Product Code Database
WWNO (89.9 FM broadcasting) is a public radio, non-commercial radio radio station in New Orleans. It is owned by the University of New Orleans, offering a news and information radio format with some jazz programs on weekends. Studios and offices are located on the fourth floor of the Earl K. Long Library on the campus of the University of New Orleans on Lakeshore Drive in the Lake Pontchartrain side of New Orleans. The transmitter is off Behrman Highway in the Algiers neighborhood of the city. Radio-Locator.com/WWNO
WWNO also operates a 24-hour classical music service, "Classical 104.9 FM", on 250 watt FM translator K285FF in Metarie and simulcast in Thibodaux, Louisiana, on KTLN at 90.5 MHz, one of the few dedicated classical stations in the South. WWNO broadcasts in the HD Radio hybrid format. Its HD2 subchannel carries "Classical 104.9 FM". The HD3 subchannel plays jazz music.
From its earliest days, WWNO was an NPR network affiliate. Originally WWNO was powered at only 5,000 watts. By 1980, the output had been increased to 50,000 watts on a 600-foot tower. Broadcasting Yearbook 1980 page C-98 Today the power is 35,000 watts but the height above average terrain (HAAT) has increased to 984 feet (299.8 meters). So WWNO's coverage extends throughout Southeast Louisiana and a section of Southwest Mississippi.
On the evening before the storm made landfall, the University of New Orleans shut down the IT department without informing the station personnel. WWNO was left without Internet access. Station staff turned to the television and other local radio for sources of information. Miller and the staff found themselves hunkering down in the station the Saturday before Katrina hit with sleeping bags and non-perishables to broadcast through the storm.
Four WWNO staff made it to work during the early morning hours of Sunday, August 28, 2005, Miller, Fred Kasten, James Arey and Jack Hopke. Two people handled the phones and monitored TV and the other two served on-air. Katrina was then declared Category 5 and headed straight for New Orleans. Miller requested and received permission to evacuate the staff from the station. WWNO signed over its signal to a local TV station.
The station was knocked off the air by Hurricane Katrina. The WWNO transmitter facility suffered a loss of nearly 200 feet of transmission line delivering audio to the antenna. Limited physical access and a lack of power hampered restoration of service. The generator ran but as the campus flooded, it shorted out the power lines. Staff were relocated to places all over the country.
When the storm was over, Miller and his team made calls to NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to seek support for WWNO's restoration. CPB's Greg Schnerring suggested a satellite downlink to restore programming. Miller approached Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) in Atlanta about using a radio studio and delivery of the signal via a PBS uplink from Atlanta to New Orleans. GPB had the capacity and could send audio to New Orleans via a satellite system, using a studio GPB rarely used, and IT could set up WWNO's technology needs. Georgia Public Radio officials agreed to welcome WWNO to their studios until the station was able to return to its location on the UNO campus.
CPB provided an emergency $20,000 grant and non-commercial program providers NPR, Public Radio International and American Public Radio temporarily waived program costs. However, challenges remained with getting a non-profit station back on the air while its staff was scattered all over the country, its studios on the campus were inaccessible and its transmitter was disabled.
WWNO's chief engineer, Robert Carroll drove with police escort to see the station's transmitter site in Gretna. He immediately noticed that 200 feet of transmission line up the side of the tower was missing. Katrina's winds burst the clamps (every 8 feet). The line hit the ground with such force it left a mark in the concrete. When the equipment arrived, Carroll and operations manager Ron Curtis set up and aimed the downlink at the GPB satellite. The station kept its connection to the Crescent City via Program Director Fred Kasten, who built a studio in his home in New Orleans after returning from the evacuation.
Miller, Music Director James Arey, Announcer/producer Farrar Hudkins and Announcer/producer Jack Hopke worked double shifts for three months, broadcasting by satellite from GPB's studios. A generous local Atlanta resident let Arey and Hudkins live rent-free in a house. CPB funds helped furnish the home and pay utilities. Program director Fred Kasten set up a small studio in his damaged uptown home and assembled a team of feature reporters who helped WWNO paint an authentic picture of New Orleans' recovery from the scene. Kasten also broadcast his `Saturday Night Jazz' show from the home studio. Webmaster Shantel Washington worked from Roanoke, Virginia.
On Friday, September 23, less than one month after the devastation caused by Katrina, Hurricane Rita headed for the Gulf in the general direction of New Orleans. WWNO carried regular updates about Rita through the weekend. Luckily, Rita's damage was minimal. After 89 days in Atlanta, WWNO returned to its University of New Orleans studios on December 19, 2005. It has continued to air updates on New Orleans' recovery, years after the storm.
|
|
