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[IRCA] DXing Hurricane Irma by "Steve Whitt (MWN Editor)"

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Very little information available regarding station outages etc across the Caribbean. One possible casualty might be ZBVI [780]. On line streams were dead and Facebook contributions had stalled. Yesterday 6/9.

On Barbuda the storm has reportedly wiped out 90% of buildings and all
telecommunications is down.

Keep your radios on for stations along the Florida Coast. All stations are authorized to operate with max power and non-directional in case of emergency. This is possible during this coming weekend when Hurricane Irma makes US landfall. Current prediction suggest closest landfall in Florida might be Miami area, but if storm stays offshore then the Bahamas could be the target, Evacuations are taking place in both areas. 73s (Steve Whitt, UK, Sept 7, MWCircle yg via DXLD)

Hurricane Irma DX target list

Here is a list of stations to look out for if they are operating emergency daypower at night or non-directional antennas

All of the following stations could boost their night power significantly under emergency conditions

 kHz                    DAY   NIGHT 
 540 WFLF FL PINE HILLS 50000 46000
 550 WAYR FL FLEMING ISLAND 5000 500
 600 WBOB FL JACKSONVILLE 50000 9700
 640 WMEN FL ROYAL PALM BEACH 7500 460
 670 WWFE FL MIAMI 50000 1000
 690 WOKV FL JACKSONVILLE 50000 25000
 720 WRZN FL HERNANDO 10000 250
 760 WLCC FL BRANDON 10000 1000
 770 WJBX FL NORTH FORT MYERS 10000 630
 810 WRSO FL ORLOVISTA 20000 400
 820 WWBA FL LARGO 50000 1000 
 850 WFTL FL WEST PALM BEACH 50000 20000
 940 WINZ FL MIAMI 50000 10000
 950 WTLN FL ORLANDO 12000 5000
 970 WFLA FL TAMPA 25000 11000
 980 WDVH FL GAINESVILLE 5000 166
 990 WDYZ FL ORLANDO 50000 14000
1000 WYBT FL BLOUNTSTOWN 5000
1010 WJXL FL JACKSONVILLE BEACH 50000 30000
1010 WHFS FL SEFFNER 50000 5000
1030 WONQ FL OVIEDO 45000 1700
1040 WURN FL BOYNTON BEACH 25000 1100
1050 WROS FL JACKSONVILLE 5000 13
1060 WIXC FL TITUSVILLE 50000 5000
1070 WNVY FL CANTONMENT 15000 28
1070 WFRF FL TALLAHASSEE 10000 
1080 WHIM FL CORAL GABLES 50000 10000
1080 WHOO FL KISSIMMEE 19000 190
1110 WTIS FL TAMPA 10000 
1140 WQBA FL MIAMI 50000 10000
1140 WRMQ FL ORLANDO 5000 8
1150 WTMP FL EGYPT LAKE 10000 500
1160 WEWC FL CALLAHAN 5000 250
1170 WAVS FL DAVIE 5000 250
1200 WJUA FL PINE ISLAND CENTER 50000 1000
1210 WNMA FL MIAMI SPRINGS 47000 2500 
1250 WHNZ FL TAMPA 25000 5900
1260 WSUA FL MIAMI 50000 20000
1270 WRLZ FL EATONVILLE 25000 5000
1270 WTLY FL TALLAHASSEE 5000 110
1280 WDSP FL DE FUNIAK SPRINGS 5000 46
1290 WJNO FL WEST PALM BEACH 10000 4900
1300 WQBN FL TEMPLE TERRACE 5000 160
1310 WYND FL DELAND 10400 115
1320 WJNJ FL JACKSONVILLE 50000 5000
1330 WEBY FL MILTON 25000 79
1330 WCVC FL TALLAHASSEE 5000 
1360 WCGL FL JACKSONVILLE 5000 89
1370 WOCA FL OCALA 5000 33
1390 WAJD FL GAINESVILLE 5000 51
1410 WQBQ FL LEESBURG 5000 88
1410 WHBT FL TALLAHASSEE 5000 18
1420 WDJA FL DELRAY BEACH 5000 500
1430 WTMN FL GAINESVILLE 10000 45
1430 WOIR FL HOMESTEAD 5000 500
1460 WQOP FL JACKSONVILLE 15000 5000
1460 WZEP FL DEFUNIAK SPRINGS 10000 186
1460 WQXM FL BARTOW 10000 155
1470 WWNN FL POMPANO BEACH 50000 2500
1480 WKGC FL SOUTHPORT 5000 34
1510 WWBC FL COCOA 50000 
1520 WBZW FL APOPKA 5000 
1530 WYMM FL JACKSONVILLE 50000
1550 WNZF FL BUNNELL 11000 57
1550 WAMA FL TAMPA 10000 133
1550 WRHC FL CORAL GABLES 10000
1560 WLZR FL MELBOURNE 5000
1570 WVOJ FL FERNANDINA BEACH 10000 30
1570 WTWB FL AUBURNDALE 5000 13
1580 WSRF FL FORT LAUDERDALE 10000 1500
1580 WTCL FL CHATTAHOOCHEE 10000 
1580 WNTF FL BITHLO 10000 
1590 WPSL FL PORT ST. LUCIE 5000 
1600 WZNZ FL ATLANTIC BEACH 5000 89
1620 WNRP FL GULF BREEZE 10000 1000
1660 WCNZ FL MARCO ISLAND 10000 1000
1680 WOKB FL WINTER GARDEN 10000 1000
1700 WJCC FL MIAMI SPRINGS 10000 1000

