While DigitalTV’s main editorial offices are located in New York City, I live and work in Palm Beach County, FL.
Yes, Florida. “The Plywood State.” Land of mostly sunshine and most recently hurricanes...lots of hurricanes.
Before the four horsemen of the apocalypse (Charley, Ivan, Frances, and Jeanne) descended on Florida, plans were already in place for how the media would cover them. Television stations not only simulcast on radio and combined coverage with other stations in the market to double their newsgathering abilities, but also simulcast on stations without their own news outlets (like WB, UPN, and PAX affiliates). Of course, stations had to stretch the coverage out while waiting for slow-moving Frances to make landfall and more than one meteorologist went goo-goo ga-ga for his Doppler radar, but local television did what local television does best--local coverage of an emergency.
I’m writing this part of my commentary during Frances, in the dark, with battery power on my laptop, as we lost power about an hour ago. When I woke up this morning and still had power, my wife and I turned on the TV and guess what? The cable was out. With the amount of rainfall we were getting my DirecTV service was not much better (did I still have a dish attached to my house?). So I switched over to DTV and my trusty over-the-air antenna mounted in my attic. No worries. I learned what I needed to know, including that my house would be subject to hurricane-force winds for at least another seven hours until the eye was overhead, and then I would have to deal with the tail end of the hurricane for another 10 hours.
The fact that I have over-the-air DTV is just a convenience. When the power gave out and the UPS feeding the DTV and the STB shut itself down, I did what almost all Floridians do--I switched to a battery operated analog TV/radio and more over-the-air.
Yes, the all-news radio stations did a great job--many by simulcasting TV. But here’s the thing: During weather emergencies, there is only one place folks can see Doppler radar to know where the hurricane is at any moment--free over-the-air TV.
It doesn’t matter how much penetration cable has when the cable’s out. Free over-the-air saves lives.
