Rules Were Set Aside After 9/11
by Naina N. Chernoff
On Black Tuesday, Stations Overcame Difficulties to Serve
as Source of Much-Needed Information
NEW YORK The rules that govern radio programming
were amended by many radio stations following the terrorist attacks
of Sept. 11. Nowhere was this more true than in New York itself.
For the city’s residents, radio became
one of its most important sources of information following the
collapse of the World Trade Center. For one thing, in the crucial
hours after the attacks several local television stations were
knocked off the air when their transmitters disintegrated with
the collapse of the North Tower.
Radio stations located in the city and across
the river in New Jersey faced a host of technical challenges in
their pursuit to provide up-to-the-minute coverage. Some stations
went off the because their transmission equipment was located
on top of the building, prompting station engineers to scramble
to find alternative sites and buy new equipment to get back on
the air.
A number of stations opted not to play commercials
in the hours and days after the attack.
Throughout the New York City market, the most
common trend for these stations was a temporary change in programming
after the incidents.
With the pressure to be a vital source of news
and information for traumatized listeners, morning DJs at music
stations suddenly became newscasters. Stations without news departments
tried to provide as much information as possible on the unfolding
events. Programming personnel rushed to arrange for network programming.
Among the stations affected by the disaster
was WNYC, an NPR affiliate on both the AM and FM bands. According
to Dean Cappello, WNYC’s vice president of programming, the
station had to overcome several hurdles to cover the breaking
events.
The station’s transmission equipment for
its FM signal was destroyed with the collapse of the North Tower
and its staff had to be evacuated on the day of the attack because
of the office’s close proximity to the World Trade Center.
Despite these problems, Capello said WNYC contributed
to NPR’s wall-to-wall coverage of the events, with reporters
filing reports from various parts of the city. He and one of WNYC’s
reporters saw the collapse of one of the towers.
"We kind of went on auto-pilot," he
said. "Reporters somehow got on air on NPR even though cell
phones were not working."
Eventually things stabilized, he said, after
WNYC set up a temporary studio at the city’s NPR bureau and
temporary offices at WNET and other sites within NYC. Soon after
the attacks, he said, the station also started broadcasting on
a donated FM frequency that belongs to WNYE, the station licensed
to the New York Board of Education. Later that week, WNYC personnel
also put the station’s FM signal back on the air from the
Empire State building.
Cappello said WNYC carried NPR programming,
which was centered around the tragedy, 24 hours a day for a few
days after the attack and then transitioned back into some of
its own programming. He expected the station would soon return
to its normal programming.
He expects there will be some changes to accommodate
continuing news about U.S. military activities, and station executives
are considering whether to expand the news department to cover
the continuing story.
Info sources
For stations without news departments, the abrupt
transition to an all-news format following the terrorist attacks
was not easy.
"(The news talk format) was a major adjustment
for us. Our jocks aren’t specialized in news," said
Julia Lopez, programming coordinator and weekend deejay at WKTU(FM)
in Jersey City, N.J. "Our station was here to give out the
information our listeners were asking for."
One of several stations with transmission equipment
on top of the Trade Center, the station went off the air momentarily
but switched to its backup site at Times Square.
During that first week, Lopez said the R&B
station became a source of talking and healing, taking several
calls from listeners and providing information on hotlines and
relief funds.
Many stations, even those without a news department,
scrapped or reduced their music programming and added news or
listener calls into their schedules. Lopez said it was an uncompetitive
time for the New York City radio market. She said WKTU could easily
arrange to get network news feeds from CBS and NBC in the hours
after the tragedy.
WKTU was not the only station that used network
feeds to supplement its local news coverage.
Associated Press Radio provided many news feeds
to stations across the country, delivering audio news in many
forms, said John Jones, manager of marketing communications for
Associated Press Broadcast. Jones said offered subscribers 53
straight hours of news coverage on the events.
Stations also used the AP Radio’s wire
service for their Web sites, said Jones. AP Radio members who
used AP’s streaming All News Radio for their Web sites
reported thousands of listeners tuning into the service. Many
of the stations also use the AP’s graphics and text services
for the Web sites.
