as Mother Nature and modern technology lets us.”
Russ adds, “I’m sure we could help do roofs or cut trees, but we are WAY better at talking. The response from the community has been amazing. They are providing us with factual info by calling us from their location and sending pictures. Businesses are even sending us selfies to show that they are open and we’re putting that on the air! We just want to do what’s right for our community. Mike and I grew up here, and we could not sit around any longer and watch our city suffer. We will break our standard New Country format to help our listeners smile and make the best of this situation.”
Market President Darren Ryder is working to provide safe accommodations for the rest of the staff to return to studios. In the meantime the cluster’s other DJs are broadcasting from their homes or the nearest safe location. “After seeing the devastating aftermath in Hurricane Laura’s wake, our Townsquare Media engineering team in Lake Charles quickly assessed damages early the next morning and by that afternoon we resumed our radio broadcasts. Townsquare is committed to SWLA and SETX thru this crisis as we rebuild our cities and communities. The safety of our staff and listeners is first and foremost. Water and electric infrastructures are badly damaged, and many of the usual civic facilities just aren’t in place and won’t be for some time. Our team has done selfless, tireless work to get our stations up and running on air and online. I could not be more proud of our local Lake Charles team. This is what local radio does that nothing else can.”
The stations have been broadcasting steadily since Thursday and are streaming on their apps and websites. The digital team and DJs have been sending push alerts on each station’s app directing people to listen to Gator 99.5, 107.5 Jamz, 92.9 The Lake and 92.1 The Bridge for up to the minute information, especially for announcements from the police chief, mayor, FEMA and local emergency officials.
