Ed Ryan, In The Eye Of Ian

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    DELRAY BEACH, FLA. — As the noon hour arrived in Lee County, Fla., the Editor of Radio Ink shifted away from his duties at the industry trade publication and put on his reporter’s hat. Ed Ryan, with his wife Kim, also cover the beach hamlet of Fort Myers Beach, coverage that began somewhat accidentally with the launch of the “Beach Talk Radio” podcast.

    By 6:30pm Eastern on Wednesday, Beach Talk Radio would become a vital source for local news and images as Hurricane Ian, a powerful Category 4 storm, came ashore in Southwest Florida. Ryan’s Gateway neighborhood home is practically in the eye of the storm.

    With radio stations streaming local TV stations, the chances anyone locally could see their coverage was diminishing by the hour. At 2pm, Ryan shared, “It’s total devastation here. Businesses are under water.” That was in Fort Myers Beach, on the opposite site of Lee County from where Ryan resides. By 5pm, the flooding and storm surge had far worsened.

    WINK-TV, the locally owned CBS affiliate, had gone dark. According to a Beach Talk Radio follower, Dylan Federico, the main meteorologist for the station went live on his personal Facebook page to continue offering reports. “Their office went dark. There is no power, or generators on backup, and they’re flooding. They’re moving up to the second floor for safety.”

    Indeed, the flooding threat to WINK-TV was severe.

     

    Meanwhile, Ryan streamed Lee County City Management’s press conference on the Beach Talk Radio Facebook page, which by 6pm was offering a plethora of photos from followers offering exclusive looks at just how devastating the storm damage is.

    Indian Creek RV Park, with water nearly covering single-story structures, was just one locale where the flooding mirrored that seen in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina inT 2005.

    Beach Talk Radio’s Facebook page also became an important message board. “Can someone check on my Uncle & Aunt @ 115 Bay Mar drive when help can be deployed?,” one follower asked. “Are there any rescue boats on Fort Myers beach? An older couple is trapped in their home in waist deep,” another posted.

    Ryan also chimed in, noting, “There are 3 people on Ostego Drive worried for their lives. They are as high as they can go and only have 2 feet to spare.”

    As the 7pm hour neared and the skies began to darken, much of the storm had moved north into rural parts of Central Florida. The Tampa Bay region, which saw water literally drain out of the bay and officials plead individuals from refrain from entering the temporarily dry expanse to take selfies, was receiving substantial rain and wind from the east. That’s the “clean” side of the hurricane, which is now taking aim at metropolitan Orlando — where many in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area evacuated to.

    Randy Kabrich, the veteran radio industry programmer, resides in Palm Harbor, due north of Dunedin. As of 6pm, he told Radio Ink that with the wind and rain picking up, he expected a power outage to become inevitable.

    Forty minutes earlier, he noted that The E.W. Scripps Co.’s WFTS-28 in Tampa, the ABC affiliate, had experienced an internet outage and had been unable to go on the air. That is in contrast to Fort Myers-Naples, where WINK-TV went dark as WBBH “NBC2” and sister “ABC7” also lost their ability to broadcast, with “NBC News Now” briefly airing until the local coverage resumed. Scripps’ “FOX4” remained on the air throughout the worst of the storm.

    That said, many, if not all, Southwest Floridians were relying on local radio stations’ simulcasts of the TV stations and social media to keep informed. Beasley Media Group stations such as B103.9 were simulcasting NBC2.

    High tide on Wednesday was 7:06pm. “The fire department is aware of our location,” Federico tweeted. Meanwhile, TMZ was poking fun at Federico and criticizing him for a report about a cat he attempted to save from the flood waters.

    “Right after the video was posted we attempted to get to the cat but it swam in a different direction out of view,” he shared on Twitter. “I waited to post an update in hopes we could grab it. Please take your companions with you when you evacuate.”

    It was a light-hearted moment on a day that has yet to end, with storm damage likely to persist through the evening ahead of a sober assessment of the full scope of Ian’s damage, come Thursday.

    Meanwhile, the East Coast of Florida also experienced weather troubles associated with Ian, on Wednesday night. Multiple tornadoes touched down in Hollywood, Cooper City and Plantation, while one twister came within one-quarter mile of Radio + Television Business Report’s editorial office.

    1 COMMENT

    1. God bless Ed for his work. Ed is helping people to keep informed.
      And shame on the TV stations that went off the air. That is on upper management, who clearly did not want to spend the money to protect their on-air staffs and facilities, which certainly could have been retrofitted to be hurricane-resistant.

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