During hurricane Irma look for those on the Atlantic coast
73 (Steve, ibid.)

Report on Channel 4 TV here in the UK, by a local on Anguilla, stated that all radio stations were off air and internet was down. Some mobile comms seems to be working. Serious damage throughout. 73 (Steve, ibid.)

Turks & Caicos & hurricane Irma

Ahead of Irma arriving in T&C (a few hours away) I tried to see how local stations were dealing with it. Some stations have no mention of hurricane on air or on their website/facebook or twitter

e.g. religious station Faith FM 98.9 completely oblivious of hurricane. Do they just expect their listeners to pray for divine protection? Ditto for Radio Example of Christ 95.1

Tradewinds Radio 104.5; no mention of Irma on website, last tweet by station was in Feb 2017; only one facebook post mentions hurricanes but dated August 17! Syndicated news at top of hour comes from Washington DC even during a local emergency. Does have brief local mariners weather forecast at 3 minutes after the hour covering Irma, but nothing about emergency planning/response. Main music programming seems automated with no local element.

The main T&C station Radio Turks & Caicos is returning a network error on its internet streaming and has just a handful of messages about Irma on its Facebook page. Not what I'd call comprehensive coverage for its listeners.

Power 92.5Fm / Kiss FM seems to have got its act together (despite
apparently automated music show) with pre-recorded hurricane watch on air every 30 minutes. They claim "More people listen to Power 92 than all other local Radio & TV Stations combined. We've been the #1 Station in Provo since 1980." They are also warning listeners that they may have switch to back-up generators (but no significant social media presence). But not sure if anyone actually is in the studio.

93.9 Island FM has a few recent posts on its Facebook; can't get live audio stream to work; useless one page website

I'm not sure if R Vision Cristiana is on air but the island lacks a a
suitable island wide MW broadcaster - to given the size of the island FM would do also.

If I was on Turks & Caicos I think tuning into the radio would not be much help. 73s (Steve Whitt, ibid.)

Hurricane Irma & Puerto Rico

Reports (from Associated Press) today say that 70% of homes are without electricity in PR. One other report says 90%. The power company PREPA says nothing on its website about outages or hurricanes! It is being reported that it might take months to restore all power because PREPA has no money and not enough technicians.

I'm having difficulty finding any information about radio stations affected by hurricane Irma. Does anyone have any news? 73s (Steve, ibid.)

It seems like Caribbean Beacon-1610 has been off the last two nights. WSTX-970 [USVI] was heard here the 6th of September and tonight I listen to their webstream where they continuously reported of damages in Virgin Islands and the surrounded areas (Bernt-Ivan Holmberg, Sala, Sweden, Sept 7, ibid.)

Impact of Hurricane Harvey on radio

At the height, just nine Texas radio stations were silenced due to Harvey, scattered across the region, leaving others to step up and serve listeners. That's a far cry from during Hurricane Katrina when the FCC estimated about 100 broadcast stations
<https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-263813A1.pdf> 
were knocked off the air. Source: FCC September 6 (Steve Whitt, Sept 7, ibid.)

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