As Central Florida braces for Hurricane Milton, radio is at the center of emergency plans for the second major storm to hit the region. The unprecedented hurricane surged from a Category 1 to a Category 5 in a day as residents rush to evacuate.
Tampa Bay is in the center of where Milton is expected to make landfall tonight. Among those making preparations to ride out the storm is the team of Beasley Media Group Tampa Bay. Brand Operations Manager Rick Thomas has stated the cluster’s seven stations will continue to provide in-house storm updates to local listeners throughout the morning. Around 10a stations will switch to continuous coverage from ABC.
Radio Ink spoke to Beasley Regional Vice President Ron deCastro, who oversees the company’s Tampa and Fort Myers markets, about AM/FM’s groundwork in Hurricane Helene recovery and Hurricane Milton preparation.
Radio Ink: Tampa Bay wasn’t one of the hardest impacted areas with Helene, but there was still significant destruction along the coast. How did it affect your listenership and what feedback have you received about the importance of radio during crises like that?
Ron deCastro: You know, it didn’t impact the entire region the same way. Tampa was spared a lot of the damage, but in St. Pete and in some of the coastal communities, it was devastating. A lot of people lost power and had no ability to communicate with the outside world other than listening to the radio.
We’ve heard nothing but positive feedback from many people who listened to the radio for their news. They called up our personalities and thanked them for providing information on evacuation zones and information like that. MJ, one of our amazing talent on WRBQ, spent a lot of time making sure his listeners had the latest information, as did all our air personalities.
Radio Ink: How are you balancing your day-to-day programming with both the ongoing recovery efforts around Tampa and the need to prepare for Hurricane Milton?
Ron deCastro: We’re taking a look at the balance of entertaining and informing and safety. Safety is our number one concern, not only for the community but for our talent. So our initial thought was that we want to stay in format, still providing information as long as possible. When that does not become possible, we will go wall to wall with news and information.
Radio Ink: How do you specifically prepare your staff – on-air and behind the scenes – to manage the dual challenges of recovery and preparation?
Ron deCastro: Thank goodness we’ve gone through the prep of this many times. We’re used to hurricane scares, so we’ve put together every sort of every possible outcome whether it’s it misses us, causes minimal damage, or causes maximum damage. The key thing is communication. As we learn more about the storm, we will continue to make updates to our plan, communicate that to everyone, and go from there.
We have a great relationship with city officials and those in all the counties, with the elected officials and the disaster preparedness teams. I’m on a text chain with all the GMs of the other radio companies. This is a time to share information and make sure that as much information gets to the community as possible.
Radio Ink: Outside of listening purely for information, we’ve seen so many turn to radio for emotional support and connection post-Helene. Going through consecutive major storms, how do you ensure your stations provide that?
Ron deCastro: We listen to the community. We’ve had many listeners call and commiserate with other callers. It’s an emotional experience and it’s a community experience. Just because you may not be affected, doesn’t mean your neighbor wasn’t. The community uses radio as a sounding board to hear other people’s losses and to take action. We’ve had so many offers for help and food and clothing. It’s been fantastic and overwhelming.
