Fla. Broadcasters Braced for Hurricane Frances

His station covers 9 counties and provided continuous coverage of the approaching hurricane starting last Thurs. If station communications falter, WESH had an agreement with EchoStar and Paxson to carry its signal. The station also had agreements with 15 radio stations. “One thing we learned from Charley was a huge loss of power, making radio the lifeline,” Bauman said.

“This is when you find out the value of broadcasters,” said Fla. Assn. of Bcstrs. Pres. Patrick Roberts. He said radio becomes an invaluable tool for getting information out. Govt. recognizes that too, and FEMA lists radio stations as priority 3, behind only hospitals and police stations, for getting fuel for generators in an emergency, Roberts said. “During Charley they kept Clear Channel fueled all the time,” he said. Roberts planned to document the coverage of Frances extensively so it can be used as a learning tool for other broadcasters.

As millions evacuated Fla.’s east coast, station executives prepared by cancelling all vacations and working out a shift schedule. Station employees had to make sure their families were secure before returning to work. WESH’s chief engineer dropped his family off in Ga. and returned to the Orlando station, Bauman said.

TV and radio stations used their websites to provide extensive coverage of Frances. WTVX (Ch. 34, UPN) Ft. Pierce-Vero Beach provided live streaming of CBS4 news coverage.

An EchoStar spokesman said the company received permission to broadcast local signals from some Tampa stations into areas affected by the storm. The ABC (WFTS- TV Tampa-St. Petersburg), NBC (WFLA-TV Tampa-St. Petersburg) and CBS (WTSP St. Petersburg-Tampa) stations are included in the arrangement. EchoStar still needs permission from stations that lose signals, he said, but once that’s received “we're going to make the switch on channels where we're able as soon as we lose the signal from the station in question.” Permission to import distant signals is in the form of a waiver of the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA), the spokesman said. Similar arrangements were made during Hurricane Charley in Aug. Only viewers in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Daytona Beach, Orlando, Melbourne, W. Palm Beach, Ft. Pierce and Jacksonville are expected to receive the signals if necessary. EchoStar has also sent teams of technicians to the state from Mich., Ill. and Tex. to help EchoStar customers restore any lost satellite signals: “We're not waiting to send technicians down there. They're right there and ready to act immediately.”

Meanwhile, the World Communications Center said it would provide satellite phones to utilities, county govts., retailers, insurance companies and others affected by the hurricane. The company markets Iridium-based phone communications. “Satellite phones continue to be rented and shipped to Florida on an expedited basis,” the company said.

Globalstar has also made some of its phones available to the Federal Emergency Management Assn. (FEMA), the state Dept. of Health and other govt. agencies, a Globalstar spokesman said, although a number of phones were still there from Hurricane Charley. The company has also used a private jet to transport “more than 100 satellite handsets and car kits to one of our distributors who is actively working with FEMA,” said Dennis Allen, senior vp-sales. The spokesman said service to Fla. is routed through a gateway in Tex. because a new one in Fla. isn’t finished. While the company isn’t concerned the Fla. gateway under construction will sustain damage from the storm, “we will determine what [future] plans we'll [make] in the event of a storm,” he said, citing steps taken to enclose gateways in Canada from ice and snow.

Wireless phone carriers reported taking steps to protect their networks as the hurricane bore down. Verizon Wireless, the largest national carrier, said it was deploying hundreds of technicians to prepare its network and placed response and relief teams on alert. “A similar plan proved successful 2 weeks ago in southwest Fla. during Hurricane Charley when the network remained more than 90% operational during the storm and was at 100% only a few days later,” Verizon said. Cingular said it was refueling back up generators, moving another 550 in from other states and deploying engineers and technicians to targeted areas. Cingular was also deploying COLTS -- self-contained/portable cell sites -- in the area most likely to be hit. Nextel was moving similar resources to the state.

Wireline telecom carriers with operations in the affected states said Fri. they were prepared. BellSouth, whose service territory is expected to be most affected, said it was prepared to keep the service up in Fla. and S.C. “BellSouth network teams are on standby throughout Florida and surrounding BellSouth states,” the company said. It said it had “numerous safeguards” in place to maintain telephone service in Fla. during a hurricane. They included: (1) Placing many phone lines underground and designing aerial lines to withstand high winds and heavy rains. (2) Preparing immediate back-up power through batteries and diesel-powered electric generators that are permanently installed in facilities or stored in nearby warehouses. BellSouth said it had additional equipment available to be brought in from surrounding states. (3) Using high-capacity fiber optics for redirecting calls automatically when a major cable is cut. It said it also maintained radio equipment to regenerate communications signals in the event of cable damage.

Sprint said its crews were “ready and on standby to respond to any restoration issues” once the hurricane passes throughout the Eastern seaboard, but it warned that “restoration and recovery could take time.” “Potential for damage from Hurricane Frances is high because it is slow-moving and could be in the area for a significant time when compared to Hurricane Charley,” said Sprint Vp- Customer Service Lou Carrion: “This will make it more difficult for our technicians, both wireline and wireless, to get into areas hardest hit.” Sprint said it had donated several hundred wireless phones to the American Red Cross to be used for disaster relief communications and provided prepaid long distance phone cards to storm- shelter and safety personnel for distribution.

Sprint and Verizon said they planned to place portable public phone banks in the affected areas. A Verizon spokesman said there were 6,000 calls placed from its portable wireless payphones for free during the week following the Hurricane Charley. He said Verizon networks were designed to withstand natural disasters, but “there is not a lot we can do to prepare… The best thing we can do is to have crews ready to go” to restore the affected networks, and to “stay informed” about service problems through contact with emergency operation centers in the affected areas. -- Tania Panczyk-Collins, Jeanene Timberlake & Susan Polyakova