Katrina Exposes Inadequacy of Ala. Public TV Diesel Tanks
As most public broadcasting stations in the Katrina- hit Gulf region limp back to normalcy, one deficiency is standing out: Generators expected to run for days on end need bigger fuel tanks. Ala. Public TV network (APT), which operates 9 stations, didn’t bother to switch on generators after power failed since “they last only a few hours,” a spokesman said. In La. Public Bcstg. (LPB) Network hq in Baton Rouge, a fuel spill meant a hazmat team had to be summoned. “It’s not designed to run that long,” LPG Pres. Beth Courtney told us.
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It’s too early to consider in a “critical way” lessons from Katrina, said PBS Senior Vp-Technology & Operations Ed Caleca, but Ala. stations know they need bigger fuel tanks. Miss. public TV stations’ 3,000 gal. tanks support operations for days at a stretch, Caleca said: “How do we get increased sized tanks into all locations in Alabama so if there is a loss of power they don’t need to have diesel replenishment quickly -- that’s one learning.”
All Ala. stations are operating on restored power, Caleca said. “They got a physical review of their towers and they don’t think they got any major problems. Any repairs they need to make on their microwave system they've made.” All but 2 of 8 public TV stations in Miss. are up. He said a tower in McHenry, which serves WMAH Biloxi, is “probably going to be lost. That’s going to be a major tower replacement.” At WLAE New Orleans, whose staff was able to go back and do a physical evaluation, the roof was torn off, said Caleca. Flooding left the station overgrown with mold, he added: “So, pretty much the master control studios are completely gone and will have to be replaced.” The station’s tower is okay, he said, but the transmitters were submerged. “So the assumption is that both their analog and digital transmitters will need to be replaced.”
No one has been able to inspect WYES New Orleans, which remains under water, as does its production truck, parked outside. “So the assumption is that it’s out of commission,” said Caleca. The transmitters sit well above the water line on stilts. But WYES’s production facility, like WLAE’s, is submerged and “facing the same scenario -- heavy mold and probably loss of equipment.” La. Public Bcstg. is in “pretty good shape,” he said. “They are working as hard as they know to figure out how they can import an appropriate signal… into the New Orleans market, not just through DirecTV or EchoStar, but over the air.”
La. Public Bcstg. facilities in Baton Rouge were opened to journalists and staff from CBS affiliate WWL-TV, WWNO(FM) and WWOZ(FM), said LPB’s Courtney. “All the WWL people are working out of here and they are covering the story. They are using one of my news sets as their news set, but we have our logo up on it.” WLPB Baton Rouge and WWL reporters are collaborating, she said: “It’s a wonderful thing.” Some WWL reporters’ families are living 9 to a room, she said, but “they are still covering the story.” Belo Pres. Robert Decherd, who visited the facility, told LPG “how wonderful we all are,” she said. She attributed the continued operation of the WWL transmitter in New Orleans to its “physical location.”
WLPB is carrying WWL programming on its multicast channel because the FCC lifted bars on public stations’ broadcast of commercial content, Courtney said. “I have done uplinks for Dateline, Nightline, Face the Nation and New Hour With Jim Lehrer,” she said. Baton Rouge’s population doubled with the influx of about 500,000 evacuees, she said: “Unlike everybody else, we are still in the midst of this disaster.” She said her station is distributing books to displaced children and plans to show children’s programs in shelters.
LPB didn’t suspend operations, Courtney said: “We kept going.” The station experienced diesel spills. “We had a Hazmat team out here because we were running for so long.” The generator power was just enough for the transmitter and the studio, she said: “At times it was like 102 degrees and it was too hot.” LPG is setting up a special account for emergency Corp. of Public Bcstg. funds, she said. “Then we are assessing particular damage.”
Calling FCC suspension of rules so public broadcasters can carry commercial content a “nice” gesture, Caleca said the Commerce Dept. has begun an inquiry into authorizing a special Public Telecom Facilities Program (PTFP) fund. The first 2 installments of aid package authorized by Congress were almost all FEMA related, he said, but, future authorization requests will focus on other needs, including public TV and radio: “That’s why we are busily putting together the numbers for CPB.”