The AM Forum

Having grown up on the MS Gulf coast I keep up with major events there and this one has a ham radio connection involving low power FM station "WQRZ" in Waveland, MS.  Story states one of the staff members rescued was a ham radio operator.  The story from the local newspaper:  http://www.sunherald.com/2012/08/29/4152866/hancock-officials-rescue-radio.html

I wonder if that story will make it to the ARRL's tally of "HAM radio participation" in storm communications.

Another newspaper has a photo with the rescue:

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2012/aug/29/dozens-rescued-flooding-coastal-mississippi/?breakingnews (http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2012/aug/29/dozens-rescued-flooding-coastal-mississippi/?breakingnews)


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Also "HAM" radio operators are the "leader of the station" as your article put it, Brice Phillips, and his partner, Christine Stach, the station's program director.

Here's a profile story on how HAM radio is involved with the station.

http://risingfromruin.msnbc.com/2005/11/an_endangered_b_1.html (http://risingfromruin.msnbc.com/2005/11/an_endangered_b_1.html)

WWL 870 in NOLA has some excellent news coverage of the storm.

WQRZ is actually owned by the Hancock County Amateur Radio Association.
http://transition.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/fmq?call=WQRZ

Have a hard time taking this whole thing seriously, little 100 watt LPFM talks about being the only and most important link to the community, think they would cover about a five to six mile radius and would think maybe they are a big deal in that town but even when they got a STA to operate at 1.3 kW still there coverage and service area don’t approach a commercial broadcast station. WWL (870 kHz) at 50 kW was on the air during and after Katarina, it’s on the air today and serves a community maybe one hundred times the size that LPFM serves. The commercial broadcasters of New Orleans did a great job establishing united radio broadcasters of New Orleans network that was carried by many of the stations after Katrina.
Maybe I am predigest because I work for several commercial broadcasters but I have often been told by Hams who do the whole Ecom deal about how much better prepared and capable they are then the commercial world but after Katrina who  reached more people and served the public? Ham radio, LPFM community stations or commercial broadcast stations?

Good points, Ray, but the counterbalance might be that these folks are mirco-local, supposedly giving information for an area that would be overlooked by the blowtorch broadcasters.  

My nearest experience was at a kilowatt daytime AM that kicked hind-end on really local stories between DC and Baltimore.  People likely heard about their neighbors on my station, or the scoundrels in local politics.  

We targeted the weekly community newspapers as media rivals, and did pretty well for ourselves revenue-wise, except in December when sign off was friggen 4:45pm.