In the days after the attacks, programmers for
radio groups large and small grappled with what material to present
to serve local community needs and tastes. Internet rumors surfaced
that Clear Channel Communications had circulated a list of banned
songs to its more than 1,200 stations.
Lopez said Clear Channel, WKTU’s owner,
did not send out any directives to carry certain feeds, make programming
changes or refrain from playing certain songs to either WKTU or
its sister station, WHTZ(FM).
In a statement released on Sept. 18, Clear Channel
denied asking program directors to stop playing certain songs,
saying decisions about adjusting programming would be made at
the individual stations.
Lopez said WKTU chose not to play commercials
for two days. When it did transition back to playing music a few
days after the attacks, the station played soft rock rather than
its normal CHR/rhythmic format to reflect the mood of its listeners,
and aired frequent news updates.
Gauging Community Needs
Other stations took their cue from their listeners
as well.
After getting back on the air 59 hours after
the attacks from a backup site on top of the Empire State building,
Spanish Broadcasting System’s WPAT(FM) went to a commercial-free,
all-news talk format.
Because WPAT and its sister station, WSKQ(FM),
cater to a Spanish-speaking audience – a population that
makes up about one-third of NYC’s 5 million listeners –
they had the added responsibility of responding to the needs of
that community, Davis said.
"Hispanics listen to more radio than watch
television," said WSKQ/WPAT General Manager Carey Davis.
"Radio is a shared New York experience."
Though they were also unprepared to serve as
newscasters, Davis said the WPAT DJs gave out news on the search
for the victims, took listeners calls and played the national
anthem and "God Bless America" frequently.
The station also delved into what Davis calls
"inspirational programming" ¾ broadcasting a Catholic
mass for the victims on the day President Bush declared as the
national day of mourning. Davis said the station received an overwhelmingly
positive response from the listeners, many of whom are Catholic,
who were looking for a source of solace.
"People will remember for years how the
media handled this story," he said. "The outpouring
of gratitude for broadcasting the mass was tremendous."
A week after the attacks, Davis said the stations
were still doing news and traffic updates more often than usual.
"We’re getting back to normal, but it’s anything
but normal out there," he said.
WPAT had to reschedule many commercials in its
transition back to regular programming. Davis said WPAT lost approximately
$500,000 from being off air from Tuesday after the attacks until
Thursday and then not running commercials until after the mass
on Friday.
Ad replacement
Newstalk station WABC(AM) is an example of how
NYC stations not directly affected by the attacks changed their
programming as a result of the events.
WABC came out even in terms of ad revenue, said
WABC Program Director Phil Boyce. Some WABC advertisers, he said,
cancelled spots, but that time was taken by insurance companies
and others eager to get their spots on air for families affected
by the tragedy.
The station was commercial-free on the day of
the attacks and returned to a limited schedule the next day. The
station waited six days to return to a normal schedule.
Boyce said WABC decided to forgo its usual schedule
of syndicated programming the week after the attacks to provide
wall-to-wall coverage of the events with plenty of live and local
programming, including call-in shows hosted by former New York
City mayor Ed Koch, terrorism expert Harvey Kushner and members
of the clergy.
Boyce said news/talk stations like WABC performed
a unique function during the crisis.
"In times like this, listeners don’t
know what to think," Boyce said. "We give them opinions,
positions and a chance to think things through."
Boyce said he did foresee some permanent changes
to WABC’s program schedule in response to the attacks and
the possibility of war, but could not discuss them publicly as
of late September.
No changes
One New York station with transmission equipment
on top of the World Trade Center, WKCR(FM), made no changes to
its programming. The Columbia University student-run station was
knocked off the air on Sept. 11 and did not resume operations
for about 80 hours. It then started broadcasting from a low-power
transmitter at the school.
Because the station ceased its news operations
over the summer and did not plan to start it up again until later
in the fall, the station could not provide news updates so the
management decided to stick with its usual programming of jazz
and classical music, said Joseph Kim, the director of operations
and engineering.
Instead, various program hosts informed listeners
about relief funds, blood donation opportunities and hotlines
available to them.
