3 radio networks join state emergency plan

BANGOR – Maine Public Broadcasting Network, Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Broadcasting have agreed to join forces during emergencies.

Their goal is to make sure their listeners have access to safety information.

At 8:55 a.m. Monday, May 7, the Bangor MPBN studio will broadcast a one-minute message in a test designed to reach all Clear Channel, Cumulus and MPBN listeners.

MPBN has a statewide network of seven radio stations. Clear Channel, a San Antonio-based national corporation, owns area stations such as WBFB-FM 104.7 and WKSQ-FM 94.5. Atlanta-based Cumulus owns such Maine stations as WEZQ-FM 92.9 and WWMJ-FM 95.7.

The test will feature Gov. John Baldacci explaining the agreement reached by all three broadcasters to set aside competition during emergencies, said Gil Maxwell, MPBN senior vice president and chief technology officer.

“We decided to stay focused in eastern Maine,” Maxwell said. “We’re actually hoping this test demonstrates to other broadcasters in other parts of the state that this can be done. We want to prove to ourselves that this could be done, and we don’t want to find out in a real emergency situation that we have some flaws in our system.”

After Hurricane Katrina and the Ice Storm of 1998, Maxwell said, many broadcasters began working on a mutual agreement that would allow the stations of one company to broadcast emergency information using another company’s tower or equipment.

The broadcasters decided to pursue the agreement and plan a test without state or federal funds, Maxwell said. The groups have since received a $5,000 grant from the Maine Association of Broadcasters to offset costs associated with the agreement, he said.

During the Ice Storm, only one station in eastern Maine withstood the freeze without interruption, Maxwell said. WVOM-FM 103.9, now owned by Clear Channel, remained on the air during much of the 1998 storm. Many stations ran out of fuel to feed their generators, or dealt with other setbacks.

“WVOM actually became the voice of Maine during the Ice Storm,” said Tom Robertson, director of emergency management for Penobscot County. “What we’ve lacked in the past is a system by which if we lose one radio station, we can still get the signals out because there are still things we need to tell people.”

If the broadcast agreement had been in place in 1998 and WVOM had been owned by Clear Channel at the time, all other MPBN, Clear Channel and Cumulus stations could have broadcast the emergency information WVOM disseminated during the storm.

“It will make my job a lot easier,” Robertson said. “It’s only natural to marry their [broadcast] capabilities with our needs in an emergency situation.”