During large events KDX links with key licensed radio coverage of unfolding events, and tonight are connected with WFTB 106.7 FM Carolina Beach, North Carolina, for continual reporting as the Hurricane moves on shore.
Meanwhile on the Campus of the Internet Building, home of KDX Worldround Radio, reporting calm conditions with temperatures near 80-degrees F, Mid Mississippi River Valley.
Great idea because here in Deltaville Virginia we do report any activity that will affect us.
It's not just the wind and hail that you have to worry about with these storms There Is frequent lightning that can often become very violent.
We had a very eerie thing happened to us here at the Legacy. We made sure that because lightning was nearby that we unplugged our transmitter. The antenna if you could see through the roof is almost directly above our TV but of course not connected in any way.
Now here is a strange event at around 4 in the morning the other night we were sitting and watching a show when all of a sudden we heard a Thunderclap and saw a bright flash to what look like went right through our glass window and hit the left Edge of our flat screen HDTV and at the same time we heard a loud pop and of course the TV went out and never worked again.
The router and cable box are connected to the same power bar and the cable company had a splitter whereas one end goes to the router and the other end of the splitter goes to the TV with the cable coming in from the wall. So knowing this and looking at the cords and the plugs lightning did not come in through the electrical socket nothing was chard nor did it come in through the cable TV jack as nothing was charred as far as the cable went.
At the same time my landlord reported well not even using her home computer that her computer was hit by lightning and she saw the signs of it. Her computer was sitting next to her ground window. Most folks believe that Lightning goes from the cloud to the ground but ground lightning is in the reverse order whereas it comes from the ground and goes to the sky.
The case in point is that the am transmitter in which the antenna is on a 9 foot pole did not get struck and if the roof was a see-through roof the antenna would have been almost in direct line with the television but outside.
My landlord's house which got hit is about 100 foot in a direct line away from our house and she was hit. This means that one lightning strike has the capability of being 100 ft long. Thank God no one was in that path because I do believe they would have been vaporized meaning nobody nothing left but Ash.
So though people have to worry about the wind and rain with these storms violent frequent lightning is something that needs to be take a note of because we sure had it.
One of the towns shown on TV getting hit the worst is New Bern, North Carolina. That is where the WHEATSTONE company is; the manufacturer of high-end broadcast consoles, AoIP audio systems and processors.
One of the reasons they moved out of Syracuse NY is because the weather up there sucked.
Isn't It Ironic - - - - - -
Morning Report
Yes TheLegacy, we also have seen weird lightening that looked more like a bomb going off in the air.
Correction: the call letters of the station in Carolina Beach are WFBT.
WFBT is owned by Carolina Christian Radio, Inc., but there have been no Christian commercials. Hurricane coverage has been audio fed from WWAY-TV3.
After listening through the night we have high praise for the staff literally camped out in the TV station building, all of them exceptionally professional and prepared. Even though there were many reporters on duty all the time, they never talked over each other.
As usual a frustrating number of people ignored evacuation orders and sure enough needed to call for rescue. A few idiots were caught burglarizing buildings and cars and now reside in jail shelter.
You'll Wish You Had
Hearing about the ongoing catastrophic weather event in the Carolinas I got to thinking about the problem listeners must have encountered.
Although the TV station and radio station that were sending the live coverage were solidly on the air (they never said that they weren't) and online, proved by my reception, much of the two states had lost power and with the storm still in progress more power outages continue to pile up. Therefore many people could not watch TV and most could not use their computers, which leaves three last choices:
Radio, cell-phone, and land-line phone (the TV station had a telephone number for their audio). We heard no report about the condition of the cell network, but it easily might have been crippled. So let's talk about radio.
My guess is that most people probably ignore whether they have a radio or not, and this weekend many probably found the batteries in their old radios had leaked and turned them into a glob of white powder.
It becomes our responsibility to promote the keeping and care of radios in these times of climate disaster under the slogan You'll Wish You Had.
Somebody record some PSAs and we'll all run them.
#METOO WISH ME HAD
We just learned that WWAY-TV3, source of Hurrican Florence coverage, lost their power this morning and are operating on generator.
Is your radio station equipped to stay on the air during a power failure?
Silence from the Storm Zone
Having just tried to link with WFBT for a tropical storm update there is only silence, although indications are a stream server is running.
There are numerous possible explanations... their generator may have run out of fuel, they might have had to evacuate, an audio link may be lost, the tower blew down... we don't know.
The hurricane turned tropical storm is still in full progress throughout the weekend so disaster is everywhere in the Carolinas.
KDX will monitor the situation.
Coverage Update from NC
The dead audio stream we experienced is run by FM station WFBT with audio from WWAY-TV3, which has been confirmed in operation at their website.
It took about two or more minutes for the stream to start.
Thumbs Up
The silent stream encountered earlier from WFBT in NC was up and running shortly thereafter.
Winds are in the 70 MPH range, heavy rain, expanding floods, storm due to run all weekend until Sunday or early Monday.
It's Not Over
KDX continues to check in with WFBT-FM in the Wilmington, NC area, which at times carries programming from their radio studio known as "The Big Talker" (same name we used for our shortwave transmitter), and at other times from WWAY-TV3.
Last night TV3 announced that their main transmitter is out, and because it's surrounded by flood water they'll need to do a helicopter overflight of the tower to look for a way to reach the facility. Meanwhile they are being seen on some cable systems (the ones that aren't down) and streaming on their website.
This morning's report listed the gas stations that are getting tanker delivery with very long lines waiting to fuel up, reported waters receding in some areas but still rising along rivers which won't crest until Thursday (it's Tuesday now).
It's a disaster of enormous scale and one of the main recovery tools is provided by broadcast services.
FACT: Hail is likely impossible during hurricanes given the nature of how hail is formed.
How Many Communications Channels?
During Hurricane Florence KDX has been covering the event by re-streaming the internet signal from an FM station in Willmington, North Carolina, which was relaying live coverage from a local TV station, itself also streaming on its own website and carried on cable systems. While all this was going on we posted notice of our role in all the interactivity on a broadcast forum site and describe it now here on The Blare Blog. Along the line the Willmington TV station lost its transmitter at a remote tower location which needed to be overflown by helicopter to seek a means of access through surrounding flood waters, while viewers had the option of tv cable or streaming from the station's website except where delivery to the home was cut off, leaving radio as the last channel standing. Phone calls were made, Emails sent, Facebook, Twitter and Linked In notified, prayer said and in-person conversations held. Communications went out on all channels. -C.Blare 180918 Re-Posted by permission of The Blare Blog
AMradiolegacy noted: FACT: Hail is likely impossible during hurricanes given the nature of how hail is formed.
The exception is when, during a hurricane, one declares Hail Carl!