When Crisis Strikes, Your Station Needs A ‘Red Binder’

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(By Valerie Geller) It began like a normal Tuesday, then the worst happened: skies over Los Angeles filled with dark billowing plumes of smoke. It looked like the whole Santa Monica mountain range was on fire. People were running for their lives. Evacuations had begun. I packed a “go bag” if needed.

Situations like this are so stressful and scary for all involved. They come with a constant state of raw, anxious exhaustion.

Among the eleven news chapters in the new edition of my book, Beyond Powerful Radio, you’ll find “In Case Of Emergency.” These were ideas developed to help prepare stations for disaster in advance based on my own experience of running a newsroom and that of others, former KOA Denver radio news director Jerry Bell with them.
In Case Of Emergency…

Jerry Bell’s Emergency “Red Binder”

1.   Emergency numbers and contacts (in a place where everyone can find it!). Take the time to compile a list of contacts for people with police, fire, hospital, utility companies, and homeland security. Get more than office numbers. You need cell phone numbers, and e-mail and twitter contacts. It will take a little time to get an initial list. But once you have one, test call every six months to make sure the numbers are current. Make sure you have numbers of people who are designated to go on the air.

2.   A map of where staffers live and numbers where they can be reached 24/7. Know where your staff lives. Whoever is closest to an event can head toward the scene. Since they work for you, you can trust their information. They can also explain local landmarks and help describe where something is taking place. They may even know people who live nearby. [Remember, not everybody is appropriate to send into an emergency situation.]

3.   Guidelines for crisis coverage interviews. Before I list them, let me say that I believe that managers should manage and stay off the air. In a disaster situation management is critical. Listeners should hear voices they are used to. Your regular DJ or talk host can handle the air work. A manager needs to listen to what’s going out over the air and make decisions that guide the coverage.

  • Stay calm. Take notes and limit speculation.
  • When talking to the public, ask what they can see, hear or smell. Does the caller have any expertise to comment on a particular aspect of what is taking place? If someone tells you what they think or believe, remember to say you’ll check it out with authorities. Do not accept it as fact.
  • Check with emergency professionals on a continuous basis. Ask them about observations from callers. Take notes. Repeat frequently what you have been told. Scene set every ten minutes. “Here’s what we know right now. . .”
  • Put yourself in the place of someone who lives nearby. What would you want to know? That’s what to ask.
  • If possible, have someone screen calls. If that’s not possible, put your B.S. detector on. Hoax calls are a possibility. My experience is that young teens and adults in their 20s are the most likely hoaxers. Howard B. Price, who developed Continuity Crisis Management Systems at ABC News, offers a trick to protect credibility and eliminate any “prank calls” during live coverage. He suggests, “Try asking a ‘check’ question only a legitimate caller would be able to answer. For example, here in New York City, I’ll ask anyone claiming to be a cop if they know anyone in the 35th precinct. There is no 35th precinct. So any answer they give other than that means they’re bogus.”

4.   Basic information about what to do for earthquakes, tornadoes, or terrorist events. You can get great information from your State Office of Emergency services, weather service, and Homeland Security. They have simple instructions about what to do in a variety of situations. Sometimes this simple information is the best information you can impart in an emergency.

5.   Instructions about when to dump commercials. (You don’t want to broadcast a spot for an airline in the middle of coverage about a plane crash.)

6.   You need street maps of your area and state. Invest in a good quality street map. It helps to pinpoint where something is taking place. Make sure you have a TV monitor in your studio. If there is TV coverage, it helps if your on-air person can see what is happening.

7.   Create a mission statement for what you want your station to do during a disaster. If there’s a disaster, what do you expect? Spell out expectations. Then provide a framework for decision making. First order of business is to get a general manager or program director involved ASAP.

This excerpt from the 2025 edition of Beyond Powerful Radio – An Audio Communicator’s Guide to the Digital World is used with permission from Routledge. The book is available for purchase from BeyondPowerfulRadio.com or via Amazon.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Thank you Rick. Youll find so much more in “Beyond Powerful Radio – An Audio Communicator’s Guide to the Digital World ” (Routledge 2025) book if it maybe of help, use or interest? Valerie Geller

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