All Eyes On Ian

(By Radio Ink Editor Ed Ryan) We live in Fort Myers, Florida, not too far from where Hurricane Ian is expected to make landfall later today. One of my most memorable jobs in radio as a young newsperson was covering a massive snowstorm in upstate New York.

I remember how important those broadcasts were to the local community that was hungry for as much information about the storm as they could get, and how our radio station was there for them, every step of the way. Tuesday, I put my old newsperson radio hat on and went back out on the street to talk to our local community to see how they were dealing with the storm. I obviously don’t work for a radio station any longer, so it was a Facebook Live video. I’d share it with you here, but the Facebook Gods must have decided it was misinformation and deleted it without explanation. The local people were there though, ready to take in as much information about the storm as they could get.

Tuesday, all eyes were on TV meteorologists who were trying to predict where the storm would land. As Wednesday rolls in, it looks like it will hit Florida somewhere around Sarasota, with Fort Myers, Sanibel, Fort Myers Beach and even Naples feeling the back-end swirling effects of Ian.

A major concern is storm surge, with predictions of between 5 and 15 feet, which could be catastrophic to some of the beach communities in the area, especially Sanibel. It’s also going to be a major rain event all day on Wednesday and into early Thursday. It’s been raining for two straight days and the storm hasn’t even hit yet. Flooding is a major concern for local authorities. Mandatory evacuations have been ordered in all low lying areas and shelters are open all over the state. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has been holding regular press conferences all across the state.

Radio stations in the area are expecting to pick up coverage today. Fort Myers Broadcasting, which also owns a Television station in Fort Myers, is simulcasting the TV station HERE. Beasley Media Group stations in Fort Myers are planning wall-to-wall coverage from the NBC-2 Television affiliate on some of their stations. NBC-2 has also made the decision to rebroadcast their TV signal for free on their website HERE. Beasley and Cox Media Group also plan to do regular updates on their radio stations in Tampa.