Thursday, September 29, 2022

WRMI shuts down due to Hurricane Ian

 


Hurricane Ian has put all WRMI transmitters off the air at their site in Okeechobee, Florida:

Hurricane update as of 0300 UTC Thursday, September 29: 

All power is out at the transmitter site and all transmitters are off the air until power comes back on. We have no idea when that will be at this point. We have power in our control room and we have Internet service. So our webstream is operating. It's completely dark outside, so we have no idea about antenna damage until perhaps sometime tomorrow. High winds are expected to continue for most or all of Thursday, so power company crews will not be able to do any work. We'll keep you updated here on Facebook.

5 hours earlier WRMI had posted:

Hurricane update as of 2203 UTC Wednesday: 

Winds are getting much higher here, and 15770 kHz has gone down, unfortunately. We still have 7780, 9955 and 5950 kHz on the air.

(WRMI Radio Miami International Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/wrmiradio )

Dear Colleagues and Clients:

Last night Hurricane Ian passed through central Florida. Winds were extremely high, and they caused extensive damage in our antenna field. The winds are still very strong as I write this (1330 UTC Thursday), and we have not been able to assess the extent of the damage yet. Electrical power went out at 0200 UTC Thursday and is still out. The power company, Florida Power and Light, cannot begin to work on power restoration until the winds go down to about 35 miles per hour, and that may not be until later today or tomorrow. So we are off the air, except for our Internet stream, until further notice. Thanks for all of your messages and phone calls. We'll keep you updated.

Jeff
Jeff White, General Manager
WRMI Radio Miami International
10400 NW 240th Street